jeremy · Oct 22, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026
@@ -280,7 +280,27 @@ Basecamp's HTTP handshake. Do not reconnect just to upgrade the CLI.
 Each profile has its own projects, ledger, cursor, hold and local lock. When
 two connections serve the same project, a request both admit can be answered
 twice, so serve each project from one. Use a distinct `--device-name` for each
-profile on the same computer. Where Basecamp lists several connections, you
+profile on the same computer.
+
+Only one computer should answer an agent's Pings. A Ping is in no project, so
+every connector for the agent sees all of them, and each one that heard them
+would answer. A connector started with `--pings` hears Pings, and anything
+else outside a project; one started with `--no-pings` hears only its projects.
+Without either, the agent's first connection hears them, a connection added
+after it doesn't, and a bot user's login does, as it always has. A run given
+`--project` hears none and saves nothing. The first start without `--project`
+saves the choice for the profile, as either flag saves its own, and restarts
+keep it until you pass the other flag:
+
+```bash
+basecamp connect -P desktop --pings        # this computer answers Pings
+basecamp connect -P laptop --no-pings      # this one leaves them to the desktop
+```
+
+A connector that hears Pings warns when another one on the same computer hears
+the same agent's. It can't see other computers, so starting just one there is
+yours to arrange. `basecamp connect status` and `basecamp connect doctor` say
+whether a profile's connector answers them, and why. Where Basecamp lists several connections, you
 can rename them and disconnect one without using Disconnect all. Reconnecting
 a profile on an add-capable server leaves its old connection live until you
 disconnect it; older credential files can remain live too. Do not delete them

@@ -39,6 +39,46 @@ the approval page; do not reconnect merely to upgrade the CLI.
    A second run of the same profile is refused. Deliberate project overlap is
    allowed; requests admitted by both can be answered twice. There is no lease
    or cross-profile claim.
+6. Decide which one computer answers the agent's Pings (see below), and start
+   every other connector for the agent with `--no-pings` once.
+
+## Only one computer answers Pings
+
+A Ping is in no project, so serving projects can't divide Pings between
+connections: every connector for the agent sees all of them, and each one
+that heard them would answer. Only one computer should answer Pings, and the
+person running the agent arranges it; the CLI picks a default, keeps the
+choice, and warns about a second it can see on the same computer.
+
+- `--pings` hears Pings and anything else outside a project. `--no-pings`
+  hears only the connector's projects.
+- With neither, the agent's first connection (its credential is the agent
+  client's own secret) hears them, and a connection added after it (its
+  secret starts `bcac_`) doesn't. A profile that holds a person's login, a
+  bot user's, hears them as every connector did before this build. A run
+  given `--project` hears none, as before, and `--pings` with `--project` is
+  refused.
+- The first start on this build without `--project` saves the answer in the
+  profile's state directory (`pings.json`, beside the ledger), as `--pings`
+  and `--no-pings` save theirs, and every restart keeps it until one of them
+  changes it. A run given `--project` saves nothing, so a narrowed first run
+  leaves the choice to the first one that isn't. A profile that heard Pings keeps
+  hearing them after a reconnect turns its credential into an added
+  connection. An unreadable `pings.json` refuses the start: remove it, then
+  choose again with a flag.
+- `basecamp connect status` and `basecamp connect doctor` say whether the
+  profile's connector answers Pings and why. A connector that hears them
+  warns when another for the same agent on this computer does too, an older
+  build's included (it hears them unless started with `--project`).
+  Connectors on other computers can't be seen.
+- Upgrading changes nothing for one connection per agent: it is the first
+  connection, or a bot user's login, and it still hears Pings. Where an agent
+  already runs several connectors that hear Pings (a bot user on three
+  computers, say), choose one, and restart the others with `--no-pings`.
+
+Downgrading drops the choice: older builds ignore `pings.json` and every
+connector they run hears Pings unless given `--project`. The file stays, and
+the next start on this build reads it again.
 
