{ "version": "https:\/\/jsonfeed.org\/version\/1", "title": "Beacon Developer Blog", "home_page_url": "https:\/\/usebeacon.app\/", "feed_url": "https:\/\/usebeacon.app\/blog\/json.php", "author": { "name": "Thom McGrath" }, "items": [ { "id": "c449822a-e84f-4829-9f9c-32589f535ce2", "url": "https:\/\/usebeacon.app\/blog\/sentinel_scripts_v2", "title": "Big New Scripting Update for Beacon Sentinel", "content_html": "

Today's Sentinel update is huge<\/strong>. It's so big that it really deserves a video walkthrough. However, that would delay the launch by at least a week, and I know users are eager to try out some of these new features.<\/p>\n

So, let's dive in!<\/p>\n

Multiple Context Scripts<\/h2>\n

Even before Sentinel launched, I wanted to add the concept of a script collection, which is a group of related scripts that can be added to a server or group as a single unit. As I began developing this feature, questions arose such as, "Can a script belong to multiple collections?" and "Can collections have their own parameters so they don't need to be duplicated?" The idea of collections turned out to be a nightmare from both a development and a usability standpoint.<\/p>\n

Now, scripts can include multiple contexts. For example, one script can now be added to the "Run Script" menu, react to game events, and handle slash commands.<\/p>\n

While implementing this, however, I noticed that most items were in the past tense, and some weren't events at all. This brings me to the next change. I ditched the term "context" and split these things into "events" and "features." Events are your reactions to in-game actions, such as player death, dino taming, tribe creation, and chat messages. Features are additions to Sentinel and\/or the game. Examples include slash commands, script commands, cheats, webhooks, and menu items. A script can contain any number of events and features.<\/p>\n

Additionally, if a script uses JavaScript for any of its events or features, a new "Common JavaScript" section will appear where you can add code to be injected before the JavaScript code for the event or feature. This is most useful for reusable code chunks to avoid duplication.<\/p>\n

Sentinel Workshop<\/h2>\n

This was really the catalyst for today's update. I wanted to create a place where users could share ready-to-use scripts that others could quickly add to their servers. However, certain tasks would require multiple scripts, and I didn't want users to have to hunt down all the related scripts they would need.<\/p>\n

The Sentinel Workshop is now available as a tab in the Scripts section of the Sentinel web interface. This section allows you to browse scripts by searching or rating. Scripts now have rich descriptions that showcase their capabilities. The workshop allows you to view the full script code before adding it to a server or group. Users can add a script to a server or group right from the workshop and make their own copies should they want to make tweaks.<\/p>\n

Oh, and since this feature is brand new, the ratings will seem a bit strange at first. The algorithm will improve as more votes are collected.<\/p>\n

Documentation<\/h2>\n

Detailed documentation for Sentinel scripting is now available on the Beacon Help<\/a> site. I've included descriptions of every function, event, feature, class, and anything else that might be useful.<\/p>\n

In addition, JavaScript code editors are now more familiar with the Beacon function library. Admittedly, I'm still not great at writing my own code assistant class for Monaco, but it's a start.<\/p>\n

Ideally, this will help users write better scripts. At the very least, it should help AI models produce more accurate code.<\/p>\n

Breaking Changes<\/h2>\n

Two things had to change in this update, and I couldn't find a logical way to migrate them.<\/p>\n

Run Menu Items<\/h3>\n

In the past, creating a manual script would add it to your Run Script menu. This was a real hack job, and with the new organizational changes, it wasn't something I could maintain.<\/p>\n

Now, you need to attach these scripts to a server or group, just like any other script, for them to appear in your Run Script menu. I added a note about this to the Run Script button.<\/p>\n

Webhooks<\/h3>\n

Fortunately, nobody was using incoming webhooks yet because I couldn't maintain them. Instead of each script having its own dedicated webhook URL with its own authentication, webhooks are now a feature. Servers have a URL for receiving webhooks that uses their access key for authentication. Don't worry; this has been documented, too.<\/p>", "date_published": "2025-09-17T19:55:54.153+00:00", "date_modified": "2025-09-17T19:56:00.000+00:00" }, { "id": "9c4259d6-e645-457f-868f-21bc2423e0ba", "url": "https:\/\/usebeacon.app\/blog\/sentinel_slash_commands", "title": "Introducing Slash Commands and Other New Features", "content_html": "

The most common type of Sentinel script is a chat script, and almost all of those are slash commands. A slash command is a chat message that starts with a "\/".<\/p>\n

This is great, except it's also not. Every chat message must be translated and scored before a script can fire, and every chat script for a server will fire for each message. For servers with lots of slash commands, this is a huge waste.<\/p>\n

Introducing Official Slash Commands<\/h2>\n

So, let's do something about that! A new script context called "Slash Command" is now available and allows you to specify exactly which command Sentinel's chat processing should look for. If there's a match, the message won't be sent for processing or forwarded to other chat destinations, such as cluster servers and Discord channels. This means commands execute faster for players, and other servers receive less noise.<\/p>\n

Even better, Sentinel supports parameters in your slash commands. For example, if you wanted to create a command that allows players to rename themselves, you can do so quickly. Sentinel will parse the command correctly, even with quotation marks and apostrophes. Creating a script to handle \/rename \"Ian Malcolm\"<\/code> requires only a few clicks and doesn't require any knowledge of JavaScript; it can be done entirely from Sentinel's Actions language.<\/p>\n

