Improve the self-host-beacon with clear messaging and make it opt-out (#33787)

Add clear messaging about how to disable the beacon.

GitOrigin-RevId: b6cc700d3e2675fa513696cca80a7f555e6d312a

Author: nipunn1313

crates/local_backend/build.rs

@@ -1,18 +1,10 @@
-use std::env;
-
 use vergen::EmitBuilder;
 
 fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-    // recompile when there's a new git hash for /rev endpoint.
-    if cfg!(not(debug_assertions)) || env::var("FORCE_EMIT").is_ok() {
-        // Emit git sha
-        EmitBuilder::builder()
-            .git_sha(false)
-            .git_commit_timestamp()
-            .emit()?;
-    } else {
-        println!("cargo:rustc-env=VERGEN_GIT_SHA=dev");
-        println!("cargo:rustc-env=VERGEN_GIT_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP=0000-00-00T00:00:00.000000000Z");
-    }
+    // recompile when there's a new git hash for beacon.
+    EmitBuilder::builder()
+        .git_sha(false)
+        .git_commit_timestamp()
+        .emit()?;
     Ok(())
 }

crates/local_backend/src/beacon.rs

@@ -38,18 +38,22 @@ pub async fn start_beacon(runtime: ProdRuntime, database: Database<ProdRuntime>)
             let globals = db_model.database_globals().await?;
 
             let client = Client::new();
-            let response = client
-                .post("https://api.convex.dev/api/self_host_beacon")
-                .json(&serde_json::json!({
-                    "document_id": globals.id().to_string(),
-                    "migration_version": globals.version,
-                    "compiled_revision": COMPILED_REVISION,
-                    "commit_timestamp": COMMIT_TIMESTAMP,
-                }))
-                .send()
-                .await?;
+            let sent_json = serde_json::json!({
+                "database_uuid": globals.id().to_string(),
+                "migration_version": globals.version,
+                "compiled_revision": COMPILED_REVISION,
+                "commit_timestamp": COMMIT_TIMESTAMP,
+            });
+            let url = "https://api.convex.dev/api/self_host_beacon";
+            let response = client.post(url).json(&sent_json).send().await?;
 
-            if !response.status().is_success() {
+            if response.status().is_success() {
+                tracing::info!(
+                    "Beacon request with json {sent_json} sent successfully to {url}. This \
+                     anonymized data is used to help Convex understand and improve the product. \
+                     You can disable this telemetry by setting the --disable-beacon flag."
+                );
+            } else {
                 tracing::warn!("Beacon request failed with status: {}", response.status());
             }
             Ok::<(), anyhow::Error>(())

crates/local_backend/src/config.rs

@@ -61,12 +61,13 @@ pub struct LocalConfig {
     #[clap(long, requires = "instance_name")]
     pub instance_secret: Option<String>,
 
-    /// Identifier (like a user ID) to attach to any senty
-    /// events generated by this backend.
-    #[clap(long)]
+    /// Identifier (like a user ID) to attach to any sentry
+    /// events generated by this backend. Sentry is disabled
+    /// by default.
+    #[clap(long, hide = true)]
     pub sentry_identifier: Option<String>,
 
-    /// Which directory should local storage use
+    /// Which directory should file storage use
     #[clap(long, default_value = "convex_local_storage")]
     local_storage: String,
 
@@ -75,6 +76,16 @@ pub struct LocalConfig {
     /// tests.
     #[clap(long)]
     pub do_not_require_ssl: bool,
+
+    /// self-hosted Convex will periodically communicate with a remote beacon
+    /// server. This is to help Convex understand and improve the product.
+    /// If set, the self-host beacon will not be sent.
+    #[clap(long)]
+    pub disable_beacon: bool,
+
+    /// A tag to identify the self-hosted instance.
+    #[clap(long, hide = true, default_value = "self-host")]
+    pub beacon_tag: String,
 }
 
 impl fmt::Debug for LocalConfig {

crates/local_backend/src/lib.rs

@@ -258,11 +258,7 @@ pub async fn make_app(
     let origin = config.convex_origin_url();
     let instance_name = config.name().clone();
 
-    // Start the beacon coroutine to help Convex improve the self-hosted product.
-    // This sends anonymous usage metrics like database version to help us
-    // understand how self-hosted instances are being used. You can opt in by
-    // setting CONVEX_ENABLE_BEACON=1
-    if std::env::var("CONVEX_ENABLE_BEACON").is_ok_and(|v| v == "1") {
+    if !config.disable_beacon {
         let beacon_future = beacon::start_beacon(runtime.clone(), database.clone());
         runtime.spawn("beacon_worker", beacon_future);
     }

crates/local_backend/src/main.rs

@@ -34,10 +34,16 @@ use tokio::signal::{
 };
 
 fn main() -> Result<(), MainError> {
-    tracing::info!("Starting a local backend");
     let _guard = config_service();
     let config = LocalConfig::parse();
-    tracing::info!("Starting with config {:?}", config);
+    tracing::info!("Starting a Convex backend");
+    if !config.disable_beacon {
+        tracing::info!(
+            "The self-host Convex backend will periodically communicate with a remote beacon \
+             server. This is to help Convex understand and improve the product. You can disable \
+             this telemetry by setting the --disable-beacon flag."
+        );
+    }
     let sentry = sentry::init(sentry::ClientOptions {
         release: Some(format!("local-backend@{}", *SERVER_VERSION_STR).into()),
         ..Default::default()