Files
Nicolò Boschi 00bad17110 fix(api): add a DB-free liveness probe so a slow database stops restarting pods (#3337)
Adds /health/live (no DB access) and /health/ready alongside the existing /health, on the API server and the worker. Helm liveness probes now use /health/live; readiness stays on /health. Worker liveness reports seconds_since_last_poll for alerting without gating on it.

Fixes #3329
2026-08-10 14:49:11 +02:00

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Markdown

# Services
Hindsight consists of three services that can run together or separately depending on your deployment needs.
## API Service
The core memory engine. Handles all memory operations:
- **Retain**: Ingests content, extracts facts, builds knowledge graph
- **Recall**: Semantic search across memories
- **Reflect**: Disposition-aware answer generation
```bash
hindsight-api # Default port: 8888
```
The API service is stateless and can be horizontally scaled behind a load balancer. All state is stored in PostgreSQL.
By default, the API also processes background tasks (mental model consolidation) internally. For high-throughput deployments, you can disable this and run dedicated workers instead.
## Worker Service
Dedicated task processor for background operations. Uses the **same package and Docker image** as the API service, just with a different entry point.
```bash
hindsight-worker # Default metrics port: 8889
```
Workers use PostgreSQL as a task broker, polling for pending tasks. Multiple workers can run simultaneously without conflicts.
| Deployment | Internal Worker | Dedicated Workers |
|------------|-----------------|-------------------|
| **Development** | ✅ Simple, all-in-one | ❌ Overkill |
| **Small production** | ✅ Less infrastructure | ❌ Overkill |
| **High throughput** | ❌ API bottleneck | ✅ Scale independently |
| **Long-running tasks** | ❌ Blocks API resources | ✅ Isolated processing |
To use dedicated workers, disable the internal worker in the API and start worker processes:
```bash
# Disable internal worker in API
HINDSIGHT_API_WORKER_ENABLED=false hindsight-api
# Start dedicated workers (run multiple instances)
hindsight-worker --worker-id worker-1
hindsight-worker --worker-id worker-2
```
Each worker exposes `/health/live` (liveness, no database access), `/health` and
`/health/ready` (readiness, checks the database), and `/metrics` for monitoring.
See [Monitoring - Health Endpoints](./monitoring#health-endpoints).
Before scaling down or removing workers, release their tasks with `hindsight-admin decommission-worker <worker-id>`.
See [Configuration - Distributed Workers](./configuration#distributed-workers) for all worker settings and [Installation - Helm](./installation#distributed-workers) for Kubernetes deployment.
## Control Plane
Web UI for managing and exploring your memory banks:
- Browse agents and memory banks
- Explore entities and relationships
- View ingestion history and operations
- Test recall queries interactively
The Control Plane connects to the API service and provides a visual interface for development and debugging.
For bare metal deployments, you can run the Control Plane standalone using npx. See [Installation - Bare Metal](./installation#control-plane) for details.