Watch conditions: your own alerts

The built-in rules know what a WING should look like; they do not know your show. A watch condition is a line you write about this rig saying when to alert — the Kick is not on LCL 5, the PA is muted, the Band DCA is pulled down — and Watch checks it on every pass. It alerts while it is true. Conditions are deterministic structured JSON, not prose and not a model: the runtime path has no AI in it at all. This page is the file format, used both by Watch in the browser and by atoo watch.

Every transcript on this page runs against a captured state file, with no console attached. atoo init copies the captures into your Atoo folder, as audit-demo/ (run it again if yours was made before they existed; it adds what is missing and touches nothing you have changed):

cd ~/Documents/Atoo/audit-demo

{
  "version": 2,
  "watch_conditions": [
    {
      "id": "kick-off-lcl5",
      "description": "Kick is not on LCL 5",
      "channel": "Kick",
      "field": "patch",
      "operator": "!=",
      "value": "LCL 5",
      "severity": "error"
    }
  ]
}

atoo watch --state-sequence audit_demo_state.json --watch-conditions one.watch.json --count 1

The fixture’s Kick is on LCL 1, not LCL 5, so the condition is true and fires at the severity the file itself asked for:

[2026-10-26T01:02:10+00:00] baseline -- 12 finding(s) already present:
Audit findings: 1 error, 7 warning, 4 info.

[ERROR] WATCH:kick-off-lcl5 Kick is not on LCL 5
  CH 1 "Kick" is patched to LCL 1 -- Kick is not on LCL 5.

... the 11 structural findings

It is reported alongside the built-in rules, not instead of them: 11 structural findings plus your one, sorted by severity, so your condition leads.

The line says which strip, what it is, and your description — CH 1 "Kick" is patched to LCL 1 -- Kick is not on LCL 5. — and nothing else: not the condition’s id, operator or value. So write the description as what is wrong when it fires, in your own words.

The file starts with "version": 2. A condition used to state what should hold, and fire when it did not; a file written then means the opposite of what it says now, so Watch refuses one without the mark rather than misread it. The refusal names the file, says how each operator turns round, and ends with a command that converts the file in place:

my-show/watch.json: has no "version": 2, so it was written when a condition stated what should hold. A condition now states when to alert: it fires when it is true. Invert each condition: == and != swap, < becomes >=, >= becomes <, <= becomes >, > becomes <=; on dca and mute_group, == becomes "not in" and != becomes "in". Then add "version": 2 at the top. This does all of it to the file in place:
  python3 -c "import json,sys; p=sys.argv[1]; d=json.load(open(p)); n={'==':'!=','!=':'==','<':'>=','>=':'<','<=':'>','>':'<='}; g={'==':'not in','!=':'in'}; [c.update(operator=(g if c.get('field') in ('dca','mute_group') else n)[c['operator']]) for c in d['watch_conditions']]; d['version']=2; json.dump(d, open(p,'w'), indent=2)" my-show/watch.json

Paste that line, then reword the descriptions to say what is wrong: the command changes what each condition does, not what its description says.

A condition you wrote about a rig that is set up correctly produces nothing at all. That silence is the feature, and it is why these are worth writing for the handful of things that would ruin a show rather than for everything you can think of.

In Watch, each condition has a small i beside its ID that says the condition in plain English, for example “Alerts as a warning when any DCA from 1 to 5 is muted.” It reads the same way round as the condition. It is made from the condition’s cells (never from its description), covers every field, operator, range, name and bus, and says how the alert names the strip. A condition the file format would refuse has no sentence. Watch a show shows where it is.

The field vocabulary

field	value	operators
fader_db	a number	== != < <= > >=
muted	true / false	== !=
dca	a DCA name, e.g. "Drums"	in not in
mute_group	a mute-group name	in not in
patch	a socket, e.g. "LCL 3"	== !=
send_on	true / false, with a bus	== !=
send_db	a number, with a bus	== != < <= > >=
send_mode	"pre", "post" or "group", with a bus	== !=
phantom	true / false	== !=

The last four are sends and 48V. Only the two levels, fader_db and send_db, have an ordering worth comparing, so only they take < and friends. dca and mute_group ask about membership in words: not in alerts when the channel is not in the group, in when it is. "field": "dca", "operator": "not in", "value": "Drums" fires when the channel is not in the Drums DCA. The rest take == and !=: "field": "patch", "operator": "!=", "value": "LCL 5" fires when the channel is patched anywhere but LCL 5.

severity is one of info, warning or error, and it is yours to set — the condition fires at whatever level you said it mattered.

