User Sessions

User Sessions gives you real-time visibility into who is logged into every managed device, how they connected, and whether they are actively working or idle. The Breeze agent continuously monitors OS-level session events – console logins, RDP connections, SSH sessions, lock/unlock transitions – and reports them to the API every five minutes. Login and logout events are published to the event bus in real time so you can trigger automations, generate alerts, or feed session data into your SIEM.

This feature is designed for security auditing, license compliance, and helpdesk workflows. When a technician needs to know if someone is actively using a workstation before pushing a reboot, they can check the session list. When compliance requires proof that only authorized users accessed a server, the session history provides timestamped evidence with per-session deduplication.

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Key Concepts

Session Types

Type	Description
console	Local interactive login at the physical console or display
rdp	Remote Desktop Protocol session (Windows) or remote graphical session
ssh	Secure Shell session (typically Linux/macOS, or PuTTY on Windows)
other	Any session type that does not match the above categories

Activity States

State	Description
active	User is actively interacting with the session
idle	Session is open but no recent input has been detected
locked	Session is locked (e.g., Win+L or screen lock)
away	Session state could not be determined or user is otherwise unavailable
disconnected	Session was disconnected but not fully logged out (common with RDP)

Session Event Types

Event	Description
login	User logged into the device
logout	User logged out of the device
lock	User locked their session
unlock	User unlocked their session
switch	Active session was switched (e.g., fast user switching)

Session Record Fields

Field	Type	Description
id	UUID	Unique identifier for the session record
orgId	UUID	Organization the device belongs to
deviceId	UUID	Device where the session was detected
username	string (max 255)	Username of the logged-in user
sessionType	enum	One of console, rdp, ssh, other
osSessionId	string (max 128)	OS-level session identifier (e.g., Windows session ID, TTY name)
loginAt	datetime	When the user logged in
logoutAt	datetime	When the user logged out (null if still active)
durationSeconds	integer	Total session duration in seconds (computed at logout)
idleMinutes	integer	Current idle time in minutes (0-10080, i.e., up to 7 days)
activityState	enum	Current activity state (see table above)
loginPerformanceSeconds	integer	Time from login initiation to desktop ready (0-36000)
isActive	boolean	Whether the session is currently active
lastActivityAt	datetime	Timestamp of the most recent user activity
metadata	text	Optional additional metadata
createdAt	datetime	When the record was created
updatedAt	datetime	When the record was last updated

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How Session Data Is Collected

1. Agent starts the session collector

   When the Breeze agent starts, it initializes a SessionCollector that calls into the platform-specific SessionDetector. The detector uses native OS APIs to enumerate active sessions:

   Windows

   Uses the Windows Terminal Services API (WTS) to enumerate sessions. Detects console, RDP, and service sessions. Reports the Windows session ID, username, and connection state. Monitors WM_WTSSESSION_CHANGE messages for real-time login, logout, lock, unlock, and disconnect events.

   macOS

   Uses utmpx records and system calls to detect console and SSH sessions. Identifies remote sessions by checking the display environment and TTY names. Falls back to non-cgo detection when compiled without cgo support.

   Linux

   Queries systemd-logind (via D-Bus) or falls back to parsing utmp/wtmp records. Detects console seats, SSH sessions (identified by pts/* TTY names), and graphical display sessions. Monitors D-Bus signals for real-time session change notifications.

2. Periodic refresh and event watching

   The collector runs two concurrent loops:

   • A full refresh every 5 minutes that re-enumerates all active sessions from the OS, reconciling them against the known session map. Sessions with empty usernames (e.g., Windows Session 0 / services) are automatically filtered out.
   • A real-time event watcher that subscribes to OS session change notifications and immediately updates the session map when a login, logout, lock, unlock, or switch event occurs.

3. Session type inference

   The agent infers the session type based on the OS-reported metadata:

   • If the session is flagged as remote and the display is empty or a TTY (tty, pts/*), it is classified as ssh.
   • If the session is flagged as remote with a graphical display, it is classified as rdp.
   • All non-remote sessions are classified as console.

4. Activity state mapping

   Raw OS session states are normalized to the Breeze activity state enum:

   OS-Reported State	Breeze State
   active, online	active
   idle	idle
   locked	locked
   closing, disconnected	disconnected
   Anything else	away

5. Data is submitted to the API

   During each heartbeat cycle, the agent calls PUT /agents/:id/sessions with the current session list and any queued events. The payload includes up to 128 active sessions and up to 256 events per submission.

