adeelahmad · Oct 16, 2026 · Oct 15, 2026
diff --git a/docs/automations.md b/docs/automations.md
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ merged is called built.
 | Comments, notes written and saved, and changes to the entity graph | built |
 | Sensors: readings a sensor keeps, alert and notable log patterns, devices that report for the first time ([Sensors](#sensors-as-activities)) | built |
 | What people say to Lens, in the web app and chat apps, as `chat.message` ([Chat](#chat-as-activities)) | built |
-| More kinds: system events | planned |
+| Lens itself: routine runs, budget warnings, backups and new releases ([Lens itself](#lens-itself-as-activities)) | built |
 | The timeline API (`GET /api/v1/activities`), the MCP tools `timeline` and `event_kinds`, the assistant's `timeline` | built |
 | Review marks on the timeline (reviewed, important, hidden), their filters and `mark_activities` ([Timeline](timeline.md)) | built |
 | The shapes of triggers, joins, an If, policy and intents, checked (`app/domain/automation_spec.py`) | built |
@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ and the paths holding outside text are in `GET /api/v1/activities/kinds` (`event
 | `sensor.alert` | | `log` | `{type: Note, id: lens:sensor_pattern/<id>}`, `label` (alert or notable), `pattern`, `example` (a line it fits), `count` (lines in all), `lines` (in the batch that raised it), `hour` | 192.168.1.1 logged an alert: wlan<n>: authentication failed for <mac> |
 | `sensor.joined` | | `sensors` | `{type: Service, id: lens:sensor/<id>, url: /sensors/<id>}`, `sensor_type` (mqtt, syslog, ...), `device`, `status` | A new MQTT device reported: zigbee2mqtt/kitchen |
 | `chat.message` | | `chat_messages` | `{type: Note, id: lens:chat_message/<id>, name: the start of it, url: /chat/<id>}`, `text`, `channel` (web, telegram, slack, bridge, mailbox), `room`, `chat`, `direct` (a private chat or the web app), `attachments` (how many files) | sam wrote in Telegram: “groceries: milk, eggs” |
+| `routine.ran` | | `routine_runs` | `{type: Note, id: lens:routine_run/<id>, url: /routines/<id>}`, `status` (done, partly, error, skipped), `trigger` (schedule, manual), `startTime`, `endTime`, `actions`, `failed`, `error`, `changes` (graph changes applied and proposed), `cost_usd`, `tokens` | Nightly tidy ran |
+| `budget.warned` | | `log` | `{type: Note, id: lens:budget/<resource>, url: /costs}`, `resource` (all, space:<id>, routine:<id>, ...), `state` (near, over), `share`, `usd`, `tokens`, `estimate`, `cap_usd`, `cap_tokens`, `period`, `since` | The pods namespace has used 82% of its budget |
+| `backup.finished` | | `log` | `{type: Document, id: lens:backup/<name>, url: /settings/backups}`, `label` (manual, scheduled), `ok`, `error`, `kind` (export, folder), `bytes`, `files`, `copied` (to the storage connection) | A scheduled backup finished: scheduled-20261015-020000.surql.gz |
+| `lens.release` | | `log` | `{type: Note, id: lens:release/<tag>, url: its release notes}`, `tag`, `title`, `current` (what this server runs), `published_at` | Lens v0.7.0 is out (this server runs 0.6.0) |
 | `webhook.received` | | `log` | `{type: Note, hook: the webhook's id, payload: what was sent (JSON, a form's fields or text), content_type, query}`; the actor is the webhook (`Service`, `lens:automation_hook/<id>`, "Webhook for <automation>") | Webhook for Front door was called |
 
 A new asset is one activity, of the most specific kind its row tells, decided by its content type and where it came
@@ -180,6 +184,22 @@ said to Lens in a room is never kept, so it is never an activity. Its text and n
 - A question an automation's `ask_agent` asks (`origin` on the message) isn't a person's, so it is never a
   `chat.message`, and an automation can't set itself off that way.
 
