  We introduce the 4 Pi Sky 'hub', a collection of open data-services and
underlying software packages built for rapid, fully automated reporting and
response to astronomical transient alerts. These packages build on the mature
'VOEvent' standardized message-format, and aim to provide a decentralized and
open infrastructure for handling transient alerts. In particular we draw
attention to the initial release of voeventdb, an archive and remote-query
service that allows astronomers to make historical queries about transient
alerts. By employing spatial filters and web-of-citation lookups, voeventdb
enables cross-matching of transient alerts to bring together data from multiple
sources, as well as providing a point of reference when planning new follow-up
campaigns. We also highlight the recent addition of optical-transient feeds
from the ASASSN and GAIA projects to our VOEvent distribution stream. Both the
source-code and deployment-scripts which implement these services are freely
available and permissively licensed, with the intention that other teams may
use them to implement local or project-specific VOEvent archives. In the course
of describing these packages we provide a basic primer for getting started with
automated transient astronomy, including a condensed introduction to the
VOEvent standard.
