How do I configure the uptime check timeout?
By default, Oh Dear considers an uptime check to have failed if the response doesn't come back within a few seconds. You can raise or lower that threshold per monitor.
Where to change the uptime check timeout
- Open the monitor.
- Go to Settings > Uptime check.
- Find the Timeout field.
- Enter a value (in seconds).
- Save.
What counts towards the timeout
The timeout covers the entire request: DNS lookup, TCP connect, TLS handshake, sending the request, waiting for the server's first byte, and reading the response body. If the whole round-trip doesn't complete within the limit, we mark the check as failed.
Uptime check timeout recommendations
- Default (5 seconds) works for typical HTTP endpoints with healthy origins. If your site takes longer than this to respond, users are already struggling.
- Raise it for heavy endpoints like admin dashboards, search pages, or anything doing significant server work. 10-15 seconds is reasonable.
- Don't raise it beyond 30 seconds for uptime checks. If your site is that slow, something's wrong, and a 60-second wait isn't going to help the visitor experience.
- If you're monitoring an API that streams a response, consider a shorter timeout combined with a response-body assertion on an early token (so we fail fast if the stream stalls).
Timeout tuning is not a substitute for performance
If you keep raising the timeout to avoid false-positive alerts, the real problem is response-time drift. Use the performance check to get notified when response times trend up, and fix the underlying slowness rather than hiding it behind a higher timeout.
