When 200 hides a failure
A client integration can return 200 with the wrong answer. Your agency needs to know before the client. Oh Dear calls each endpoint, every minute by default, and tests the status, body, headers and timing. A second location verifies a problem before anyone is alerted.
10-day free trial · No credit card required · Every feature included
Beyond the status code
An agency can see a green endpoint while a client's integration receives the wrong data. Define the response that counts as healthy, and the check fails when the reply is different.
Status-only check
Configured Oh Dear check
For JSON replies, assert on a field by path and condition. You can also require or exclude a string in the body and verify response headers. See response assertions in the docs.
Match the real request
A health check means little if it sends a different request from the integration. Set the method, credentials and payload first. Then decide which reply should pass.
Fresh request values
Some endpoints cache repeated requests or reject a reused idempotency key. Oh Dear can put a new timestamp, UUID or random string into each check.
Illustrative request
https://api.example/v1/availability?check=$OH_DEAR_UUID
X-Request-ID: $OH_DEAR_UUID
The URL and header get the same fresh UUID in one request.
A fresh request does not prove that a downstream webhook or business transaction completed.
Put a magic variable in the URL, a custom header or the POST payload. Oh Dear fills it in just before the request and shows the expanded URL in the check report. Use the same UUID in a header to find that request in the client's logs.
A timestamp can get past a cached response. A UUID keeps a test request distinct when a receiver rejects repeats. The check still judges only the response to that request.
Before a timeout
The endpoint may still answer while a client integration waits too long. Set a performance limit for that, and a request timeout for the endpoint that stops answering.
Performance alert
Set a response-time threshold in milliseconds. Oh Dear alerts when the monitor stays slower than that value. It can also flag a sudden change by comparing the last 15 minutes with the rest of the past two hours.
Failed HTTP check
Set the request timeout on the monitor. If the endpoint does not respond within it, the check fails. A second location verifies the problem before a downtime notification goes out.
An independent signal
Oh Dear makes the configured call from outside the client's stack. The check report records the URL it requested, the status and headers that came back, and a ready-to-run curl command. That gives your team a place to start when an assertion fails.
A failed check is verified from a second location. Notification timing is configurable, so the first failed run does not have to send an alert.
It covers everything from websites to APIs, from SSL certificates to response times.
Lukas Kahwe Smith, CTO at Witty Works
Your API checks run in the same account as your website checks, and alert through the same channels.
Operational ownership
An agency with many client integrations needs an alert that names the endpoint and leads to the failed run.
Send each notification to the team responsible for that client's integration, on the channels that team already uses.
The scope of one check
API monitoring sends one configured HTTP request and checks its response. Use a separate check for jobs and application state that a single reply cannot show.
No feature tiers
API monitoring is on every plan. You pay for the number of sites you monitor, not for which checks you need.
Try API monitoring alongside uptime, DNS and the rest of Oh Dear's website checks.
10-day free trial. No credit card.
Before the first check
What an HTTP check can see, when it alerts, and where its scope ends.
Oh Dear sends a configured HTTP request to an endpoint from a primary location, every minute by default. It checks the response status, body content, headers and timing against your settings. A 200 response can still fail when its contents do not match.
Yes. Configure a body assertion with a JSON path such as status, a condition such as equals, and an expected value such as ok. Oh Dear fails the check when the assertion is not met. You can also require or exclude a string in the body.
Yes. Add up to five custom request headers, such as an API key or an Authorization header. For a non-GET request, choose POST, PATCH or PUT and send form parameters or a raw JSON body.
Yes. Put a magic variable such as $OH_DEAR_UUID in the URL, a custom header or the POST payload. Oh Dear substitutes a fresh value for each request, and uses the same value everywhere that variable appears within that request.
Not necessarily. A detected problem is verified from a second location, and the monitor's notification settings control when an alert is sent.
Yes. A hard performance threshold alerts when the endpoint stays slower than the limit you choose. That is separate from the request timeout, which fails the HTTP check when the endpoint does not respond in time.
The check report shows the requested URL, the status and response headers that came back, and which assertion failed, with a ready-to-run curl command to reproduce the request. If you use magic variables, the expanded URL appears in the report.
No. An API check sends one configured request and validates that response. Scheduled task monitoring detects a missing or late heartbeat, not a correct business result.
Yes. Every plan has the same features. You pay for the number of sites you monitor, not for unlocking API checks.
Get started
Set the request and the response you expect. Every feature on. No credit card.