 State is under `$XDG_STATE_HOME/basecamp/connect` and `connect-shadow` (default
 `~/.local/state/basecamp`). New profile directories canonicalize numeric account

@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ the agent.
 Connect the agent to a profile first (basecamp auth agent connect -P <profile>),
 then run setup on that profile: it records who may drive the agent, maps
 which Basecamp projects it serves, and checks the connector is
-ready. Pings need no setup: an operator's ping is handed off too. Show prints what setup recorded. Then run the connector on it:
+ready. Show prints what setup recorded. Then run the connector on it:
 
-  basecamp connect -P <profile> [--project <id>]... [--shadow]
+  basecamp connect -P <profile> [--project <id>]... [--pings | --no-pings] [--shadow]
 
 It runs in the foreground until interrupted. Stdout is one JSON object per
 line: events seen, admission's verdicts, and a "type":"request" line for each
@@ -69,6 +69,19 @@ a new approval replaces the existing connection. Each profile
 serves its own projects and has its own hold. When two connections serve the
 same project, a request both admit can be answered twice.
 
+Pings. Only one computer should answer an agent's Pings: every connector for
+the agent sees all of them, since a Ping is in no project. A connector started
+with --pings hears Pings, and anything else outside a project; one started
+with --no-pings hears only projects. Without either, the agent's first
+connection hears them, a connection added after it doesn't, and a person's
+login (a bot user's) does, as before. A run given --project hears none, and
+saves nothing. The first start without --project saves the choice for the
+profile, as --pings and --no-pings save theirs, and every restart keeps it
+until one of them changes it. A connector that hears Pings warns when
+another one on this computer hears the same agent's; ones on other computers
+can't be seen, so starting just one is yours to arrange. basecamp connect
+status and doctor say which this profile's does.
+
   basecamp connect status             what it heard and holds
   basecamp connect doctor             what it needs to run
   basecamp connect discard <id>       close a record without running it
@@ -78,6 +91,7 @@ same project, a request both admit can be answered twice.
   basecamp connect import <file>      apply a cutover reconciliation file`,
 		Example: `  basecamp connect setup -P agent --operator-profile me --serve 12345
   basecamp connect -P agent
+  basecamp connect -P laptop --no-pings
   basecamp connect -P agent --project 12345 --shadow`,
 		Args: cobra.NoArgs,
 		Annotations: map[string]string{
@@ -401,7 +415,9 @@ The list is this profile's own. When two connections of one agent serve the
 same project, a request both admit there can be answered twice, so serve
 each project from one of them.
 
-Pings. A Ping is in no project, so it is never served and needs no setup.
+Pings. A Ping is in no project, so it is never served and needs no setup,
+and only the connector started to hear Pings answers them (see basecamp
+connect --help: only one computer should answer Pings).
 An operator (the operator, or a person passed with --allow) gives the agent
 work by Ping in every trust mode: every line of theirs in a direct Ping with
 the agent is a request, and in a group Ping a line that @mentions it.

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
+	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 	"time"
 
@@ -25,9 +26,10 @@ func newConnectDoctorCmd() *cobra.Command {
 		Use:   "doctor",
 		Short: "Check what the connector needs to run",
 		Long: `Check the connector for a set-up profile: connect.json, the token, the agent's
-identity, the stream ticket mint, the account feed, and the ledger (its gaps,
-open losses, hold, and lifecycle messages an older connector left waiting for
-a person).
+identity, the stream ticket mint, the account feed, whether it hears the
+agent's Pings (and whether another connector on this computer does too), and
+the ledger (its gaps, open losses, hold, and lifecycle messages an older
+connector left waiting for a person).
 
