diff --git a/examples/README.md b/examples/README.md
index a4084fc2c..7cfe0a485 100644
--- a/examples/README.md
+++ b/examples/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ The test verifies the following scenarios end-to-end:
 | `cpp_supervised_app` | C++ app with alive supervision and crash recovery |
 | `rust_supervised_app` | Rust app with alive supervision and crash recovery |
 | `cpp_lifecycle_app` | C++ app demonstrating basic lifecycle management |
+| `cpp_supervised_app_simple` | C++ app demonstrating the plain `Alive` API (report Running, then periodic `ReportAlive()` heartbeats) without deadline/checkpoint supervision |
 | `control_daemon` | State Manager app for requesting RunTarget transitions |
 
 ## Launch Manager Configuration
diff --git a/examples/cpp_supervised_app_simple/BUILD b/examples/cpp_supervised_app_simple/BUILD
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6c19c658b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/cpp_supervised_app_simple/BUILD
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# *******************************************************************************
+# Copyright (c) 2026 Contributors to the Eclipse Foundation
+#
+# See the NOTICE file(s) distributed with this work for additional
+# information regarding copyright ownership.
+#
+# This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
+# terms of the Apache License Version 2.0 which is available at
+# https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# *******************************************************************************
+load("@rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl", "cc_binary")
+
+cc_binary(
+    name = "cpp_supervised_app_simple",
+    srcs = [
+        "main.cpp",
+    ],
+    copts = select({
+        "@platforms//os:qnx": [],
+        "@platforms//os:linux": [],
+    }),
+    linkopts = select({
+        "@platforms//os:qnx": [
+            "-lsocket",
+        ],
+        "@platforms//os:linux": [
+            "-lpthread",
+            "-lrt",
+        ],
+    }),
+    visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
+    deps = [
+        "//score/launch_manager:alive_cc",
+        "//score/launch_manager:lifecycle_cc",
+    ],
+)
diff --git a/examples/cpp_supervised_app_simple/main.cpp b/examples/cpp_supervised_app_simple/main.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..af677a592
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/cpp_supervised_app_simple/main.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+/********************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2026 Contributors to the Eclipse Foundation
+ *
+ * See the NOTICE file(s) distributed with this work for additional
+ * information regarding copyright ownership.
+ *
+ * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
+ * terms of the Apache License Version 2.0 which is available at
+ * https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ ********************************************************************************/
+
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <atomic>
+#include <chrono>
+#include <csignal>
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <optional>
+#include <thread>
+
+#ifdef __linux__
+#include <linux/prctl.h>
+#include <sys/prctl.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <score/mw/lifecycle/alive.h>
+#include <score/mw/lifecycle/report_running.h>
+
+/// @brief CLI configuration options for the cpp_supervised_app_simple process
+struct Config
+{
+    std::uint32_t sleepInMs{50};
+};
+
+std::optional<Config> parseOptions(int argc, char* const* argv) noexcept
+{
+    Config config{};
+    int c;
+    while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "s:h")) != -1)
+    {
+        switch (static_cast<char>(c))
+        {
+            case 's':
+                config.sleepInMs = std::stoi(optarg);
+                break;
+
+            case 'h':
+                std::cout << "Usage: \n\
+                            -s <Sleep time in ms between alive notifications>\n";
+                return std::nullopt;
+
+            default:
+                break;
+        }
+    }
+    return config;
+}
+
+std::atomic<bool> exitRequested{false};
+void signalHandler(int signal)
+{
+    if (signal == SIGINT || signal == SIGTERM)
+    {
+        exitRequested = true;
+    }
+}
+
+void set_process_name()
+{
+    const char* identifier = getenv("PROCESSIDENTIFIER");
+    if (identifier != nullptr)
+    {
+#if defined(__QNXNTO__)
+        if (pthread_setname_np(pthread_self(), identifier) != 0)
+        {
+            std::cerr << "Failed to set QNX thread name" << std::endl;
+        }
+#elif defined(__linux__)
+        if (prctl(PR_SET_NAME, identifier) < 0)
+        {
+            std::cerr << "Failed to set process name to " << identifier << std::endl;
+        }
+#endif
+    }
+}
+
+/// @brief Minimal example of the Alive API: report Running once, then report
+/// alive notifications periodically until the Launch Manager requests shutdown.
+/// Unlike cpp_supervised_app, this example has no deadline/checkpoint
+/// supervision -- it only demonstrates the plain alive heartbeat.
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+    set_process_name();
+
+    signal(SIGINT, signalHandler);
+    signal(SIGTERM, signalHandler);
+
+    const auto config = parseOptions(argc, argv);
+    if (!config)
+    {
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+
+    std::optional<score::mw::lifecycle::Alive> alive;
+    try
+    {
+        alive.emplace("cpp_supervised_app_simple");
+    }
+    catch (const std::exception& e)
+    {
+        std::cerr << "Failed to create Alive instance: " << e.what() << std::endl;
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+
+    score::mw::lifecycle::report_running();
+
+    while (!exitRequested)
+    {
+        alive->ReportAlive();
+        std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(config->sleepInMs));
+    }
+
+    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+}
diff --git a/examples/demo_verification/BUILD b/examples/demo_verification/BUILD
index cbca3b511..171dd12f7 100644
--- a/examples/demo_verification/BUILD
+++ b/examples/demo_verification/BUILD
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ integration_test(
         "//examples/control_application:lmcontrol",
         "//examples/cpp_lifecycle_app",
         "//examples/cpp_supervised_app",
+        "//examples/cpp_supervised_app_simple",
         "//examples/rust_supervised_app",
         "//score/launch_manager",
     ],
diff --git a/examples/demo_verification/lifecycle_demo_test.json b/examples/demo_verification/lifecycle_demo_test.json
index 0ad84cdb4..48dd6b9b3 100644
--- a/examples/demo_verification/lifecycle_demo_test.json
+++ b/examples/demo_verification/lifecycle_demo_test.json
@@ -117,6 +117,20 @@
                     "PROCESSIDENTIFIER": "lifecycle_app"
                 }
             }
+        },
+        "cpp_supervised_app_simple": {
+            "component_properties": {
+                "binary_name": "cpp_supervised_app_simple",
+                "process_arguments": [
+                    "-s50"
+                ]
+            },
+            "deployment_config": {
+                "environmental_variables": {
+                    "PROCESSIDENTIFIER": "cpp_supervised_app_simple",
+                    "IDENTIFIER": "cpp_supervised_app_simple"
+                }
+            }
         }
     },
     "run_targets": {
@@ -136,7 +150,8 @@
                 "cpp_supervised_app",
                 "rust_supervised_app",
                 "c_supervised_app",
-                "lifecycle_app"
+                "lifecycle_app",
+                "cpp_supervised_app_simple"
             ],
             "recovery_action": {
                 "switch_run_target": {
diff --git a/examples/demo_verification/test_examples.py b/examples/demo_verification/test_examples.py
index 70bdc7f7b..f3eaa0219 100644
--- a/examples/demo_verification/test_examples.py
+++ b/examples/demo_verification/test_examples.py
@@ -20,30 +20,53 @@
     "rust_supervised_app",
     "cpp_lifecycle_app",
     "c_supervised_app",
+    "cpp_supervised_app_simple",
 )
 
