Uptime monitor
Follow these steps to create a new monitor.
Checks to perform
Select the type of checks you want to configure:
Website monitoring
Uses HTTP(s) protocols to monitor your website or API endpoint.
Options: HTTPS or HTTP.
Ping monitoring
Confirms the server's availability using ping responses.
Docker monitoring: Monitors whether a Docker container is running.
Ensure your Docker daemon is exposed.
Docker IDs must be the full 64 char Docker ID. You can run
docker inpsect <short_id>to get the full container ID.
Port monitoring
Checks whether your port is open or not.
General settings
URL to Monitor: Provide the complete URL of the website or service you want to monitor.
Display Name (Optional): Assign a custom name for easier identification in your dashboard.
Incident notifications
Stay informed when incidents occur:
Email Notifications: Receive alerts via email.
Notification integration: If you want to get notified on Discord, Slack, Telegram or via Webhooks, you can use this section. Click on the button and you'll see a list of notification channels.
Ignore TLS/SSL error
If there is a TLS/SSL error when connecting to a service, you can tell Checkmate to continue checking the service's uptime.
Advanced settings
Check frequency
Set the frequency of checks. The default is 1 minute, but you can adjust this based on your requirements.
After completing all configurations, click the Create monitor button at the bottom-right to activate your monitor.
Response validations
When creating or configuring an uptime monitor in Checkmate, you have access to advanced settings that allow for precise response validation. This guide explains how to use these features effectively.
Match method
The Match Method determines how Checkmate compares your expected value with the actual response data.
Method
Description
Example
Equal
Checks if the response exactly matches the expected value
success matches only if response contains exactly “success”
Include
Checks if the response contains the expected value
Welcome matches if response contains “Welcome” anywhere
Regex
Uses regular expression pattern matching
^[A-Z][a-z]+$ matches any capitalized word
The Expected Value field defines what you want to check for in the response body content.
JSON path
The JSON Path field allows you to extract and validate specific data from JSON responses using JMESPath syntax.
When to Use JSON Path
When testing APIs that return JSON responses
When you need to validate nested data within a complex response
When you only care about a specific value in a larger JSON object
Example Scenarios
Scenario 1: Checking Website Availability
Field
Value
Explanation
Match Method
Include
Partial match is sufficient
Expected Value
</html>
Looking for HTML closing tag
JSON Path
empty
Check the entire response
Scenario 2: Verifying User Data in API Response
Field
Value
Explanation
Match Method
Equal
Exact match required
Expected Value
true
Checking if user is active
JSON Path
data.user.active
Extract the active status from the user object
Scenario 3: Checking for Error Messages
Field
Value
Explanation
Match Method
Include
Partial match is sufficient
Expected Value
error
Looking for any error message
JSON Path
message
Extract only the message field
When monitoring websites, it’s essential to understand how Checkmate evaluates responses:
How response checking works:
Response Body Only: The Expected Value field checks the response body content only, not HTTP metadata like status codes. Checkmate does not provide a direct way to check the HTTP status code through Expected Value.
For Website Monitoring (HTML Responses):
Focus on checking for content that should be present on your website:
Use Expected Value: Google with Match Method: Include for Google.com
Use Expected Value: <html with Match Method: Include for most websites
For JSON API Monitoring:
If the API includes the status code in the response body, use JSON Path to extract it:
JSON Path: status with Expected Value: success
For API health checks, look for specific content or status indicators in the response body
Reliable website monitoring examples
Website
Expected Value
Match Method
JSON Path
Explanation
Google.com
Include
empty
Checks if “Google” appears in the response
GitHub.com
GitHub
Include
empty
Checks if “GitHub” appears in the response
Any site
</html>
Include
empty
Checks if the HTML document is properly closed
API
"success"
Include
empty
Checks if response contains success message
JSON API
true
Equal
status.success
Checks if success field is true in JSON
Remember that for a reliable monitoring, check for content that’s consistently present in your specific website or API response.
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