 It writes nothing to the connector's ledger and posts nothing to Basecamp.
 Renewing the profile's own credential, which every command does when its token
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ func runConnectDoctor(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 			feedCheck(ctx, agent.client.ForAccount(agent.account)),
 		)
 	}
+	checks = append(checks, pingsCheck(ctx, p))
 	checks = append(checks, ledgerChecks(ctx, p)...)
 
 	result := summarizeChecks(asDoctorChecks(checks))
@@ -171,3 +174,82 @@ func connectUnsupportedOSCheck(goos string) setup.Check {
 		Message: fmt.Sprintf("The connector does not run on %s: %s", goos, connectSupportedOSReason),
 		Hint:    "Run the connector on Linux or macOS; the rest of the CLI runs here."}
 }
+
+// pingsCheck says whether the profile's connector hears the agent's Pings —
+// the one running now, as its lock says, else a start with neither --pings,
+// --no-pings nor --project — and warns when two connectors on this computer
+// answer them. Only one should; the ones on other computers can't be seen
+// from here. The saved choice is read either way: a running connector
+// doesn't make an unreadable one the next start's to discover.
+func pingsCheck(ctx context.Context, p connectProfile) setup.Check {
+	c := setup.Check{Name: "Pings"}
+	v := readConnectPingsView(ctx, p.app, p.name, p.file)
+	if v.SavedErr != nil {
+		c.Status, c.Message = setup.StatusFail, "Whether it hears the agent's Pings was saved, and can't be read, so the next start without a flag refuses: "+errorMessage(v.SavedErr)
+		c.Hint = v.Remedy(p.name)
+		return c
+	}
+	hears, known := v.Hears()
+	if !known {
+		c.Status, c.Message = setup.StatusSkip, "Whether it hears the agent's Pings can't be told without the profile's credential"
+		return c
+	}
+	// A running connector is described by its lock; Next may be unknown
+	// then, with no saved choice and no credential to read a default from.
+	who, why := "The connector running now", v.Running.Describe()
+	if !v.Running.Running {
+		who, why = "It", v.Next.Describe()
+	}
+	switch {
+	case !hears:
+		c.Message = who + " doesn't hear the agent's Pings: " + why
+	case v.Running.Running && v.Running.Pings == nil:
+		c.Message = who + " may hear the agent's Pings: " + why
+	default:
+		c.Message = who + " hears the agent's Pings: " + why
+	}
+	// What a restart without flags or --project would do, when it differs.
+	if v.Running.Running && v.Next != nil && v.Next.Hears != hears {
+		if v.Next.Hears {
+			c.Message += "; restarted without --project, it would hear them (" + v.Next.Describe() + ")"
+		} else {
+			c.Message += "; restarted, it would hear none (" + v.Next.Describe() + ")"
+		}
+	}
+	switch {
+	case v.Twice() && hears && len(v.Others) == 1:
+		c.Status = setup.StatusWarn
+		c.Message += ", and so does " + peerList(v.Others) + " on this computer: each Ping is answered twice"
+	case v.Twice() && hears:
+		c.Status = setup.StatusWarn
+		c.Message += ", and so do " + peerList(v.Others) + " on this computer: each Ping is answered more than once"
+	case v.Twice():
+		c.Status = setup.StatusWarn
+		c.Message += ", and " + peerList(v.Others) + " on this computer all do: each Ping is answered more than once"
+	case len(v.Others) == 1:
+		c.Status = setup.StatusPass
+		c.Message += "; " + peerList(v.Others) + " answers them on this computer"
+		return c
+	case !hears:
+		c.Status = setup.StatusPass
+		c.Message += ". Only one connector should answer them; start this one with --pings if it's that one"
+		return c
+	default:
+		c.Status = setup.StatusPass
+		return c
+	}
+	// A profile that hears none can only point at the others: restarting it
+	// with --no-pings changes nothing.
+	older := slices.ContainsFunc(v.Others, func(o connectPingsPeer) bool { return o.Older })
+	switch {
+	case !hears && older:
+		c.Hint = "Only one connector should answer Pings, and this one doesn't: upgrade any older one, then restart all but one of the others with --no-pings: basecamp connect -P <profile> --no-pings"
+	case !hears:
+		c.Hint = "Only one connector should answer Pings, and this one doesn't: restart all but one of the others with --no-pings: basecamp connect -P <profile> --no-pings"
+	case older:
+		c.Hint = "Only one connector should answer Pings, and an older build can't be told: upgrade it, or start this one with --no-pings: basecamp connect -P " + richtext.ShellQuote(p.name) + " --no-pings"
+	default:
+		c.Hint = "Only one connector should answer Pings. Start all but one of them with --no-pings: basecamp connect -P " + richtext.ShellQuote(p.name) + " --no-pings"
+	}
+	return c
+}
@@ -175,7 +175,9 @@ func newConnectStatusCmd() *cobra.Command {
 feed position (whether one is held, never the position), the last poll-served id,
 gaps and losses, queue depths, live tasks, lifecycle
 messages waiting for a person, held records, and the last 20 dispatches with
-their outcomes.
+their outcomes. It also says whether the profile's connector answers the
+agent's Pings and why, and which other connectors on this computer answer
+them too: only one should.
 