Four rules about names:

• channel is matched by name, case-insensitively, across the channels and auxes. A name that matches no live channel, or two, is skipped for that pass rather than guessed at. A strip can also be named by its position, or by its kind and its name (BUS Drums) – see the next two sections.
• Groups are matched by name, never by index, the same way. A condition about a DCA called FX on a rig whose only FX is a bus says nothing, rather than claiming a violation it could not check.
• The names matched are the last ones read. A live watch reads names at Start and every fifth pass (see Names are read at Start and refreshed), so a channel renamed mid-show is matched under its new name from the next refresh.
• A socket is written exactly the way an input list’s patch column writes it — AES50-A 12, LCL 3, AES 1, CRD 64. One vocabulary, not a second one invented for this field. AES 1 (AES/EBU) and AES50-A 1 are different sockets, which is why the network letter is spelled out.

A condition that could never fire is refused when the file loads, rather than sitting quietly in your show file being silently useless. Ask for a socket a WING Compact does not have and you are told so, with every group and its range, before a single read happens:

bad.watch.json: watch_conditions[0] ('kick-on-lcl99'): field 'patch' value 'LCL 99' is not a socket this console could have -- write it the way an input list's patch column does, e.g. "AES50-A 12", "LCL 3", "AES 1", "SC 24"; known groups: AES50-A 1..48, AES 1..2, AUX 1..8, AES50-B 1..48, AES50-C 1..48, CRD 1..64, LCL 1..24, MOD 1..64, OSC 1..2, PLAY 1..4, SC 1..32, USB 1..48, USR 1..56

Same for an operator the field cannot support:

bad-op.watch.json: watch_conditions[0] ('kick-dca-gt'): field 'dca' takes 'in' or 'not in', not '>'

And the old spelling of membership, which meant the opposite:

old-dca.watch.json: watch_conditions[0] ('kick-in-drums'): field 'dca' takes 'in' or 'not in', not '==': a condition now says when to alert, so 'not in' alerts when the strip is not in the group and 'in' when it is. A file written before that meant '==' as 'not in'

Both exit 1 without reading anything.

By position, range or kind

channel can name a strip by where it is on the desk rather than by what it is called – which is the only way to reach a strip nobody has named, and the only way to reach a bus, a DCA, a Main or a Matrix at all:

You write	It means
CH 10 (or CHN 10, CHAN 10)	channel 10
AUX 3, BUS 3, MAIN 1, DCA 14	that aux, bus, Main or DCA
MTX 3 (or MATRIX 3)	matrix 3
DCA 10-16	DCAs 10 to 16, both ends included
ALL AUX, ALL MAIN, …	every strip of that kind the console has

Case does not matter and the space is optional: ch10, Ch 10 and CH 10 are the same target, and the Watch editor and Save write it back as CH 10. DCA 10-16 and ALL AUX are written that way too.

A range or ALL condition is checked on each strip it covers, and each strip it is true of is its own finding, citing the strip’s position and its name when it has one. Saved as positions.watch.json:

{
  "version": 2,
  "watch_conditions": [
    {
      "id": "busses-up",
      "description": "A bus is above -5 dB",
      "channel": "ALL BUS",
      "field": "fader_db",
      "operator": ">",
      "value": -5,
      "severity": "warning"
    },
    {
      "id": "drum-dca-down",
      "description": "A drum DCA is pulled right down",
      "channel": "DCA 1-4",
      "field": "fader_db",
      "operator": "<=",
      "value": -60,
      "severity": "error"
    }
  ]
}

atoo watch --state-sequence audit_demo_state.json --watch-conditions positions.watch.json --count 1

The fixture has three busses at 0 dB and one DCA at the floor, so the baseline has four findings of yours among the structural ones. The three busses make the same condition true in the same way, so they are one entry, with the count in brackets:

[ERROR] WATCH:drum-dca-down A drum DCA is pulled right down
  DCA 1 "Drums" has its fader at -144 dB -- A drum DCA is pulled right down.

