diff --git a/EPICS2SMS.sh b/EPICS2SMS.sh
index 8b442f8..f94f879 100755
--- a/EPICS2SMS.sh
+++ b/EPICS2SMS.sh
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ fi
 # --- launch monitors --------------------------------------------------------
 
 pids=()
+summaries=()
 cleaned=0
 
 cleanup() {
@@ -240,6 +241,8 @@ for entry in "${MONITORS[@]}"; do
 
   monitor_loop "$pv" "$dir" "$thresh" "$poll" "$apoll" "$n_avg" "$n_msg" "$text" &
   pids+=("$!")
+  # Brief per-monitor line for the startup notification.
+  summaries+=("$text (poll ${poll}s/alarm ${apoll}s, avg ${n_avg}, max ${n_msg} msg)")
 done
 
 if (( ${#pids[@]} == 0 )); then
@@ -247,5 +250,17 @@ if (( ${#pids[@]} == 0 )); then
   exit 2
 fi
 
+# Send a brief startup notification so recipients know the monitor is running
+# and what it watches. Best-effort: a failure here must not stop monitoring.
+startup_body="EPICS2SMS started $(date '+%F %T') on $(hostname -s), ${#pids[@]} monitor(s):"
+for line in "${summaries[@]}"; do
+  startup_body+=$'\n'"- $line"
+done
+if send_alert "$startup_body" "EPICS2SMS started"; then
+  log "startup notification sent"
+else
+  log "WARNING: startup notification failed to send"
+fi
+
 log "started ${#pids[@]} monitor(s); polling..."
 wait
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7b333ac..7259cc5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@ MONITORS=(
 )
 ```
 
+On startup, the script sends **one brief notification** to all recipients
+listing the monitors it is watching (PV, threshold, timing) so you can confirm
+it is running. This is best-effort: if it fails to send, monitoring still
+starts.
+
 Behaviour of one monitor:
 
 - polls the PV every `poll_s` seconds while normal, every `alarm_poll_s` while