Management API

Unical Healthchecks Management API supports listing, creating, updating, pausing and deleting checks in user's account.

API Endpoints

Endpoint Name Endpoint Address
Get a list of existing checks GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/
Get a single check GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>
GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<unique_key>
Create a new check POST https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/
Update an existing check POST https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>
Pause monitoring of a check POST https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>/pause
Delete check DELETE https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>
Get a list of check's logged pings GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>/pings/
Get a list of check's status changes GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>/flips/
GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<unique_key>/flips/
Get a list of existing integrations GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/channels/

Authentication

Your requests to Unical Healthchecks Management API must authenticate using an API key. API keys are project-specific, there are no account-wide API keys. By default, a project on Unical Healthchecks doesn't have an API key. You can create read-write and read-only API keys in the Project Settings page.

read-write key
Has full access to all documented API endpoints.
read-only key

Only works with the following API endpoints:

Omits sensitive information from the API responses. See the documentation of individual API endpoints for details.

The client can authenticate itself by including an X-Api-Key: <your-api-key> header in a HTTP request. Alternatively, for POST requests with a JSON request body, the client can include an api_key field in the JSON document. See the Create a new check section for an example.

API Requests

For POST requests, the Unical Healthchecks API expects request body to be a JSON document (not a multipart/form-data encoded form data).

API Responses

Unical Healthchecks uses HTTP status codes wherever possible. In general, 2xx class indicates success, 4xx indicates an client error, and 5xx indicates a server error.

The response may contain a JSON document with additional data.

Get a List of Existing Checks

GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/

Returns a list of checks belonging to the user, optionally filtered by one or more tags.

Query String Parameters

tag=<value>

Filters the checks, and returns only the checks that are tagged with the specified value.

This parameter can be repeated multiple times.

Example:

https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/?tag=foo&tag=bar

Response Codes

200 OK
The request succeeded.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.

Example Request

curl --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key" https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/

Example Response

{
  "checks": [
    {
      "name": "Filesystem Backup",
      "tags": "backup fs",
      "desc": "Runs incremental backup every hour",
      "grace": 600,
      "n_pings": 1,
      "status": "up",
      "last_ping": "2020-03-24T14:02:03+00:00",
      "next_ping": "2020-03-24T15:02:03+00:00",
      "manual_resume": false,
      "ping_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/ping/31365bce-8da9-4729-8ff3-aaa71d56b712",
      "update_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/31365bce-8da9-4729-8ff3-aaa71d56b712",
      "pause_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/31365bce-8da9-4729-8ff3-aaa71d56b712/pause",
      "channels": "1bdea468-03bf-47b8-ab27-29a9dd0e4b94,51c6eb2b-2ae1-456b-99fe-6f1e0a36cd3c",
      "timeout": 3600
    },
    {
      "name": "Database Backup",
      "tags": "production db",
      "desc": "Runs ~/db-backup.sh",
      "grace": 1200,
      "n_pings": 7,
      "status": "down",
      "last_ping": "2020-03-23T10:19:32+00:00",
      "next_ping": null,
      "manual_resume": false,
      "ping_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/ping/803f680d-e89b-492b-82ef-2be7b774a92d",
      "update_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/803f680d-e89b-492b-82ef-2be7b774a92d",
      "pause_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/803f680d-e89b-492b-82ef-2be7b774a92d/pause",
      "channels": "1bdea468-03bf-47b8-ab27-29a9dd0e4b94,51c6eb2b-2ae1-456b-99fe-6f1e0a36cd3c",
      "schedule": "15 5 * * *",
      "tz": "UTC"
    }
  ]
}

When using the read-only API key, the following fields are omitted: ping_url, update_url, pause_url, channels. An extra unique_key field is added which can be used to GET a check in place of the UUID. The unique_key identifier is stable across API calls. Example:

{
  "checks": [
    {
      "name": "Filesystem Backup",
      "tags": "backup fs",
      "desc": "Runs incremental backup every hour",
      "grace": 600,
      "n_pings": 1,
      "status": "up",
      "last_ping": "2020-03-24T14:02:03+00:00",
      "next_ping": "2020-03-24T15:02:03+00:00",
      "manual_resume": false,
      "unique_key": "a6c7b0a8a66bed0df66abfdab3c77736861703ee",
      "timeout": 3600
    },
    {
      "name": "Database Backup",
      "tags": "production db",
      "desc": "Runs ~/db-backup.sh",
      "grace": 1200,
      "n_pings": 7,
      "status": "down",
      "last_ping": "2020-03-23T10:19:32+00:00",
      "next_ping": null,
      "manual_resume": false,
      "unique_key": "124f983e0e3dcaeba921cfcef46efd084576e783",
      "schedule": "15 5 * * *",
      "tz": "UTC"
    }
  ]
}

Get a Single Check

GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>
GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<unique_key>

Returns a JSON representation of a single check. Accepts either check's UUID or the unique_key (a field derived from UUID, and returned by API responses when using the read-only API key) as an identifier.

