What does Alive mean on HomeQube?

Alive means the machine has a permanent network address, a QR stamped on the physical object, and a trusted heartbeat. On its public page the socket lights — signal on the wire.

Do I need an API for Alive?

No. APIs are one heartbeat source. Legacy machines can go Alive with a stamp and a phone-attested heartbeat.

Where do I see Alive?

On the machine’s public page at /scan/:uen — dim socket until heartbeat, lit with a soft pulse when Alive. Anyone can open it without an account.

Infrastructure for physical AI

What does Alive mean?

Q: Is Alive the same as powered on?

No. Powered on means electricity. Alive means the network has a trusted signal that this identity is live — phone, smart plug, gateway, or API. Same Alive outcome for each door.

Not “the machine is plugged in.” Alive means the network has a trusted heartbeat for that identity — a real participant physical AI can use, visible on the machine’s public page.

What you see

Dim until heartbeat. Lit when Alive.

The socket is the honest face of the network — not a dashboard badge.

Socket dim

Address may already exist
QR may already be stamped
No trusted heartbeat yet
Not digitally on the wire

Socket lit

Identity + stamp + heartbeat
Soft pulse = signal flowing
Public page says Alive
Ready to join outcomes later

Close of first connection is /scan/:uen — lit socket when Alive. Anyone can open it without an account.

Plain definition

Alive in one sentence

A stamped Machine Identity plus a trusted heartbeat — then the node is digitally connected on HomeQube.

01 Address — permanent UEN / Microcard on the network.
02 Stamp — QR on the physical machine (identity in the world).
03 Heartbeat — trusted signal → Alive. That is the v1 done-when.

Equal doors

Four ways to send a heartbeat

Same Alive outcome. Pick the door that fits the machine you have — not the one a vendor catalog prefers.

Phone

Human-attested heartbeat. Stranger-critical path for shops without APIs.
Smart plug / gateway

Edge voice — continuous or periodic signal without OEM cloud.
API / device key

Machine speaks to HomeQube with a scoped key. Builders use this door.
Richer later

Native telematics and agents are upgrades — not the fee to enter Alive.

APIs are one heartbeat source — not the definition of a connected machine. Legacy equipment stays in.

Why it matters

Alive bridges identity and outcomes

Without Alive, physical AI and “outcomes” stay abstract. With Alive, there is a living node that can later compose and settle. That is why the porch ends at the lit socket — not at checkout.

How Machine Identity works →

What are machine outcomes? →