> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.periscope.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Service health

> Per-repository health status based on activity levels, contributor diversity, and cycle times.

Service health gives you an at-a-glance view of how each repository in your organization is doing. Periscope classifies each monitored repository as **healthy**, **warning**, or **stale** based on recent activity.

## What Periscope tracks

For each monitored repository, the dashboard shows:

* **Merge count** — total PRs merged in the time period
* **Contributor count** — number of distinct contributors
* **Average cycle time** — mean PR cycle time (in hours)
* **Health status** — healthy, warning, or stale
* **Last merge date** — when the most recent PR was merged
* **Weekly sparkline** — visual trend of merge activity

## Health classification

| Status      | Criteria                                                              |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Healthy** | Regular merge activity, multiple contributors, reasonable cycle times |
| **Warning** | Reduced activity, single contributor, or elevated cycle times         |
| **Stale**   | No merge activity in 14+ days                                         |

## How it works

Periscope evaluates each repository based on a combination of activity signals — including merge frequency, contributor diversity, and cycle time patterns — to determine health status. The classification updates automatically as new data flows in.

## Interpreting the data

### Stale services

A stale repository is not necessarily a problem. It may be:

* A mature, stable service that rarely changes
* A deprecated service that should be decommissioned
* A service that has been abandoned and needs ownership

Periscope flags stale services as [risk signals](/metrics/risk-signals) so you can investigate and decide which category they fall into.

### Single-contributor services

Services with only one contributor are a bus factor risk. If that person leaves or is unavailable, the team has no one who understands the codebase. Periscope flags this as a risk signal.

### Cycle time outliers

A service with much higher cycle time than others may have:

* More complex code that takes longer to review
* Fewer reviewers available (related to bus factor)
* A slower CI pipeline specific to that repository

## MCP tool

Query service health from your AI coding assistant:

```
get_service_health(time_range: "30d")
```

Returns a list of services with name, merge count, contributor count, average cycle time, health status, and last merge date.