+#### Lens itself as activities
+
+Built (`app/domain/events_streams.py`). What Lens does on its own is for admins, unless it is about one namespace.
+Each is logged once, however many processes see it happen.
+
+- `routine.ran` is a routine run that ended: done, partly (some actions failed), error, or skipped over budget once
+  someone picked to skip it. Its actor is the routine (`Application`, `lens:routine/<id>`). A run held over budget is
+  one when it ends; one someone let run anyway runs again as a new run, and that run is the activity. A routine of
+  one namespace makes activities in it.
+- `budget.warned` is a budget crossing its warning share (`warn_at`) or its cap, once per period and state, logged by
+  the same check that alerts on it ([Budgets](budgets.md#warnings)). A namespace's budget makes it in that namespace.
+- `backup.finished` is a backup taken in Settings or through the API, or on the schedule, which says whether it
+  worked (a scheduled one that failed says why) and whether it was copied to the storage connection.
+- `lens.release` is a newer Lens release, once per release, when Lens tells the admins and notification targets
+  ([Updates](updates.md#being-told)).
+
 ### Sources and the event log
 
 Built. A source (`events.Source`, added with `events.register_source`) reads rows Lens already keeps as activities,
@@ -212,6 +232,8 @@ A kind belongs to the source named in its `source`, and a source may list more i
 - `sensor_readings` (`app/domain/events_streams.py`) reads `sensor_reading` by `at` (microseconds), the id breaking
   ties, one sensor at a time, as `sensor.reading`; `sensors` reads the `storage_source` rows discovery made by
   `created_at`, as `sensor.joined`.
+- `routine_runs` (`app/domain/events_streams.py`) reads `routine_run` rows that ended by `finished_at`, the id
+  breaking ties, as `routine.ran`.
 - `chat_messages` (`app/domain/events_streams.py`) reads `chat_message` rows with role user by `created_at` over the
   index on (role, created_at), the id breaking ties, as `chat.message`.
 - `log` reads `event_log`: activities no row of their own records (a deletion, a webhook call), written by
@@ -632,3 +654,5 @@ def _(db, cfg, payload): ...                              # payload + late (true
 - Chat: recording every message in a room as an activity (opt-in per channel, off by default); a chat user who is
   also a Lens account as that person; a timeline page of others' private messages is read and left out, up to five
   source pages, so narrow it by account if that proves slow.
+- Lens itself: a run held over budget, waiting for someone's pick, as an activity of its own; backups taken before
+  upgrades or with `lens backup` (only those from Settings, the API and the schedule are activities today).
diff --git a/docs/budgets.md b/docs/budgets.md
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ Asking a routine to run from the app or the API when it's over budget is refused
 ## Warnings
 
 Every five minutes the scheduler looks at every budget. One that crosses `warn_at` or its cap gets an alert, once per
-period: on the budget (`alert`) and as a `budget.near` or `budget.over` row in its activity history.
+period: on the budget (`alert`) and as a `budget.near` or `budget.over` row in its activity history. Automations
+see it too, as a `budget.warned` activity ([Automations](automations.md#lens-itself-as-activities)).
 
 ## The meter and the Costs page
 

diff --git a/docs/database.md b/docs/database.md
@@ -170,6 +170,9 @@ first ([Updates and backups](updates.md)). Each is one entry in `<data_dir>/back
   downloads as one `.tar.gz` holding `<name>` and `<name>.files/`. Backups from before files were kept show *database
   only* in Settings.
 
