Fully self-hosted
Runs on infrastructure you control, without a third-party service sitting in the middle.
A fully self-hosted dead man’s switch for email
Your message, delivered when needed most.
totmann sends regular check-in emails to you. As long as you keep confirming that you are still there, nothing else happens. If those confirmations stop for long enough, it contacts the people you chose in advance.
Key features
What totmann handles, and what stays in your control.
You choose the rhythm
Set the check-in schedule that fits your life, instead of adapting yourself to a fixed cadence.
Intentional confirmation
Opening an email is not enough on its own. You make a deliberate confirmation, which helps prevent accidental resets.
Protected links
Confirmation and recipient links are protected so unsuitable or accidental requests do not trigger the real action.
Grace before escalation
The system waits through your configured window and safety buffer before it treats silence as a real problem.
Predefined contact list
The contact scope is fixed in advance, so the system does not improvise when it matters.
Recipient-specific messages
Different recipients can receive the message content you prepared for them, instead of one shared generic note.
Receipt confirmation
A recipient can confirm receipt so the same event does not keep generating unnecessary follow-up.
Private file delivery
Optional private files can be included for selected recipients when they are part of the plan.
Why it matters
Where this can actually be useful.
Death-case handover
Useful if selected people should receive prepared instructions only after you have stopped confirming for long enough to indicate a serious final event.
Crypto asset recovery
Useful if trusted people may need carefully prepared guidance for wallets, seed phrase locations, exchanges, or other crypto assets.
Banking and financial overview
Useful if your family or executor may need a private overview of bank accounts, insurance contacts, regular payments, or financial paperwork.
Digital estate access
Useful if important online accounts, domain names, servers, password-manager instructions, or other digital estate details must not disappear with you.
Incapacity-specific plan
Useful if you want a separate, narrower setup for coma or long-term incapacity, without handing over everything meant only for the death case.
Sensitive documents for trusted people
Useful if letters, account notes, contact lists, or private files should reach only the people you selected, and only when the switch actually fires.
How it works
What happens in practice.
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You receive a check-in email
totmann sends you a regular email asking you to confirm that you are still there.
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You confirm and the routine continues
As long as you confirm in time, the cycle resets and the prepared handover stays untouched.
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A meaningful gap changes the state
If confirmations stop for long enough, totmann treats that as a real absence rather than a single missed moment.
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The prepared handover goes out
The prepared recipient messages are sent individually, and extra follow-up can stop once receipt has been confirmed.
Summary
What totmann actually does for you.
Quiet in normal life
When your regular routine is working, totmann stays in the background instead of demanding constant attention.
Prepared before it is needed
The timing, recipient list, messages, and optional files are all decided in advance, before there is any urgency.
Problems do not stay hidden
If totmann detects a setup or runtime problem, it can send a separate warning mail to your own address so you hear about it directly.
Protected links, clear trail
Detailed logs help you review what happened, and the action links are protected with signed tokens, including HMAC-based signing.
Personal rather than broadcast
Escalation messages go out one by one, which keeps the handover clearer and more private than a shared blast.
Clear stop to follow-up
Once receipt has been confirmed for an event, the additional follow-up can end cleanly.
Roadmap
Where totmann could go next.
Interim safety handover
An optional middle step could let trusted people step in before final escalation happens.
Flexible hosting options
Future work may examine whether a more restricted shared-hosting mode is viable at all.
Mail handling upgrades
Planned ideas include richer mail priority controls and optional output-format choices.
Operator convenience
A later browser-based management layer could make recipients and messages easier to maintain.
Stronger recipient privacy
Further work may cover encrypted final messages and split-secret delivery models.
Resilience and portability
Longer-term ideas include alternative implementations, failover setups, and storage changes.