Converting Your Chat Scripts<\/h2>\n

If your chat scripts already handle slash commands, you can now change their context! The Context field is locked by default, but you can click the "Edit Context" button and read the warning, and then choose a new context. Make sure you understand the warning.<\/p>\n

Anonymous Players<\/h2>\n

CurseForge is now requiring mods that collect player data to offer an opt out feature. The updated policy can be found on their website<\/a>. Players will be able to opt out by typing the phrase "sentinel opt out" into chat.<\/p>\n

This has serious implications on your ability to moderate your servers, so take a look at this help article<\/a> to understand exactly what this means and your options as a server admin.<\/p>\n

Offline Players<\/h2>\n

As of today's mod update, features that target specific survivors now work on offline players. So, you can now locate offline players, teleport them, give them items and creatures, and kill them.<\/p>\n

Kill Survivor Function<\/h2>\n

Scripts now have access to a "kill survivor" function. While you could previously use an admin command, now you have a dedicated function for the task.<\/p>", "date_published": "2025-08-21T00:30:28.138+00:00", "date_modified": "2025-08-21T01:54:30.000+00:00" }, { "id": "748a0f9c-d673-433b-bab5-1238036c7325", "url": "https:\/\/usebeacon.app\/blog\/beacon_sentinel_discord_bot", "title": "The Beacon Sentinel Discord Bot Is Now Available", "content_html": "

The official Beacon Sentinel Discord bot is now available! Use it to link your cluster's chat with your Discord server.<\/p>\n

Visit your Group<\/a> settings to find the "Discord Integration" section, where you can invite the bot and link it to your Discord server. Then, select a channel to use as your chat channel. Messages posted in that Discord channel will be delivered to all group servers, and any global messages sent by your servers will be delivered to the channel.<\/p>\n

That's it? Just chat?<\/h2>\n

For now, yes. I use the "minimum viable product" strategy, meaning I start with the bare minimum and build up from there. My first goal was to make it stable and put it in the hands of users. In the near future, I'll be adding more features, such as the ability to execute Sentinel scripts, ban players, and link player Discord accounts to their Ark accounts.<\/p>", "date_published": "2025-08-18T18:10:45.715+00:00", "date_modified": "2025-08-18T18:10:58.000+00:00" }, { "id": "20d1e10d-80e2-4235-8c8d-5106392ee759", "url": "https:\/\/usebeacon.app\/blog\/summer_2025_roadmap", "title": "Sentinel Launch and Summer 2025 Roadmap", "content_html": "

I have been working, off and on, on a monitoring service since before Ark Ascended launched. The idea was to ingest log files using an RCON connection for PC servers and perform basic monitoring. But it never really got past the experimental stage for various reasons.<\/p>\n

Then Ark Ascended launched and console servers got access to RCON, so interest in the concept was renewed. I even wrote code to use an FTP connection to download player files to extract things like the player's EOS ID, since there was no way to retrieve that with RCON. And then the new "unified save game" system was launched, and disrupted things once again. There was no practical way to download the entire map save whenever a player connected. Plus, Ark's log data is really lacking.<\/p>\n

Since January, I have been focusing almost exclusively on learning Ark modding so that I could get the data directly from the game itself, and Vue 3 to produce a nice web interface for all this. And it's finally ready and launched today.<\/p>\n

What exactly is it?<\/h2>\n

Beacon Sentinel is a moderation platform<\/em>. Besides performing the basic moderation tasks like monitoring chat, banning players, issuing admin commands, wiping dinos, etc., Sentinel allows admins and developers the ability to do wild new things with their servers. You can do the predictable things like a "\/kit" command to give players a starter kit. But you can also do things like keep a count of player deaths against specific dinos. Or make them complain to chat when you neuter them.<\/p>\n

With a bit of creativity, developers can even use Beacon Sentinel to create custom game modes, like hide and seek. This is why I like to call Beacon Sentinel a moderation platform<\/em>. It's not just a tool for monitoring and moderating Ark Ascended servers, but for building whole new experiences without even rebooting the game server.<\/p>\n

Plus, Beacon Sentinel gives rude players nowhere to hide. In-game chat messages are not only scored for things like hate, racism, and sexuality, but they are also translated. So even if a player is speaking a language you don't speak, Beacon Sentinel will reveal what they're saying. And thanks to the scoring system, you can automatically warn or ban users who engage in hateful chat without having to blacklist specific words.<\/p>\n

You can check out more about Beacon Sentinel at https:\/\/sentinel.usebeacon.app\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What's Next<\/h2>\n

Beacon is not forgotten. I have a list of things I want to do for the next major 2.4 update. But I need to stabilize Sentinel first. It's a brand new launch with rough edges and less-than-spectacular documentation. I have a ton of ideas for both Sentinel and Beacon, but I've been crunching hard for the past six months and need to slow down a little too. I'm hoping Sentinel is as successful as I think it can be so I can maybe bring on some help bringing these ideas to life.<\/p>\n

For Beacon 2.4, these are some of the ideas I've been knocking around:<\/p>\n