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Session Deduplication

The API uses a composite identity key to deduplicate sessions:

username (lowercase) :: sessionType :: osSessionId

When the agent submits a session update, the API compares the incoming sessions against the existing active sessions for that device using this key:

• New sessions (key not found in existing active set) are inserted as new rows.
• Existing sessions (key matches an active row) have their idleMinutes, activityState, loginPerformanceSeconds, and lastActivityAt fields updated.
• Stale sessions (active rows whose key is not present in the incoming set) are automatically marked as logged out. The API sets isActive = false, records logoutAt, computes durationSeconds, and sets the activity state to disconnected.

This approach ensures that even if the agent restarts or misses a logout event, the session state eventually converges to the correct state on the next submission.

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Event Publishing

Login and logout events are published to the Breeze event bus in real time, enabling downstream automations and integrations:

Event Type	Published When
session.login	A login event is included in the submission
session.logout	A logout event is included in the submission

Each published event includes:

Field	Description
deviceId	The device UUID
hostname	The device hostname
username	The user who logged in or out
sessionType	The session type (console, rdp, ssh, other)
sessionId	The OS session ID (if available)
activityState	The activity state at the time of the event
timestamp	When the event occurred

Tip

You can use these events to trigger automations – for example, sending a Slack notification when an admin account logs into a server via RDP, or creating a ticket when a user logs into a workstation outside business hours.

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API Reference

Method	Path	Description
PUT	/agents/:id/sessions	Submit current session state and events for a device (agent auth required)

PUT /agents/:id/sessions

Submits the current session list and any queued login/logout/lock/unlock events for a device. This endpoint is called by the agent during each heartbeat cycle.

Request body:

{
  "sessions": [
    {
      "username": "jdoe",
      "sessionType": "console",
      "sessionId": "1",
      "loginAt": "2026-03-02T10:30:00Z",
      "idleMinutes": 5,
      "activityState": "active",
      "loginPerformanceSeconds": 12,
      "isActive": true,
      "lastActivityAt": "2026-03-02T14:25:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "events": [
    {
      "type": "login",
      "username": "jdoe",
      "sessionType": "console",
      "sessionId": "1",
      "timestamp": "2026-03-02T10:30:00Z",
      "activityState": "active"
    }
  ],
  "collectedAt": "2026-03-02T14:30:00Z"
}

Response (200):

{
  "success": true,
  "activeSessions": 1,
  "events": 1
}

Validation Constraints

Field	Constraint
sessions	Array of up to 128 session objects
sessions[].username	Required, 1-255 characters
sessions[].sessionType	Required, one of console, rdp, ssh, other
sessions[].sessionId	Optional, max 128 characters
sessions[].idleMinutes	Optional, integer 0-10080 (7 days)
sessions[].loginPerformanceSeconds	Optional, integer 0-36000 (10 hours)
events	Optional array of up to 256 event objects
events[].type	Required, one of login, logout, lock, unlock, switch
events[].username	Required, 1-255 characters
events[].sessionType	Required, one of console, rdp, ssh, other

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Database Indexes

The device_sessions table has the following indexes for efficient querying:

Index	Columns	Use Case
device_sessions_org_active_idx	org_id, is_active	List all active sessions across an organization
device_sessions_device_active_idx	device_id, is_active	List active sessions for a specific device
device_sessions_device_login_idx	device_id, login_at	Query session history by login time
device_sessions_device_user_idx	device_id, username	Find sessions by username on a device

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Troubleshooting

No sessions appear for a device

• Verify the agent is online and sending heartbeats. Session data is submitted during the heartbeat cycle.
• Check that the agent version supports session collection (the SessionCollector must be initialized).
• On Linux, ensure the agent has access to systemd-logind via D-Bus, or that utmp/wtmp files are readable.

Sessions show as “disconnected” immediately

• This occurs when the agent submits a session list that does not include a previously active session. The API marks the missing session as logged out.
• If the agent restarted, it may not have retained the previous session state. The next full refresh (within 5 minutes) will re-detect active sessions.

RDP sessions show as “ssh” or vice versa

• Session type inference relies on the OS-reported remote flag and the display/TTY name. If a remote session uses an unusual display name, it may be misclassified.
• On Linux, pts/* TTY sessions are classified as SSH regardless of the actual connection method. If you use a remote desktop tool that creates a pts TTY, it will be classified as SSH.

Windows Session 0 / service sessions appear

• Sessions with empty usernames are automatically filtered out by both the agent and the API. Windows Session 0 (the services session) typically has no username and is excluded.
• If service accounts are logging in interactively, they will appear as regular sessions with their service account username.

Idle time is always 0

• The idleMinutes field is currently set to 0 during full refreshes unless the OS provides idle time data. Real-time idle detection depends on the platform-specific session detector implementation.
• On Windows, idle time is available via the WTS API. On Linux and macOS, idle time detection may require additional configuration.