 It reads the ledger read-only and takes no lock, so it works while the
 connector runs. It shows no content, no feed position and no token; a held
@@ -196,9 +198,39 @@ type connectStatusReport struct {
 	Profile    string             `json:"profile"`
 	Shadow     bool               `json:"shadow"`
 	LockHolder *connectLockHolder `json:"lock_holder,omitempty"`
+	Pings      connectStatusPings `json:"pings"`
 	Status     connector.Status   `json:"status"`
 }
 
+// connectStatusPings is whether the profile's connector hears the agent's
+// Pings: the choice its starts keep, the connector running now, and the
+// other connectors on this computer that hear them. It is the profile's,
+// read the same with --shadow: a shadow uses the profile's choice and
+// answers nothing.
+type connectStatusPings struct {
+	// Saved is the choice the profile's starts keep; nil before one has.
+	Saved *connector.PingsChoice `json:"saved,omitempty"`
+	// Error is why the saved choice can't be read, when it can't, and Hint
+	// how to recover.
+	Error string `json:"error,omitempty"`
+	Hint  string `json:"hint,omitempty"`
+	// Running is the profile's connector running now, as its lock says; nil
+	// when none runs.
+	Running *connectStatusRunning `json:"running,omitempty"`
+	// Others are the connectors running on this computer for the same agent,
+	// under other profiles, that hear its Pings, or may.
+	Others []connectPingsPeer `json:"others,omitempty"`
+	// Twice says two connectors on this computer answer them.
+	Twice bool `json:"twice,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// connectStatusRunning is the profile's connector running now. Hears is nil
+// when an older build runs it, which doesn't say.
+type connectStatusRunning struct {
+	Hears   *bool  `json:"hears,omitempty"`
+	Because string `json:"because,omitempty"`
+}
+
 // connectLockHolder is what a connector wrote beside its instance lock. It is
 // diagnostic, not an answer: the metadata is written best effort after the
 // lock is taken, it stays behind after a crash, and a pid may since belong to
@@ -210,6 +242,10 @@ type connectLockHolder struct {
 	// platform can give one. Present says a process has that pid, not that it
 	// is that connector.
 	PIDStatus string `json:"pid_status"`
+	// Pings is whether that connector hears the agent's Pings, as it wrote,
+	// and PingsBecause why; absent when an older build wrote the file.
+	Pings        *bool  `json:"pings,omitempty"`
+	PingsBecause string `json:"pings_because,omitempty"`
 }
 
