diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 53c3878..c27b427 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ curl -s 'http://10.10.0.2:3100/loki/api/v1/label/host/values'   # -> {"data":["b
 
 `Thermograph — Fleet Logs` (auto-provisioned), with a `Node` selector:
 log volume by service, app error rate by tag, upstream 429 count, Caddy 5xx
-count, a notifier-liveness log panel, recent app errors, and a live all-container
+count, a per-node notifier-liveness indicator (from the heartbeat log), recent app errors, and a live all-container
 tail. Edit it in Grafana and re-export the JSON here to version a change.
 
 ## Notes / follow-ups
@@ -118,6 +118,6 @@ tail. Edit it in Grafana and re-export the JSON here to version a change.
 - **Loki is mesh-only** by design; only Grafana (with auth) is public.
 - Alloy reads the Docker socket read-only to discover containers.
 - Retention is 30 days on beta's disk — bump `loki/config.yml` if you want more.
-- Possible next step: have the app emit a periodic `notifier heartbeat` log line
-  so notifier liveness is a first-class log-derived signal, not just container
-  chatter.
+- The app emits a `tag=heartbeat` line for the subscription notifier every
+  ~15m; the dashboard's "Notifier alive?" panel turns red if a node misses it.
+  Extend the same `audit.log_heartbeat()` to any future background daemon.
diff --git a/grafana/dashboards/thermograph-logs.json b/grafana/dashboards/thermograph-logs.json
index 8587568..c417c8a 100644
--- a/grafana/dashboards/thermograph-logs.json
+++ b/grafana/dashboards/thermograph-logs.json
@@ -87,16 +87,25 @@
       ]
     },
     {
-      "type": "logs",
-      "title": "Subscription notifier",
-      "description": "Everything the app logs mentioning the notifier — its liveness at a glance.",
+      "type": "stat",
+      "title": "Notifier alive? (heartbeats / 20m, per node)",
+      "description": "The subscription notifier logs a heartbeat every ~15m (tag=heartbeat). 0 beats in the last 20m on a node means its notifier is down.",
       "gridPos": { "h": 4, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 8 },
       "datasource": { "type": "loki", "uid": "loki" },
-      "options": { "showTime": true, "wrapLogMessage": true, "dedupStrategy": "exact", "sortOrder": "Descending" },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "color": { "mode": "thresholds" },
+          "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [ { "color": "red", "value": null }, { "color": "green", "value": 1 } ] },
+          "mappings": [ { "type": "value", "options": { "0": { "text": "DOWN" } } } ]
+        }
+      },
+      "options": { "reduceOptions": { "calcs": ["lastNotNull"] }, "colorMode": "background", "textMode": "value_and_name", "graphMode": "none" },
       "targets": [
         {
           "datasource": { "type": "loki", "uid": "loki" },
-          "expr": "{job=\"docker\", service=\"app\", host=~\"$host\"} |~ \"(?i)notifier\""
+          "expr": "sum by (host) (count_over_time({job=\"app-json\", tag=\"heartbeat\", host=~\"$host\"} [20m]))",
+          "legendFormat": "{{host}}",
+          "instant": true
         }
       ]
     },