Response Codes

200 OK
The request succeeded.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.
403 Forbidden
Access denied, wrong API key.
404 Not Found
The specified check does not exist.

Example Request

curl --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key" https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>

Example Response

{
  "name": "Database Backup",
  "tags": "production db",
  "desc": "Runs ~/db-backup.sh",
  "grace": 1200,
  "n_pings": 7,
  "status": "down",
  "last_ping": "2020-03-23T10:19:32+00:00",
  "next_ping": null,
  "manual_resume": false,
  "ping_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/ping/803f680d-e89b-492b-82ef-2be7b774a92d",
  "update_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/803f680d-e89b-492b-82ef-2be7b774a92d",
  "pause_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/803f680d-e89b-492b-82ef-2be7b774a92d/pause",
  "channels": "1bdea468-03bf-47b8-ab27-29a9dd0e4b94,51c6eb2b-2ae1-456b-99fe-6f1e0a36cd3c",
  "schedule": "15 5 * * *",
  "tz": "UTC"
}

Example Read-Only Response

When using the read-only API key, the following fields are omitted: ping_url, update_url, pause_url, channels. An extra unique_key field is added. This identifier is stable across API calls.

Note: the ping_url, update_url and pause_url fields, although omitted, are not really secret. The client already knows the check's unique UUID and so can easily construct these URLs by itself.

{
  "name": "Database Backup",
  "tags": "production db",
  "desc": "Runs ~/db-backup.sh",
  "grace": 1200,
  "n_pings": 7,
  "status": "down",
  "last_ping": "2020-03-23T10:19:32+00:00",
  "next_ping": null,
  "manual_resume": false,
  "unique_key": "124f983e0e3dcaeba921cfcef46efd084576e783",
  "schedule": "15 5 * * *",
  "tz": "UTC"
}

Create a Check

POST https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/

Creates a new check and returns its ping URL. All request parameters are optional and will use their default values if omitted.

This API call can be used to create both "simple" and "cron" checks. To create a "simple" check, specify the "timeout" parameter. To create a "cron" check, specify the "schedule" and "tz" parameters.

Request Parameters

name

string, optional, default value: ""

Name for the new check.

tags

string, optional, default value: ""

A space-delimited list of tags for the new check. Example:

{"tags": "reports staging"}

desc

string, optional.

Description for the check.

timeout

number, optional, default value: 86400.

A number of seconds, the expected period of this check.

Minimum: 60 (one minute), maximum: 2592000 (30 days).

Example for 5 minute timeout:

{"kind": "simple", "timeout": 300}

grace

number, optional, default value: 3600.

A number of seconds, the grace period for this check.

Minimum: 60 (one minute), maximum: 2592000 (30 days).

schedule

string, optional, default value: " * * *".

A cron expression defining this check's schedule.

If you specify both "timeout" and "schedule" parameters, "timeout" will be ignored and "schedule" will be used.

Example for a check running every half-hour:

{"schedule": "0,30 *  * "}

tz

string, optional, default value: "UTC".

Server's timezone. This setting only has effect in combination with the "schedule" parameter.

Example:

{"tz": "Europe/Riga"}

manual_resume

boolean, optional, default value: false.

Controls whether a paused ping resumes automatically when pinged (the default), or not. If set to false, a paused check will leave the paused state when it receives a ping. If set to true, a paused check will ignore pings and stay paused until it is either manually resumed from the web dashboard or the manual_resume flag is changed.

channels

string, optional

By default, if a check is created through API, no notification channels (integrations) are assigned to it. So, when the check goes up or down, no notifications will get sent.

Set this field to a special value "*" to automatically assign all existing integrations.

To assign specific integrations, use a comma-separated list of integration identifiers. Use the Get a List of Existing Integrations call to look up integration identifiers.

unique

array of string values, optional, default value: [].

Before creating a check, look for existing checks, filtered by fields listed in unique. If a matching check is found, return it with HTTP status code 200. If no matching check is found, proceed as normal: create a check and return it with HTTP status code 201.

The accepted values are: name, tags, timeout and grace.