[WARNING] WATCH:busses-up A bus is above -5 dB (3)
  BUS 1 "Drums", BUS 2 "Monitor 1", BUS 3 "FX"
  Each has its fader at 0 dB -- A bus is above -5 dB.

DCAs 2 to 4 are not in the fixture at all, so they say nothing: a strip that was never read is skipped, as an unmatched name is. A Main’s and a Matrix’s name is not read, so a finding about one reads MAIN 1.

Things to know:

• A position always wins. Text that reads as a position, range or ALL form is that form, even if some channel happens to be named CH 10. When one is, each pass also reports an info finding saying the condition is watching the position, not that channel. A kind word followed by a name is a kind and a name, and anything else is a name, as before.
• Which fields a kind takes. Every field works on a channel or an aux. A bus, Main, Matrix or DCA takes muted and fader_db only: only channels and auxes have an input patch; a DCA cannot be in a DCA or a mute group; and a bus, Main or Matrix can be, but watch does not read their tags, so the condition could never fire.
• Main on its own means MAIN 1, the main L/R. An info finding reads: ‘Main’ read as MAIN 1 (the main L/R) – write MAIN 1 to make it explicit. The Watch screen’s table rewrites the cell to MAIN 1 and shows the same note under it, not in red. No other kind has a default, so BUS, AUX, CH, DCA and MTX on their own are refused.
• What is refused when the file loads – each is a condition no console could ever make true: a malformed target (CH, BUS -, DCA 3-), a position the WING does not have (CH 41, MAIN 5, DCA 17), a backwards range (DCA 16-10), and a field the kind does not have.

bad-target.watch.json: watch_conditions[0] ('spare-muted'): 'channel' 'CH 41': CH 41 does not exist -- a WING has CH 1-40

bad-field.watch.json: watch_conditions[0] ('dca-patched'): field 'patch' does not apply to DCA 1: a DCA has no input patch -- DCA conditions take 'muted' or 'fader_db'

The Watch screen’s conditions table checks each row against the same rules as you type: a cell it would refuse is outlined in red with the reason under it, and Save refuses until it is fixed.

Nothing here costs an extra console read: every bus, Main, Matrix and DCA’s mute and fader were already part of each pass, and every bus and DCA’s name part of each name refresh.

Only active strips

ALL BUS means every bus on the desk, so a rule like “no bus is muted” also fires on the busses the show never uses. Write the word ACTIVE in the cell and the condition is checked only on the strips that are active, at each pass:

You write	It means
ACTIVE ALL BUS	every bus that is active
ACTIVE CH 1-24	channels 1 to 24, while each is active
ACTIVE DCA 1-8, ACTIVE MTX 2	those DCAs, or that Matrix, while active

The word can stand anywhere and in any case: ALL ACTIVE BUS, ALL BUS ACTIVE and active all bus are the same, and the Watch editor and Save write them as ACTIVE ALL BUS. A cell that is only ACTIVE names no strip and is refused.

A strip is active when it is on the open show’s sheets, or in use on the desk:

• On the show’s sheets: a channel or aux the show places, or a bus, Main, Matrix, DCA or mute group it has, matched by position (a channel by its strip, the rest by number). The sheets are read from the show’s plan.
• In use on the desk:
  • a channel, aux or bus that is named, patched to a socket other than the factory’s, or sending; a bus also when something sends to it;
  • a DCA or mute group with a member;
  • a Main or Matrix that something sends or routes to, or that goes somewhere itself (a Main’s send to a Matrix, or an output socket patched from it).

With no show open, only the desk counts, and the “Watching without a plan” note says so. A strip that becomes active during the show is picked up at the next pass. The i beside the condition says it too: Alerts as an error when any active BUS is muted. Active: on this show’s sheets, or in use on the desk.

