diff --git a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemon.php b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemon.php
--- a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemon.php
+++ b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemon.php
@@ -3,10 +3,16 @@
 /**
  * Scaffolding for implementing robust background processing scripts.
  *
+ *
+ * @task overseer Communicating With the Overseer
+ *
  * @stable
  */
 abstract class PhutilDaemon {
 
+  const MESSAGETYPE_STDOUT = 'stdout';
+  const MESSAGETYPE_HEARTBEAT = 'heartbeat';
+
   private $argv;
   private $traceMode;
   private $traceMemory;
@@ -26,7 +32,6 @@
   private static $sighandlerInstalled;
 
   final public function __construct(array $argv) {
-
     declare(ticks = 1);
     $this->argv = $argv;
 
@@ -41,12 +46,17 @@
     // Without discard mode, this consumes unbounded amounts of memory. Keep
     // memory bounded.
     PhutilServiceProfiler::getInstance()->enableDiscardMode();
+
+    $this->beginStdoutCapture();
+  }
+
+  final public function __destruct() {
+    $this->endStdoutCapture();
   }
 
   final public function stillWorking() {
-    if (!posix_isatty(STDOUT)) {
-      posix_kill(posix_getppid(), SIGUSR1);
-    }
+    $this->emitOverseerMessage(self::MESSAGETYPE_HEARTBEAT, null);
+
     if ($this->traceMemory) {
       $memuse = number_format(memory_get_usage() / 1024, 1);
       $daemon = get_class($this);
@@ -142,4 +152,40 @@
     }
   }
 
+
+/* -(  Communicating With the Overseer  )------------------------------------ */
+
+
+  private function beginStdoutCapture() {
+    ob_start(array($this, 'didReceiveStdout'), 2);
+  }
+
+  private function endStdoutCapture() {
+    ob_end_flush();
+  }
+
+  public function didReceiveStdout($data) {
+    if (!strlen($data)) {
+      return '';
+    }
+    return $this->encodeOverseerMessage(self::MESSAGETYPE_STDOUT, $data);
+  }
+
+  private function encodeOverseerMessage($type, $data) {
+    $structure = array($type);
+
+    if ($data !== null) {
+      $structure[] = $data;
+    }
+
+    return json_encode($structure)."\n";
+  }
+
+  private function emitOverseerMessage($type, $data) {
+    $this->endStdoutCapture();
+    echo $this->encodeOverseerMessage($type, $data);
+    $this->beginStdoutCapture();
+  }
+
+
 }
diff --git a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonOverseer.php b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonOverseer.php
--- a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonOverseer.php
+++ b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonOverseer.php
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
   const RESTART_WAIT        = 5;
 
   private $captureBufferSize = 65536;
+  private $stdoutBuffer;
 
   private $deadline;
   private $deadlineTimeout  = 86400;
@@ -187,7 +188,6 @@
       ));
 
     declare(ticks = 1);
-    pcntl_signal(SIGUSR1, array($this, 'didReceiveKeepaliveSignal'));
     pcntl_signal(SIGUSR2, array($this, 'didReceiveNotifySignal'));
 
     pcntl_signal(SIGINT,  array($this, 'didReceiveGracefulSignal'));
@@ -259,11 +259,12 @@
           $result = $future->resolve(1);
 
           list($stdout, $stderr) = $future->read();
-          $stdout = trim($stdout);
           $stderr = trim($stderr);
+
           if (strlen($stdout)) {
-            $this->logMessage('STDO', $stdout);
+            $this->didReadStdout($stdout);
           }
+
           if (strlen($stderr)) {
             $this->logMessage('STDE', $stderr);
           }
@@ -310,6 +311,37 @@
     exit(0);
   }
 
+  private function didReadStdout($data) {
+    $this->stdoutBuffer .= $data;
+    while (true) {
+      $pos = strpos($this->stdoutBuffer, "\n");
+      if ($pos === false) {
+        break;
+      }
+      $message = substr($this->stdoutBuffer, 0, $pos);
+      $this->stdoutBuffer = substr($this->stdoutBuffer, $pos + 1);
+
+      $structure = @json_decode($message, true);
+      if (!is_array($structure)) {
+        $structure = array();
+      }
+
+      switch (idx($structure, 0)) {
+        case PhutilDaemon::MESSAGETYPE_STDOUT:
+          $this->logMessage('STDO', idx($structure, 1));
+          break;
+        case PhutilDaemon::MESSAGETYPE_HEARTBEAT:
+          $this->deadline = time() + $this->deadlineTimeout;
+          break;
+        default:
+          // If we can't parse this or it isn't a message we understand, just
+          // emit the raw message.
+          $this->logMessage('STDO', pht('<Malformed> %s', $message));
+          break;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   public function didReceiveNotifySignal($signo) {
     $pid = $this->childPID;
     if ($pid) {
@@ -317,10 +349,6 @@
     }
   }
 
-  public function didReceiveKeepaliveSignal($signo) {
-    $this->deadline = time() + $this->deadlineTimeout;
-  }
-
   public function didReceiveGracefulSignal($signo) {
     // If we receive SIGINT more than once, interpret it like SIGTERM.
     if ($this->inGracefulShutdown) {
diff --git a/src/daemon/torture/PhutilNiceDaemon.php b/src/daemon/torture/PhutilNiceDaemon.php
--- a/src/daemon/torture/PhutilNiceDaemon.php
+++ b/src/daemon/torture/PhutilNiceDaemon.php
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 final class PhutilNiceDaemon extends PhutilTortureTestDaemon {
 
   protected function run() {
-    while (true) {
+    while (!$this->shouldExit()) {
       $this->log(date('r'));
       $this->stillWorking();
       sleep(1);