🚀 Complete Beacon Monitoring System

This release introduces a comprehensive set of enhancements. Beacon is a self-hosted monitoring and deployment solution for IoT devices, homelabs, and small hobby projects.

✨ Major Features Added

🔄 GitHub Actions CI/CD Pipeline

• Multi-platform builds: Linux (ARM, ARM64, AMD64) and macOS (ARM64, AMD64)
• Comprehensive testing: Go 1.24.6 with test coverage reporting
• Security scanning: Gosec and govulncheck vulnerability detection
• Code quality: golangci-lint with comprehensive rules
• E2E integration testing: Docker-based end-to-end workflow testing

🛠️ Enhanced Bootstrap System

• Non-interactive setup: beacon bootstrap -f config.yml for automation
• Configuration file support: YAML-based project setup
• Unified configuration management: Consistent project structure
• Example templates: beacon.bootstrap.example.yml for quick start

📊 Advanced Monitoring & Alerting

• Simple alert routing: Severity-based routing with multiple channels
• Enhanced alert_command support: Full variable substitution ($BEACON_CHECK_OUTPUT, etc.)
• Command check improvements: Alert commands always run regardless of status
• Template-based alerting: JSON, HTML, plain text templates
• Hot-reload configuration: Update configs without service restart

🧪 Comprehensive Testing

• CLI-based E2E tests: Real-world workflow testing using actual commands
• Docker integration: Mock Git server and isolated test environments
• Consolidated test suites: Streamlined test organization
• CI integration: Automated testing in GitHub Actions

📚 Documentation & Developer Experience

• 5-minute quick start: Step-by-step getting started guide
• Enhanced README: User-friendly structure with clear target audience
• Example configurations: Comprehensive monitoring and bootstrap examples
• Troubleshooting guides: Better error handling and user guidance

🔧 Technical Improvements

Configuration Management

• Unified .beacon directory structure
• Project-specific configuration isolation
• Environment variable management
• Secure credential handling

Command Line Interface

• Enhanced beacon monitor -f config.yml for non-interactive operation
• Improved beacon bootstrap with config file support
• Better error messages with troubleshooting hints
• Consistent flag naming (-f for file arguments)

Monitoring Enhancements

• Rate limiting for external API calls
• Improved log collection and forwarding
• Better system metrics collection
• Enhanced status reporting

🎯 Target Audience

Perfect for:

• Self-hosters: Home labs, personal servers, IoT projects
• Developers: Individual developers and small teams
• Entrepreneurs: Startups and small businesses
• Hobbyists: Raspberry Pi enthusiasts, makers, tinkerers
• Privacy-focused users: Complete control over infrastructure
• CI/CD: Self-hosted CI/CD pipeline to scan, build and test your PRs

📋 Files Changed

New Files

• .github/workflows/ci.yml - Complete CI/CD pipeline
• beacon.bootstrap.example.yml - Bootstrap configuration template
• docker-compose.e2e.yml - E2E testing environment
• Dockerfile.e2e - E2E test container
• scripts/test-e2e-cli.sh - CLI-based E2E tests

Enhanced Files

• README.md - Complete documentation overhaul with 5-minute quick start
• internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go - Non-interactive bootstrap support
• internal/monitor/monitor.go - Enhanced monitoring with config file support
• cmd/beacon/main.go - Improved CLI with -f flags
• beacon.monitor.example.yml - Comprehensive monitoring examples

✅ Testing

• ✅ All existing tests pass
• ✅ New E2E tests validate complete workflows
• ✅ CI pipeline runs on multiple Go versions
• ✅ Cross-platform builds verified
• ✅ Security scans pass
• ✅ Code quality checks pass

📖 Documentation

• 5-Minute Quick Start
• Bootstrap Configuration
• Monitoring Examples
• CI/CD Pipeline

Breaking Changes: Several breaking changes. Best to reinstall beacon and go through the setup wizard, while reading all the docs.
Documentation: Updated README and examples
Testing: Comprehensive E2E and unit tests included