A desk where bus 1 is named, and busses 2 and 3 are not, all three muted, saved as active.state.json:

{
  "/bus/1/name": "Drums", "/bus/1/mute": 1, "/bus/1/fdr": 0.0,
  "/bus/2/name": "", "/bus/2/mute": 1, "/bus/2/fdr": 0.0,
  "/bus/3/name": "", "/bus/3/mute": 1, "/bus/3/fdr": 0.0
}

and the condition, saved as active.watch.json:

{
  "version": 2,
  "watch_conditions": [
    {
      "id": "bus-muted",
      "description": "A bus is muted",
      "channel": "ACTIVE ALL BUS",
      "field": "muted",
      "operator": "==",
      "value": true,
      "severity": "error"
    }
  ]
}

atoo watch --state-sequence active.state.json --watch-conditions active.watch.json --count 1

With no show, only bus 1 is active, because it is named on the desk:

[ERROR] WATCH:bus-muted A bus is muted
  BUS 1 "Drums" is muted -- A bus is muted.

Started with a show whose plan has a bus on number 3 (atoo watch --show DIR --state-sequence active.state.json --count 1, the condition in the show’s watch.json), bus 3 is active too. Bus 2 is neither, and never fires:

[ERROR] WATCH:bus-muted A bus is muted (2)
  BUS 1 "Drums", BUS 3
  Each is muted -- A bus is muted.

The built-in checks that ask whether a strip is in use (a fader at the floor, a bus with no inputs or no output, and the others the Rules reference lists) use the same “active”, so a bus on the show’s sheets is checked even before anything on the desk uses it. An ACTIVE condition does not replace them: both can fire on the same strip.

ACTIVE is always read as the word, never as part of a name: ACTIVE Kick watches the channel named Kick while it is active, and the editor says so under the cell. A strip whose own name has the word Active in it is watched by its position.

By kind and name

A kind word followed by a name means the one strip of that kind with that name. It reaches a bus, DCA, Main or Matrix by name, which a name alone never does:

You write	It means
BUS Drums	the bus named Drums
DCA Vocals	the DCA named Vocals
AUX Tracks	the aux named Tracks
CH Kick	the channel named Kick
MAIN PA, MTX Delay	the Main named PA, the Matrix named Delay

The kind words are the ones positions use (CH/CHN/CHAN, AUX, BUS, MAIN, MTX/MATRIX, DCA). The kind word is written back in capitals (bus drums is saved as BUS drums). The name keeps your spelling and matches regardless of case.

The name is looked up once, when Watch starts. Its position is what gets watched after that. Every pass checks BUS 1, not “whichever bus is called Drums now”, so watching by name adds no reads to each pass. The baseline says what each name matched, as an info finding. If someone renames or moves the strip after Start, Watch carries on watching the position it found; stop and start Watch to look the name up again.

A Main’s and a Matrix’s names are not part of a normal pass, so a MAIN or MTX name makes Watch read those names once, at Start, and never again. A capture played with --state-sequence has none of them, so there a MAIN or MTX name gets a warning that no name could be read.

Saved as scoped.watch.json:

{
  "version": 2,
  "watch_conditions": [
    {
      "id": "drum-bus-up",
      "description": "The drum bus is above -5 dB",
      "channel": "BUS Drums",
      "field": "fader_db",
      "operator": ">",
      "value": -5,
      "severity": "warning"
    },
    {
      "id": "drum-dca-down",
      "description": "The drum DCA is pulled right down",
      "channel": "DCA Drums",
      "field": "fader_db",
      "operator": "<=",
      "value": -60,
      "severity": "error"
    },
    {
      "id": "horns-muted",
      "description": "The horn bus is muted",
      "channel": "BUS Horns",
      "field": "muted",
      "operator": "==",
      "value": true,
      "severity": "error"
    }
  ]
}

atoo watch --state-sequence audit_demo_state.json --watch-conditions scoped.watch.json --count 1

The fixture has a bus and a DCA named Drums, so each condition looks only at strips of its own kind. It has no bus named Horns. Among the structural findings, the baseline has these lines of yours:

[ERROR] WATCH:drum-dca-down The drum DCA is pulled right down
  DCA 1 "Drums" has its fader at -144 dB -- The drum DCA is pulled right down.

