| name | monitoring |
| description | Periodic page monitoring via Brijio: read authenticated pages on a schedule, extract specific data, compare to previous state, and notify on changes — designed for Hermes cron jobs. |
Periodic Page Monitoring
Monitor authenticated web pages on a schedule by reading page data, extracting
specific values, comparing to a known baseline, and reporting changes. This
skill is designed to work with Hermes cron jobs for ongoing monitoring tasks.
When to Use
- Price monitoring on authenticated e-commerce sites
- Availability checks (stock, tickets, appointments)
- Content change alerts on dashboards or internal tools
- Status page monitoring behind authentication
- Any scenario where you need to check a page periodically and alert on changes
Cron Job Setup
Use the Hermes cronjob tool to set up a recurring monitoring task:
cronjob action=create \
name="price-monitor-product-x" \
schedule="every 2h" \
prompt="Check the price of Product X on the authenticated page at https://shop.example.com/product-x. Use list_browsers to confirm connection, read_current_page to get the price, compare to the last known price stored in memory, and report if the price has changed."
Load the using-brijio and monitoring skills in the cron job so the
agent knows how to use Brijio tools:
skills: ["using-brijio", "monitoring"]
Workflow
1. Check Connection
list_browsers → Confirm browser is connected
If no browser is connected, the cron job cannot proceed. Report this as an
error — do not silently fail.
2. Read the Target Page
read_current_page(includeContent: true) → Full page context
If the page requires navigation from the current URL, use the
navigation skill to reach the target page
first.
3. Extract Target Data
From the page context, extract the specific data points you're monitoring:
Price monitoring:
Find the price element in forms/links/actions or content
Extract numeric value, currency, and any discount information
Availability monitoring:
Look for "In Stock", "Out of Stock", "Available", "Sold Out" text
Check for disabled "Add to Cart" actions
Check for "Coming Soon" or "Notify Me" links
Content change monitoring:
Extract specific sections of text (headings, table data, status indicators)
Compare structure and content to the previous reading
Status monitoring:
Check for status indicators (green/red icons, "Operational" / "Degraded" text)
Extract status text and component names
4. Compare to Baseline
Retrieve the last known state from memory:
memory action=read target="memory" → Get last known values
If this is the first run, store the current values and report "baseline
established" — do not report a change yet.
Compare current values to stored values:
| Match | Action |
|---|
| Same as baseline | No change — report "no change" and exit |
| Different from baseline | Report the change with old and new values |
| No previous baseline | Store current values, report "baseline established" |
5. Report Changes
When a change is detected, report clearly:
🔔 **Price Change Detected**
**Product:** Premium Widget (SKU: PW-100)
**Previous price:** $49.99
**Current price:** $39.99
**Change:** -$10.00 (-20%)
**Page:** https://shop.example.com/product-x
**Checked at:** 2026-05-28 14:30 UTC
For availability changes:
🔔 **Availability Change**
**Product:** Concert Tickets - Section A
**Previous status:** Sold Out
**Current status:** Available (12 remaining)
**Page:** https://tickets.example.com/event/123
**Checked at:** 2026-05-28 14:30 UTC
6. Update Baseline
After reporting a change, update the stored baseline:
memory action=add target="memory"
content="Product X price: $39.99 (as of 2026-05-28)"
This prevents reporting the same change repeatedly.
Monitoring Strategies
Simple Value Monitoring
Extract a single value (price, status, count) and compare to the previous
value. Best for:
- Price changes
- Stock availability
- Status page updates
Structural Monitoring
Compare the page structure (forms, links, actions) to detect any changes.
Best for:
- New features appearing on a page
- UI changes on internal tools
- New links or buttons added
Keyword Monitoring
Scan page content for specific keywords. Best for:
- Error messages ("maintenance", "degraded", "down")
- Feature announcements ("new", "beta", "launch")
- Policy changes ("updated terms", "effective date")
Scheduling Recommendations
| Frequency | Use Case |
|---|
| Every 5 min | Critical status pages, high-value availability |
| Every 15 min | Stock alerts, limited-availability events |
| Every 1 hour | Price monitoring on stable e-commerce pages |
| Every 2-4 hours | Content change detection on dashboards |
| Daily | Low-priority status checks, policy page monitoring |
Pitfalls
Authenticated Pages
Brijio monitors pages through the user's real browser session. The
browser must be connected when the cron job runs. If the connection fails:
- Report the failure clearly
- Do not cache stale data as "unchanged"
- Suggest the user check their browser connection
Dynamic Content
Pages with live data (countdown timers, live feeds) will always show changes.
Focus on specific data points rather than full-page comparison. Use the
data-extraction skill for targeted
extraction instead of comparing entire page snapshots.
Rate Limiting
Frequent page reads may trigger anti-bot protections. If you encounter
rate-limit errors:
- Reduce the monitoring frequency
- Add a small delay between reads
- Focus on the specific data, not the entire page
Session Expiration
Authenticated sessions expire. If read_current_page shows a login page
instead of the expected content, the session has expired. Report this as
"session expired" — do not attempt to log in automatically.
Element ID Changes
Element IDs change between page loads. Never store element IDs (e5, f2) as
stable references — store the data values (text content, prices, labels)
instead.
Multiple Checks in One Run
To monitor multiple pages in a single cron run:
- Read Page A, extract data, compare to baseline A
- Read Page B, extract data, compare to baseline B
- Report all changes in a single summary message
This is more efficient than separate cron jobs for each page.