+A backup taken in Settings, through the API or on the schedule is also a `backup.finished` activity for automations,
+and a scheduled one that failed says why ([Automations](automations.md#lens-itself-as-activities)).
+
 **Restoring** replaces the whole database, and the files under `data_dir`, with the backup's (a *database only*
 backup leaves the files as they are). What was there is backed up first (`before-restore`) and
 put back if the restore fails; a backup from an older Lens is brought up to date (schema and upgrade steps) afterwards.

diff --git a/docs/updates.md b/docs/updates.md
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ When a check finds a release newer than the one running, Lens says so once per r
 * **by email** to every admin (`updates.email`, on by default; needs an email server in Settings › Email);
 * **to notification targets** (webhooks, Matterbridge, Slack, Discord) whose namespace owners chose the
   **A new Lens release is out** event (`lens.release`, [Notifications](notifications.md));
+* to automations, as a `lens.release` activity ([Automations](automations.md#lens-itself-as-activities));
 * in the server log.
 
 ## Upgrading

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/domain/backups.py b/fastapi_backend/app/domain/backups.py
@@ -97,7 +97,20 @@ def take(db):
     dst = migrations.backup(db, "manual")
     if dst is None:
         return None
-    return next((b for b in listing(db) if b["name"] == dst.name), None)
+    got = next((b for b in listing(db) if b["name"] == dst.name), None)
+    if got:
+        _finished(db, "manual", got)
+    return got
+
+
+def _finished(db, label, got=None, error=None, copied=None, at=None):
+    """backup.finished for automations (events_streams.py); a backup is never undone for want of it."""
+    try:
+        from . import events_streams
+
+        events_streams.backup_finished(db, label, got, error, copied, at)
+    except Exception as e:  # noqa: BLE001 - the backup stands without it
+        log.info("backups: couldn't log %s: %s", (got or {}).get("name") or label, e)
 
 
 def delete(db, name):
@@ -341,9 +354,14 @@ def run_due(db, cfg, log=None, now=None):
         )
         if log:
             log(f"scheduled backup: {type(e).__name__}: {e}")
+        _finished(db, "scheduled", error=f"{type(e).__name__}: {e}", at=st["at"])
         return True
+    copied = None
     if got and remote(cfg):
         send_quietly(db, cfg, got["name"], log)
+        copied = not remote_state(db).get("error")
+    if got:
+        _finished(db, "scheduled", got, copied=copied)
     return True
 
 

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/domain/budgets.py b/fastapi_backend/app/domain/budgets.py
@@ -345,6 +345,12 @@ def sweep(db, cfg, now=None, every=None):
         activity.record(
             "run", f"budget.{st['state']}", [res], cfg, db, detail={"share": st["share"], "estimate": st["spent"]["estimate"] or None}
         )
+        try:  # for automations: budget.warned (events_streams.py)
+            from . import events_streams
+
+            events_streams.budget_warned(db, b, alert, st)
+        except Exception as e:  # noqa: BLE001 - the alert stands without it
+            log.info("budgets: couldn't log the warning for %s: %s", res, e)
         made.append({"resource": res, **alert})
     return made
 

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/domain/events_content.py b/fastapi_backend/app/domain/events_content.py
@@ -60,13 +60,13 @@
 
 def _lookup(db, table, keys, fields="name", by="id"):
     """{key: row} for these keys of a table (record ids, or the values of the indexed field `by`), one query for the
-    ones not looked up in the last NAME_SECONDS."""
+    ones not looked up (with these `fields`) in the last NAME_SECONDS."""
     keys = [k for k in dict.fromkeys(keys) if k is not None]
     now, out, todo = time.monotonic(), {}, []
     with _names_lock:
         mine = _names.setdefault(db, {})
         for k in keys:
-            hit = mine.get((table, by, k))
+            hit = mine.get((table, by, fields, k))
             if hit and now - hit[0] < NAME_SECONDS:
                 if hit[1] is not None:
                     out[k] = hit[1]
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ def _lookup(db, table, keys, fields="name", by="id"):
             if len(mine) > 20000:
                 mine.clear()
             for k in todo:
-                mine[(table, by, k)] = (now, got.get(k))
+                mine[(table, by, fields, k)] = (now, got.get(k))
         out.update(got)
     return out