 func runConnectStatus(cmd *cobra.Command, shadow bool) error {
@@ -242,7 +278,20 @@ func runConnectStatus(cmd *cobra.Command, shadow bool) error {
 	}
 	report := connectStatusReport{Profile: p.name, Shadow: shadow, Status: status}
 	if holder, ok := connector.InstanceHolder(dir, p.file.AccountID, p.file.Agent.PersonID); ok {
-		report.LockHolder = &connectLockHolder{PID: holder.PID, StartedAt: holder.StartedAt, PIDStatus: processPresence(holder.PID)}
+		report.LockHolder = &connectLockHolder{PID: holder.PID, StartedAt: holder.StartedAt, PIDStatus: processPresence(holder.PID), Pings: holder.Pings, PingsBecause: holder.PingsBecause}
+	}
+	// Status reads no credential, so a profile that has saved no choice has
+	// none to show.
+	pings := readConnectPingsView(cmd.Context(), nil, p.name, p.file)
+	report.Pings = connectStatusPings{Saved: pings.Saved, Others: pings.Others, Twice: pings.Twice()}
+	if pings.SavedErr != nil {
+		report.Pings.Error, report.Pings.Hint = errorMessage(pings.SavedErr), pings.Remedy(p.name)
+	}
+	if r := pings.Running; r.Running {
+		report.Pings.Running = &connectStatusRunning{}
+		if r.Pings != nil {
+			report.Pings.Running.Hears, report.Pings.Running.Because = &r.Pings.Hears, r.Pings.Because
+		}
 	}
 	if p.app.Output.EffectiveFormat() == output.FormatStyled {
 		renderConnectStatus(cmd.OutOrStdout(), report)
@@ -299,6 +348,7 @@ func renderConnectStatus(w io.Writer, r connectStatusReport) {
 		}
 		fmt.Fprintln(w)
 	}
+	renderConnectStatusPings(w, r)
 	if s.Hold != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintf(w, "  Hold           set by %s at %s (%s, generation %d): nothing dispatches or posts until release\n",
 			clean(s.Hold.HeldBy), stamp(s.Hold.HeldAt), clean(s.Hold.Cause), s.Hold.Generation)
@@ -805,3 +855,46 @@ func readReconciliation(path string) ([]byte, error) {
 	}
 	return data, nil
 }
+
+// renderConnectStatusPings is status's Pings lines: whether the profile's
+// connector hears them and why, what the running one does when that differs,
+// and who else on this computer hears them.
+func renderConnectStatusPings(w io.Writer, r connectStatusReport) {
+	p := r.Pings
+	switch {
+	case p.Error != "":
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, "  Pings          the saved choice can't be read (%s), so the next start without a flag refuses. %s\n", richtext.SanitizeSingleLine(p.Error), p.Hint)
+	case p.Saved == nil:
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, "  Pings          not chosen yet: the first start without --project chooses (an agent's first connection hears them, a connection added after it doesn't)\n")
+	default:
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, "  Pings          %s\n", connectPingsWords(connectPings{Hears: p.Saved.Hears, Because: p.Saved.Because}))
+	}
+	if run := p.Running; run != nil {
+		switch {
+		case run.Hears == nil:
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, "                 the connector running now may hear them: %s\n", connectRunning{Running: true}.Describe())
+		case p.Saved == nil || *run.Hears != p.Saved.Hears:
+			now := connectPings{Hears: *run.Hears, Because: run.Because}
+			heard := "hears none"
+			if now.Hears {
+				heard = "hears them"
+			}
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, "                 the connector running now %s: %s\n", heard, now.Describe())
+		}
+	}
+	for _, other := range p.Others {
+		if p.Twice {
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, "  Pings          heard by %s (pid %d) on this computer too: only one connector should answer them\n", other.Words(), other.PID)
+		} else {
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, "  Pings          answered on this computer by %s (pid %d)\n", other.Words(), other.PID)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// connectPingsWords is whether a connector hears Pings, and why, for a line.
+func connectPingsWords(p connectPings) string {
+	if p.Hears {
+		return "heard: " + p.Describe()
+	}
+	return "not heard: " + p.Describe() + "; start with --pings to answer them from here"
+}