Mast

The service

A clearer answer to a scattered question

Federal and state half-staff orders are published across government websites, press releases, proclamations, and status pages. Mast brings those notices together by location and date so the current answer is easier to understand without losing sight of the official source.

Location-aware status

See the federal and state orders that apply to a selected U.S. location.

Orders and schedules

Review effective dates, upcoming observances, calendars, and timelines.

Source-backed context

Understand why flags are lowered and follow the record back to its source.

Alerts and API access

Follow changes through notifications or use Mast data in another service.

How it works

From public notice to useful status

1

Monitor public sources

Mast checks known federal and state government sources for flag orders, notices, and status changes.
2

Organize each order

Dates, locations, authorities, and source details are normalized into a consistent record.
3

Present the current answer

Applicable orders appear together in the status view, map, calendar, timeline, alerts, and API.

When AI assists with a summary or translation, Mast labels that content and keeps the original source available for verification.

Important context

Designed to inform

Mast does not issue flag orders and is not a government agency. It is an independent reference that organizes public information. When the display of a flag carries legal, ceremonial, or operational importance, confirm the details with the linked official source.

Created by Josh Forehand

A small, independent public-interest project.

Mast is designed, developed, and maintained by Josh Forehand. It began as a practical answer to an everyday civic question and continues as a one-person passion project. You can find more of Josh's work at joshuaforehand.com.

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Current release

Release Van Buren

Version v1.7.8.1

Last updated 2026-07-23

Release history

Major release timeline

Each 1.X release family is named for a U.S. president.

Van Buren

July 15, 2026
Presidential fact
Van Buren was the first future president born a citizen of the United States.
National Park Service
- Added optional featured images for orders with managed uploads, flexible cropping, and responsive public presentation.
- Expanded automated social publishing with platform-ready summaries, threaded state details, delivery history, and failure recovery.
- Improved alert reliability with email delivery tracking, safer subscription management, and more consistent event continuity.
- Expanded Spanish support across public pages with language-aware navigation, localized metadata, and better translation feedback.
Jackson

July 8, 2026
Presidential fact
At 13, Jackson refused to clean a British officer's boots and carried the resulting sword scar for life.
White House Historical Association
- Expanded state and federal source coverage, including stronger White House and multi-state parsing.
- Added richer operator tools for manual orders, public notes, and managed profile and social images.
- Improved subscription checkout, account changes, public guidance, and shared UI standards.
Quincy Adams

June 26, 2026
Presidential fact
Adams began his diplomatic education at age 10 and became fluent in French, Dutch, and German.
White House Historical Association
- Introduced Puerto Rico order monitoring with Spanish summaries and localized public routes.
- Strengthened event lifecycle tracking, pipeline summaries, and source parsing for several states.
- Refined shared status widgets, footer health, toasts, referral metrics, and production safeguards.
Monroe

June 8, 2026
Presidential fact
Monroe fought in the Revolutionary War and was wounded at the Battle of Trenton.
White House Historical Association
- Moved flag-order history and pipeline scheduling into durable application storage.
- Expanded developer usage tracking, limit notifications, account security, and API documentation.
- Added order reactions, state-source guidance, improved location selection, and richer alert controls.
Madison

June 1, 2026
Presidential fact
At 29, Madison was the youngest delegate to the Continental Congress.
White House Historical Association
- Improved AI-summary reuse, date normalization, and consistent half-staff terminology.
- Added pipeline progress, run history, event-log management, and stronger review tools.
- Expanded source parsing, location-aware sharing, canonical routes, and notification workflows.
Jefferson

May 24, 2026
Presidential fact
Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
White House Historical Association
- Introduced durable application storage and consolidated state feeds around a shared processing engine.
- Added active-order presentation, map improvements, the embeddable status widget, and accessibility routes.
- Expanded email workflows, mobile polish, source coverage, and admin audience analytics.
Adams

May 18, 2026
Presidential fact
Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the Declaration's 50th anniversary.
White House Historical Association
- Added PDF extraction, local time zones, daylight bounds, and more precise order schedules.
- Introduced deeper pipeline monitoring, event management, loading states, and memory safeguards.
- Expanded notifications, operational metrics, and state-specific parsing and test coverage.
Washington

May 9, 2026
Presidential fact
Washington remains the only U.S. president unanimously elected by the Electoral College.
White House Historical Association
- Launched Mast's core federal and state flag-status experience with source-backed orders.
- Introduced developer registration, API access, email verification, and account security.
- Established alerts, daily social summaries, administrative metrics, and automated feed tests.