Soundcheck Fleet And Client Reports

For agencies that look after many sites: fleet snapshots or compares every site in a list, a few at a time. It ranks them worst first on one page. report --client turns a result into a report with your agency's name, logo and color that you can send to a client.

Fleet

List the sites in a sites.yaml:

sites:
  - name: brew
    url: http://127.0.0.1:18931
    args: ["--viewport", "desktop"]
  - name: ledger
    url: http://127.0.0.1:18932
    args: ["--viewport", "desktop"]

A site can also name its own settings file and variable prefix:

  - name: acme-shop
    url: https://staging.acme.test
    config: acme.yaml            # relative to sites.yaml, passed as --config
    env_prefix: ACME             # default from the name: ACME_SHOP
    args: ["--limit", "50"]

Field	Means
name	the site's folder name: letters, digits, dots, dashes and underscores, up to 64. Names are compared without case.
url	the site; a bare host works
config	a settings file for this site, passed as --config
env_prefix	where this site's variables come from (see below). Default from the name: acme-shop reads ACME_SHOP_….
args	extra flags for this site

Before the first deploy, snapshot them all; after it, compare them all:

rhythm soundcheck fleet sites.yaml snapshot
rhythm soundcheck fleet sites.yaml compare

Fleet: taking a snapshot of 2 sites, 2 at a time
  [1/2] ledger: Warnings · 1 warning, 2 notices · 5s
  [2/2] brew: Warnings · 1 warning, 2 notices · 5s
Worst: brew (Warnings)
Fleet report: /home/you/agency/.soundcheck-fleet/fleet.html

Fleet: comparing 2 sites, 2 at a time
  [1/2] brew: Clean · 4s
  [2/2] ledger: Something broke · 1 broke, 3 new, 1 changed · 9s
Worst: ledger (Something broke)
Fleet report: /home/you/agency/.soundcheck-fleet/fleet.html

Each site runs in its own folder, .soundcheck-fleet/<name>/ next to sites.yaml, with its own .soundcheck/ store, its JSON result (result.json) and its log (soundcheck.log). fleet.html ranks the sites worst first (Couldn't check, Something broke, Interrupted, Has errors, Changed, Warnings, Clean) with each site's counts, pages, time and an LCP trend from its history. Each site links to its report. fleet.json holds the same for scripts.

Flag	Default	Description
--tabs <n>	3	Sites checked at once, 1 to 16.
--open	off	Open fleet.html when done.
--plain, --no-color	off	As for every command.

The exit code is the worst site's. A sites file that doesn't load exits 2 before any site runs.

Variables and logins per site

A site never sees another site's secrets. Each site gets a short allowlist of the fleet's environment (PATH, HOME, locale, proxy and CI variables), plus its own prefixed variables with the prefix taken off: ACME_SOUNDCHECK_USER becomes SOUNDCHECK_USER for the site acme only. The fleet's own unprefixed SOUNDCHECK_* variables go to no site.

export BREW_SOUNDCHECK_USER=sc-test BREW_SOUNDCHECK_PASSWORD=…
export LEDGER_RHYTHM_ECHO_TOKEN=…
rhythm soundcheck fleet sites.yaml compare

What args can't do

sites.yaml may come from someone else, so a site's args can't make Soundcheck run programs or write elsewhere:

• --json, --md, --junit, --html, -o, --config, --open and --name are set by the fleet: args can't set --json; the fleet sets it for every site.
• --allow-exec and --lighthouse need a variable instead: sites.yaml: site "acme": args can't set --allow-exec; to let this site's exec commands run, set ACME_SOUNDCHECK_ALLOW_EXEC=1 (and ACME_SOUNDCHECK_LIGHTHOUSE=1).
• --browser takes an engine name only (chrome, firefox, webkit), never a path: args can't set --browser ./evil.sh; a site's args name an engine (chrome, firefox or webkit), since the file can't let a site run programs.

Ctrl+C stops every site's run; each closes its browser and drops a half-made snapshot.

Client reports

report --client writes a standalone HTML page for a client: what was checked, what changed, before and after pictures, in plain words, with your brand. Describe the brand in an agency.yaml:

name: Acme Web & Co
logo: logo.svg          # PNG, JPEG or SVG, in this file's folder, up to 1 MB
accent: "#0F766E"       # hex color; default #E8603A
contact: hello@acme.test

Then render any stored result:

rhythm soundcheck report --client --brand agency.yaml -o client-report.html

Client report written to client-report.html

Without -o the HTML goes to stdout. For a fleet site, run it in that site's folder (.soundcheck-fleet/<name>/). The page for the comparison above reads, top to bottom:

• the title 127.0.0.1:18932 · website check · 25 October 2026, your logo and name, then Website check for <site>;
• a headline, here Something stopped working (or We found new problems, Everything works; some pages look or load differently, Everything works as before), with We checked 4 pages on 25 October 2026 and compared them with how they worked on 25 October 2026.;
• counts for Stopped working, New problem, Looks different, Slower and Fixed;
• What we checked, in plain words: 4 pages of the site, on desktop screens, Every page loads, without errors or missing parts, How every page looks, compared picture by picture, Buttons and menus respond when clicked and so on, one line per module and level that ran;
• What we found: up to eight changes such as Stopped working · Page not found (404) · On /about.php, with Before and After pictures for visual changes;
• Fixed since last time, then the footer Prepared by Acme Web & Co · hello@acme.test.

It never shows file paths, stack traces, selectors, check ids or fix hints: those are for you, in the normal report. UNSTABLE changes are left out. A run (not a comparison) gets We found errors on the site, The site works, with a few warnings or Everything works.

Errors, exit 2:

rhythm soundcheck: --client needs --brand <agency.yaml>: the agency's name, logo and color
rhythm soundcheck: --client writes HTML; name the file .html, not client.md

The brand file is checked too: a logo outside its folder, over 1 MB or not an image is refused. An SVG logo with scripts, event handlers, external links or entities is refused, never rewritten (SVG logos can't have <script> elements).

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