 
+def _cmdline_pattern(binary):
+    """Anchored ERE matching an exact argv token equal to `binary`, either
+    bare or with a path prefix (e.g. "/tmp/tests/examples/cpp_supervised_app").
+
+    Anchoring matters once `cpp_supervised_app_simple` is in the mix: a plain
+    substring search for "cpp_supervised_app" also matches inside
+    "cpp_supervised_app_simple"'s cmdline, which would silently break both
+    _assert_running (false positive) and _assert_not_running (false negative
+    after killing the base app) for the shorter name.
+    """
+    return f"^({binary}|.*/{binary})$"
+
+
+def _proc_has_binary(target, binary):
+    """True if any process's argv (NUL-separated in /proc/*/cmdline, turned
+    into one-token-per-line here) has an exact token matching `binary`."""
+    pattern = _cmdline_pattern(binary)
+    rc, _ = target.execute(
+        f"cat /proc/*/cmdline 2>/dev/null | tr '\\0' '\\n' | grep -qE '{pattern}'"
+    )
+    return rc == 0
+
+
 def _assert_running(target, *binaries):
     """Assert each binary has a live entry in /proc/*/cmdline."""
     for binary in binaries:
-        pattern = f"[{binary[0]}]{binary[1:]}"
-        rc, _ = target.execute(f"grep -qa '{pattern}' /proc/*/cmdline 2>/dev/null")
-        assert rc == 0, f"{binary} is not running"
+        assert _proc_has_binary(target, binary), f"{binary} is not running"
 
 
 def _assert_not_running(target, binary):
     """Assert no live /proc/*/cmdline entry exists for binary."""
-    pattern = f"[{binary[0]}]{binary[1:]}"
-    rc, _ = target.execute(f"grep -qa '{pattern}' /proc/*/cmdline 2>/dev/null")
-    assert rc != 0, f"{binary} is still running; expected it to be stopped"
+    assert not _proc_has_binary(target, binary), (
+        f"{binary} is still running; expected it to be stopped"
+    )
 
 
 def _send_signal(target, binary, signal):
     """Find binary via /proc/*/cmdline and send signal in a single shell invocation."""
-    pattern = f"[{binary[0]}]{binary[1:]}"
+    pattern = _cmdline_pattern(binary)
     _, pid_output = target.execute(
         f"p=; for c in /proc/[0-9]*/cmdline; do "
-        f"grep -qa '{pattern}' $c 2>/dev/null && p=$(echo $c | cut -d/ -f3) && break; "
+        f"tr '\\0' '\\n' < \"$c\" 2>/dev/null | grep -qE '{pattern}' "
+        f"&& p=$(echo $c | cut -d/ -f3) && break; "
         f"done; kill -{signal} $p 2>/dev/null; echo $p"
     )
     assert pid_output.strip(), f"Failed to find {binary} to send signal {signal}"