Add your first site, alert and status page

This page takes one site from nothing to a first check, a first alert and a public status page. It uses the app's own labels, so you can follow it with the app open.

Before you start

You need an account with a verified email address. You can sign in before you verify, but the app refuses to add a site until the address is verified, with the message Please verify your email address before adding a monitor. Use the link in the verification email.

1. Add a site

1. 1. Open Websites and choose Add Website

   The form opens with the defaults described below.

2. 2. Enter the Website URL

   Use the full URL including https:// or http://. A site is one URL, so enter the page you want watched. The same URL can't be added twice to one workspace, and a second attempt is refused with This website is already being monitored in your workspace.

3. 3. Pick a Group (optional)

   A group organizes sites, for example one group per client. You can change it later.

4. 4. Review the checks and save

   Uptime is always on and runs every 5 minutes by default. SSL Certificate Expiration and WHOIS Registration start on. The other checks start off. Expand a check to change its interval or switch it on.

OctoPing starts the first round of checks as soon as the site is saved, so you don't wait for the first scheduled interval. Until the first result arrives, the site shows Pending. It then reads Online, Degraded or Offline. The statuses page defines each of them.

2. Get your first alert

Adding a site also creates a notification named Default Email Notification. It emails the members of the workspace at the moment the site is added. It waits for 3 consecutive failed checks before it sends a down alert, repeats at most every 10 minutes while the site stays down, and sends a recovery message when the site comes back. With checks every 5 minutes, the last of those failed checks comes about 10 minutes after the first. The probe regions get up to 10 minutes from the first failure to confirm it, so with the defaults the down alert goes out with that last failed check. The vantage points page explains how that works.

1. 1. Open the site and choose Notifications

   The Notification Management page lists every notification on the site.

2. 2. Send a test

   Choose Send Test on a notification. OctoPing sends a test message through that channel immediately and shows the result on the page.

3. 3. Add another channel (optional)

   Choose Add Notification and pick a Notification Type. The channels are Email, Slack, Discord, Webhook and Browser push.

4. 4. Check the log

   View Logs shows every attempt as sent, failed or skipped, with the reason for a skipped one.

3. Publish a status page

1. 1. Open Status Pages and choose Create Status Page

   Enter a Name (it labels the page in the app and is shown as the name field in the page's public JSON), a URL Slug, a Page Title and an optional Description and Company Website URL. The slug becomes the page address, and it must be unique across all of OctoPing.

2. 2. Add items

   In Monitored Items, choose Add Item and pick a website or heartbeat. Only the items you add appear on the page, and each item can be hidden without removing it.

3. 3. Preview

   Choose Preview to see the page before anyone else can.

4. 4. Switch it to Published

   A new page is a Draft and answers with a 404 to the public. Turning on the Published switch makes it live at /status/your-slug on the OctoPing domain.

The public page shows each item's current status and 90 days of daily history for sites and 90-day uptime for heartbeats. The public status words are listed on the statuses page.

Where to go next

The checks reference covers what each check measures and how to tune it. The vantage points page explains why a down alert can wait a few minutes for the regional probes to agree.