A heartbeat is a small, regular signal an active session sends to tell SyncNow it is still working.
Between START and END, the assistant pings SyncNow at intervals. Each ping is a heartbeat: proof the turn is still in use and the project should stay Busy. It is how a long-running task keeps its hold without you having to watch it.
Why it matters to you
- Liveness - SyncNow can tell a real, active session from one that has gone silent.
- Auto-cleanup - if heartbeats stop, the session expires and frees the project, so a crash does not lock it forever.
- Honest status - the Busy badge reflects a genuinely live turn, not a ghost.
When heartbeats stop
If the assistant, the app, or the PC drops out, the pings stop arriving. After a grace period SyncNow treats the session as no longer alive and lets it lapse, returning the project to Free. A clean END is still the right way to finish, because it also leaves a changelog; heartbeat expiry is the safety net for when an END never arrives.
SyncNow