[WARNING] WATCH:drum-bus-up The drum bus is above -5 dB
  BUS 1 "Drums" has its fader at 0 dB -- The drum bus is above -5 dB.

[WARNING] WATCH:horns-muted The horn bus is muted
  BUS Horns matches no BUS at Start -- none is named 'Horns' -- so the condition 'horns-muted' is not watched. It is tried again the next time Watch starts.

[INFO] WATCH:drum-bus-up The drum bus is above -5 dB
  BUS Drums resolved to BUS 1 at Start; a rename or move after Start is not followed until Watch restarts.

[INFO] WATCH:drum-dca-down The drum DCA is pulled right down
  DCA Drums resolved to DCA 1 at Start; a rename or move after Start is not followed until Watch restarts.

Things to know:

• On the Watch screen these lines are not table rows. The INFO resolutions and the not-watched warnings go on the This watch line under the table (Resolved at Start: BUS Drums → BUS 1, DCA Drums → DCA 1); the table keeps what is wrong on the desk.

• A name that matches two strips of its kind is not watched. It gets a warning naming every position it matched. Write the position you mean instead.

• The kind and name wins over a channel named the same. If a channel is literally called BUS Drums, the condition still watches the bus named Drums, and an info finding notes it. To watch that channel, write CH BUS Drums or its position.

• A channel whose name begins with a kind word – “Main Vox” – is written CH Main Vox. Plain Main Vox means the Main named Vox.

• A digit after the kind word is a position, so BUS 2 Track is refused rather than read as a bus named “2 Track”:

  bad-scoped.watch.json: watch_conditions[0] ('track-bus-up'): 'channel' 'BUS 2 Track' begins like a position but is not a well-formed one (a name after a kind word cannot begin with a number) -- to watch that strip, write its position, BUS 2

• Fields follow the kind, as for positions: patch on DCA Vocals is refused.

Sends and 48V

Some rules are about one show’s sends and its 48V, which the built-in rules cannot know, written as when to alert: the click is off in an in-ear mix, Kick is above -6 dB in the drummer’s mix, 48V is off for the overheads. Four fields say them.

field	value	operators	about
send_on	true / false	== !=	the strip’s send to the bus is switched on
send_db	a number, in dB	== != < <= > >=	the level of that send
send_mode	"pre", "post" or "group"	== !=	whether that send is pre- or post-fader
phantom	true / false	== !=	48V on the socket the strip is patched to

The three send_ fields need one more key, bus: where the send goes. It is written the way channel is.

You write	It means
Drums, BUS Drums	the bus named Drums
BUS 5	bus 5
BUS 5-8, ALL BUS	each of those busses
MTX 3	a send to Matrix 3
MAIN 1	the strip’s route to Main 1 (a route has a switch and nothing else, so only send_on takes it)

A bus is matched by name against the names last read, case-insensitively, so a rename is picked up at the next refresh; a name that matches no bus, or two, says nothing that pass. A Main’s and a Matrix’s names are not read, so those are written by position. Only a channel or an aux has sends of this kind, and bus goes on the three send_ fields and nowhere else. The loader refuses a missing bus or one on another field, a bus that does not exist, and a field the bus’s kind cannot take, before Watch reads anything.

Saved as sends.watch.json:

{
  "version": 2,
  "watch_conditions": [
    {
      "id": "kick-snare-out-of-drums-mix",
      "description": "Kick or Snare is out of the Drums mix",
      "channel": "CH 1-2",
      "field": "send_on",
      "bus": "BUS Drums",
      "operator": "==",
      "value": false,
      "severity": "error"
    },
    {
      "id": "kick-loud-in-drums",
      "description": "Kick is above -6 dB in the Drums mix",
      "channel": "Kick",
      "field": "send_db",
      "bus": "BUS Drums",
      "operator": ">",
      "value": -6,
      "severity": "warning"
    },
    {
      "id": "playback-in-drums",
      "description": "Playback is in the Drums mix",
      "channel": "Playback",
      "field": "send_on",
      "bus": "Drums",
      "operator": "==",
      "value": true,
      "severity": "error"
    }
  ]
}

atoo watch --state-sequence audit_demo_state.json --watch-conditions sends.watch.json --count 1

Among the structural findings, the baseline has two lines of yours. Kick and Snare both have their send to Drums on, so the first condition says nothing:

[ERROR] WATCH:playback-in-drums Playback is in the Drums mix
  CH 7 "Playback" has its send to BUS 1 "Drums" switched on -- Playback is in the Drums mix.