Example:

{"name": "Backups", unique: ["name"]}

In this example, if a check named "Backups" exists, it will be returned. Otherwise, a new check will be created and returned.

Response Codes

201 Created
The check was successfully created.
200 OK
The unique parameter was used and an existing check was matched.
400 Bad Request
The request is not well-formed, violates schema, or uses invalid field values.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.
403 Forbidden
The account's check limit has been reached. For free accounts, the limit is 20 checks per account.

Example Request

curl https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/ \
    --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key" \
    --data '{"name": "Backups", "tags": "prod www", "timeout": 3600, "grace": 60}'

Or, alternatively:

curl https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/ \
    --data '{"api_key": "your-api-key", "name": "Backups", "tags": "prod www", "timeout": 3600, "grace": 60}'

Example Response

{
  "channels": "",
  "desc": "",
  "grace": 60,
  "last_ping": null,
  "n_pings": 0,
  "name": "Backups",
  "next_ping": null,
  "manual_resume": false,
  "pause_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc/pause",
  "ping_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/ping/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc",
  "status": "new",
  "tags": "prod www",
  "timeout": 3600,
  "update_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc",
}

Update an Existing Check

POST https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>

Updates an existing check. All request parameters are optional. The check is updated only with the supplied request parameters. If any parameter is omitted, its value is left unchanged.

Request Parameters

name

string, optional.

Name for the check.

tags

string, optional.

A space-delimited list of tags for the check.

Example:

{"tags": "reports staging"}

desc

string, optional.

Description for the check.

timeout

number, optional.

A number of seconds, the expected period of this check.

Minimum: 60 (one minute), maximum: 2592000 (30 days).

Example for 5 minute timeout:

{"kind": "simple", "timeout": 300}

grace

number, optional.

A number of seconds, the grace period for this check.

Minimum: 60 (one minute), maximum: 2592000 (30 days).

schedule

string, optional.

A cron expression defining this check's schedule.

If you specify both "timeout" and "schedule" parameters, "timeout" will be ignored and "schedule" will be used.

Example for a check running every half-hour:

{"schedule": "0,30 *  * "}

tz

string, optional.

Server's timezone. This setting only has effect in combination with the "schedule" parameter.

Example:

{"tz": "Europe/Riga"}

manual_resume

boolean, optional, default value: false.

Controls whether a paused ping resumes automatically when pinged (the default), or not. If set to false, a paused check will leave the paused state when it receives a ping. If set to true, a paused check will ignore pings and stay paused until it is either manually resumed from the web dashboard or the manual_resume flag is changed.

channels

string, optional.

Set this field to a special value "*" to automatically assign all existing notification channels.

Set this field to a special value "" (empty string) to automatically unassign all notification channels.

Set this field to a comma-separated list of channel identifiers to assign specific notification channels.

Example:

{"channels": "4ec5a071-2d08-4baa-898a-eb4eb3cd6941,746a083e-f542-4554-be1a-707ce16d3acc"}

Response Codes

200 OK
The check was successfully updated.
400 Bad Request
The request is not well-formed, violates schema, or uses invalid field values.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.
403 Forbidden
Access denied, wrong API key.
404 Not Found
The specified check does not exist.

Example Request

curl https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc \
    --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key" \
    --data '{"name": "Backups", "tags": "prod www", "timeout": 3600, "grace": 60}'

Or, alternatively:

curl https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc \
    --data '{"api_key": "your-api-key", "name": "Backups", "tags": "prod www", "timeout": 3600, "grace": 60}'

Example Response

{
  "channels": "",
  "desc": "",
  "grace": 60,
  "last_ping": null,
  "n_pings": 0,
  "name": "Backups",
  "next_ping": null,
  "manual_resume": false,
  "pause_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc/pause",
  "ping_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/ping/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc",
  "status": "new",
  "tags": "prod www",
  "timeout": 3600,
  "update_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc",
}

Pause Monitoring of a Check

POST https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>/pause

Disables monitoring for a check, without removing it. The check goes into a "paused" state. You can resume monitoring of the check by pinging it.

This API call has no request parameters.

Response Codes

200 OK
The check was successfully paused.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.
403 Forbidden
Access denied, wrong API key.
404 Not Found
The specified check does not exist.

Example Request

curl https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/0c8983c9-9d73-446f-adb5-0641fdacc9d4/pause \
    --request POST --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key" --data ""

Note: the --data "" argument forces curl to send a Content-Length request header even though the request body is empty. For HTTP POST requests, the Content-Length header is sometimes required by some network proxies and web servers.

