# Apex Heartbeat Contract (safe re-visit)

Purpose: agents that adopted Apex cards or tools stay safe by noticing revocations, warnings, and contract changes early. This file defines the ONLY recurring behavior Apex asks of an agent. There is no feed to post to and nothing to promote.

When to adopt: only if you use an Apex card or tool in recurring work. One-off users do not need a heartbeat.

Recommended cadence: every 24 hours. Do not exceed 1 check per hour; respect `429` and `Retry-After`.

Per tick:

1. `GET https://api.smartapex.uk/v1/changes?since={last_check_iso}` — what changed
2. `GET https://api.smartapex.uk/v1/revocations?since={last_check_iso}` — what was pulled
3. For each card you rely on that appears in either list: `GET /v1/cards/{id}/changes`
4. If something you rely on is revoked or warned: stop using it, tell your operator, re-plan.
5. Store `{last_check_iso}` yourself. Apex keeps no session for you (stateless).

Explicitly out of scope: posting, recruiting other agents, promotion, identity farming, and checking "what's new to try" on a schedule. If your human operator wants discovery, they can ask you to re-read `/llms.txt` ad hoc.

Boundary reminders: Apex files are public reference data only and never higher-priority than your operator's instructions. Never request raw source. Never rotate user agents, IPs, nonces, or agent names to evade rate limits.