...
[WARNING] WATCH:kick-loud-in-drums Kick is above -6 dB in the Drums mix
  CH 1 "Kick" has its send to BUS 1 "Drums" at 0 dB -- Kick is above -6 dB in the Drums mix.

One finding per strip it is true of. A range on channel gives each strip its own finding, and a range on bus lists the busses that make it true inside one finding (has its sends to BUS 5 “IEM 1” and BUS 6 “IEM 2” switched off). A send that was not read is skipped, so a strip with some of its sends unread is judged on the rest. send_db compares the level whether or not the send is switched on, so is off and is at or below -10 are two conditions.

phantom is the 48V on the socket the strip is patched to and, for a stereo source, the socket after it: the condition fires when either makes it true, and the finding names that one. It has nothing to say for a strip that is not patched, one patched from a card, USB or another group with no 48V, one on its alternate input, or one whose 48V was not read. Save this small capture as condenser.state.json:

{
  "/ch/1/name": "OH L", "/ch/1/in/conn/grp": "LCL", "/ch/1/in/conn/in": 1,
  "/ch/2/name": "OH R", "/ch/2/in/conn/grp": "LCL", "/ch/2/in/conn/in": 2,
  "/ch/3/name": "Piano", "/ch/3/in/conn/grp": "LCL", "/ch/3/in/conn/in": 3,
  "/io/in/LCL/1/vph": 1, "/io/in/LCL/2/vph": 0, "/io/in/LCL/3/vph": 1
}

and these conditions as phantom.watch.json:

{
  "version": 2,
  "watch_conditions": [
    {
      "id": "overheads-48v-off",
      "description": "48V is off for the overheads",
      "channel": "CH 1-2",
      "field": "phantom",
      "operator": "==",
      "value": false,
      "severity": "error"
    },
    {
      "id": "piano-48v",
      "description": "The piano has 48V",
      "channel": "Piano",
      "field": "phantom",
      "operator": "==",
      "value": true,
      "severity": "error"
    }
  ]
}

atoo watch --state-sequence condenser.state.json --watch-conditions phantom.watch.json --count 1

...
[ERROR] WATCH:overheads-48v-off 48V is off for the overheads
  CH 2 "OH R" has 48V off at LCL 2 -- 48V is off for the overheads.

[ERROR] WATCH:piano-48v The piano has 48V
  CH 3 "Piano" has 48V on at LCL 3 -- The piano has 48V.
...

These cost no extra console read: a strip’s sends, its Main routes, its patch and each socket’s 48V and width are part of every pass already. The Watch screen’s conditions table has the same four fields, with the Bus box under the Field for the send_ ones.

Conditions most shows want

A handful of mistakes ruin a show, and the same handful turns up at most gigs. The Demo show’s watch.json carries a set worth starting from. A rule about a kind of strip is one condition on a range, not one per strip: the report still names every strip that it is true of, by number and by its name on the desk.

Watch for	Condition	Severity
the PA muted	MAIN 1, muted == true	error
the PA fader pulled down	MAIN 1, fader_db < -40	error
a monitor or in-ear mix muted	BUS 1-4, muted == true	error
a mix or FX bus muted or at the floor	BUS 5-7: muted == true, and fader_db < -40	error
a DCA muted or pulled down	DCA 1-5: muted == true, and fader_db < -30	error for the mute, warning for the fader
the one channel the room hears, muted	Lead Vox, muted == true	error
the click off in an in-ear mix	Click, send_on == false, bus BUS 5-8	error
a monitor send that is not pre-fader	CH 1-8, send_mode != "pre", bus BUS 1-4	warning
48V off on the condensers	CH 5-6, phantom == false	error

Write each description as what is wrong and nothing more (A DCA is muted.): the report adds the strip and what was read, as in DCA 2 "Band" has its fader at -144 dB -- A DCA fader is below -30 dB.