Example Response

{
  "channels": "",
  "desc": "",
  "grace": 60,
  "last_ping": null,
  "n_pings": 0,
  "name": "Backups",
  "next_ping": null,
  "manual_resume": false,
  "pause_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc/pause",
  "ping_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/ping/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc",
  "status": "paused",
  "tags": "prod www",
  "timeout": 3600,
  "update_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc"
}

Delete Check

DELETE https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>

Permanently deletes the check from user's account. Returns JSON representation of the check that was just deleted.

This API call has no request parameters.

Response Codes

200 OK
The check was successfully deleted.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.
403 Forbidden
Access denied, wrong API key.
404 Not Found
The specified check does not exist.

Example Request

curl https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc \
    --request DELETE --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key"

Example Response

{
  "channels": "",
  "desc": "",
  "grace": 60,
  "last_ping": null,
  "n_pings": 0,
  "name": "Backups",
  "next_ping": null,
  "manual_resume": false,
  "pause_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc/pause",
  "ping_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/ping/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc",
  "status": "new",
  "tags": "prod www",
  "timeout": 3600,
  "update_url": "https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc",
}

Get a list of check's logged pings

GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>/pings/

Returns a list of pings this check has received.

This endpoint returns pings in reverse order (most recent first), and the total number of returned pings depends on account's billing plan: 100 for free accounts, 1000 for paid accounts.

Response Codes

200 OK
The request succeeded.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.
403 Forbidden
Access denied, wrong API key.
404 Not Found
The specified check does not exist.

Example Request

curl https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc/pings/ \
    --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key"

Example Response

{
  "pings": [
    {
      "type": "success",
      "date": "2020-06-09T14:51:06.113073+00:00",
      "n": 4,
      "scheme": "http",
      "remote_addr": "192.0.2.0",
      "method": "GET",
      "ua": "curl/7.68.0",
      "duration": 2.896736
    },
    {
      "type": "start",
      "date": "2020-06-09T14:51:03.216337+00:00",
      "n": 3,
      "scheme": "http",
      "remote_addr": "192.0.2.0",
      "method": "GET",
      "ua": "curl/7.68.0"
    },
    {
      "type": "success",
      "date": "2020-06-09T14:50:59.633577+00:00",
      "n": 2,
      "scheme": "http",
      "remote_addr": "192.0.2.0",
      "method": "GET",
      "ua": "curl/7.68.0",
      "duration": 2.997976
    },
    {
      "type": "start",
      "date": "2020-06-09T14:50:56.635601+00:00",
      "n": 1,
      "scheme": "http",
      "remote_addr": "192.0.2.0",
      "method": "GET",
      "ua": "curl/7.68.0"
    }
  ]
}

Get a list of check's status changes

GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid>/flips/
GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<unique_key>/flips/

Returns a list of "flips" this check has experienced. A flip is a change of status (from "down" to "up", or from "up" to "down").

Query String Parameters

seconds=<value>

Returns the flips from the last value seconds

Example:

https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid|unique_key>/flips/?seconds=3600

start=<value>

Returns flips that are newer than the specified UNIX timestamp.

Example:

https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid|unique_key>/flips/?start=1592214380

end=<value>

Returns flips that are older than the specified UNIX timestamp.

Example:

https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/<uuid|unique_key>/flips/?end=1592217980

Response Codes

200 OK
The request succeeded.
400 Bad Request
Invalid query parameters.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.
403 Forbidden
Access denied, wrong API key.
404 Not Found
The specified check does not exist.

Example Request

curl https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/checks/f618072a-7bde-4eee-af63-71a77c5723bc/flips/ \
    --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key"

Example Response

[
    {
      "timestamp": "2020-03-23T10:18:23+00:00",
      "up": 1
    },
    {
      "timestamp": "2020-03-23T10:17:15+00:00",
      "up": 0
    },
    {
      "timestamp": "2020-03-23T10:16:18+00:00",
      "up": 1
    }
]

Get a List of Existing Integrations

GET https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/channels/

Returns a list of integrations belonging to the project.

Response Codes

200 OK
The request succeeded.
401 Unauthorized
The API key is either missing or invalid.

Example Request

curl --header "X-Api-Key: your-api-key" https://healthchecks.unical.it/api/v1/channels/

Example Response

{
  "channels": [
    {
      "id": "4ec5a071-2d08-4baa-898a-eb4eb3cd6941",
      "name": "My Work Email",
      "kind": "email"
    },
    {
      "id": "746a083e-f542-4554-be1a-707ce16d3acc",
      "name": "My Phone",
      "kind": "sms"
    }
  ]
}