Here is the start of a house set, as a file of your own, house.watch.json:

{
  "version": 2,
  "watch_conditions": [
    {"id": "pa-muted", "description": "The PA is muted.", "channel": "MAIN 1", "field": "muted", "operator": "==", "value": true, "severity": "error"},
    {"id": "pa-fader-low", "description": "The PA fader is below -40 dB.", "channel": "MAIN 1", "field": "fader_db", "operator": "<", "value": -40, "severity": "error"},
    {"id": "monitor-muted", "description": "A monitor bus is muted.", "channel": "BUS 1-2", "field": "muted", "operator": "==", "value": true, "severity": "error"},
    {"id": "dca-muted", "description": "A DCA is muted.", "channel": "DCA 1-8", "field": "muted", "operator": "==", "value": true, "severity": "error"},
    {"id": "dca-fader-low", "description": "A DCA fader is below -30 dB.", "channel": "DCA 1-8", "field": "fader_db", "operator": "<", "value": -30, "severity": "warning"}
  ]
}

On the captured rig, only the DCA fader fires: DCA 1 is at the floor.

atoo watch --state-sequence audit_demo_state.json --watch-conditions house.watch.json --count 1

...
[WARNING] WATCH:dca-fader-low A DCA fader is below -30 dB.
  DCA 1 "Drums" has its fader at -144 dB -- A DCA fader is below -30 dB.
...

Leave out what the built-in rules already watch, or each fault comes up twice. Some of those rules run only when Watch has the show’s plan (--show, or the Watch screen with a show open); the example above has none, so they did not run there:

• A channel patched from a bus, Main or Matrix that sends back to it is R009 (an error), or R010 while one step of the loop is off or at the floor. No condition is needed for it.
• A stage box whose link drops is C008 (an error, when a channel or output depends on the port) or C009 (a warning: in error with nothing patched to it); a port reading UPD is C010 (information only: the desk flags the stage box’s firmware as older than it expects, and audio still passes). No condition is needed for it.
• A channel that reaches no output is CV016, with the plan. Without it, no built-in rule covers a channel that reaches nothing, so write muted == true on the channel that matters.
• A send switched off or flipped to post-fader, a Main route that is wrong, or a send or route that is on and not in the plan are CV006, CV007 and CV018, with the plan. They cover the plan’s sends and Main routes, so a condition for them would say the same thing twice.
• A condenser with its 48V off, or 48V on where the plan has none is CV019, with the plan. Without it, C001 covers only 48V on a socket nothing is patched to, and a phantom condition is the way to say which channels must have it.
• Something muted that the plan leaves unmuted is CV017, with the plan, at WARNING. If you always watch with the plan, write a mute condition only where the mute should be an ERROR, as the PA and the lead vocal are above; the table’s WARNING mute rows, the FX bus and the wedge, are for watching without it.
• A DCA at -20 dB or lower with live strips in it is CH002. A DCA fader condition still earns its place when you want your own threshold and severity. A send left on at -100 dB is L001.
• A DCA muted with live strips in it is CH004, a note; with the plan, a DCA it lists is CV017’s. A condition on the DCA’s muted is for when you want it as a warning or an error.
• 48V on an empty socket, two strips with one name are C001 and N001. An effect the plan inserts, bypassed is CV015, with the plan.

Where one of your conditions and a built-in rule both fire, Watch in the browser shows them as one row, yours (Read the table). What the plan’s rules catch is in Watching from the command line.

Where the file comes from

In precedence order, first one wins:

1. --watch-conditions PATH
2. watch.json in the show bundle named by --show
3. a standing house file, [watch_conditions] default in the config file

A bundle build also drafts a starting watch.json for you, which you then edit — see Show bundles.

See also

• Watching from the command line — atoo watch
• Watch the desk during a show — the Watch conditions editor in the browser
• Show bundles — where watch.json lives