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This guide walks you through creating monitors for each supported type. For conceptual background, see Monitoring overview.

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HTTP monitors

The most common monitor type. Checks a URL and evaluates response status, body, headers, and timing. 
devhelm monitors create \
  --name "API Health" \
  --type HTTP \
  --url https://api.example.com/health \
  --frequency 60 \
  --regions us-east,eu-west

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HTTP config options

FieldDescriptionDefault
urlTarget URL(required)
methodHTTP method: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEADGET
customHeadersAdditional headers as key-value pairs—
requestBodyBody content for POST/PUT/PATCH—
contentTypeContent-Type header value—
verifyTlsValidate TLS certificatestrue

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Adding assertions

Assertions define pass/fail criteria beyond “did the request succeed”: 
monitors:
  - name: API Health
    type: HTTP
    config:
      url: https://api.example.com/health
    frequencySeconds: 60
    regions:
      - us-east
    assertions:
      - config:
          type: status_code
          expected: "200"
          operator: equals
        severity: fail
      - config:
          type: response_time
          thresholdMs: 2000
        severity: fail
      - config:
          type: response_time_warn
          warnMs: 500
        severity: warn
      - config:
          type: ssl_expiry
          minDaysRemaining: 14
        severity: fail

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Authenticated requests

For endpoints that require authentication, store credentials in the Vault and reference them: 
monitors:
  - name: Private API
    type: HTTP
    config:
      url: https://api.example.com/private/health
    auth:
      type: bearer
      vaultSecretId: "your-vault-secret-id"
    frequencySeconds: 60
    regions:
      - us-east
Supported auth types: bearer, basic, header, api_key.

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TCP monitors

Check that a host is accepting connections on a specific port. 
devhelm monitors create \
  --name "Database Port" \
  --type TCP \
  --host db.example.com \
  --port 5432 \
  --frequency 60 \
  --regions us-east

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DNS monitors

Verify domain name resolution and record values. 
monitors:
  - name: DNS Resolution
    type: DNS
    config:
      hostname: example.com
      recordTypes:
        - A
        - AAAA
    frequencySeconds: 300
    regions:
      - us-east
    assertions:
      - config:
          type: dns_resolves
        severity: fail
      - config:
          type: dns_expected_ips
          ips:
            - "93.184.216.34"
        severity: fail
DNS config supports custom nameservers and timeouts:
FieldDescription
hostnameDomain to resolve
recordTypesA, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, SRV, SOA, CAA, PTR
nameserversCustom nameservers (uses system defaults if omitted)
timeoutMsPer-query timeout
totalTimeoutMsTotal timeout for all queries

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ICMP monitors

Ping a host to check reachability and measure latency. 
monitors:
  - name: Server Ping
    type: ICMP
    config:
      host: server.example.com
      packetCount: 5
      timeoutMs: 3000
    frequencySeconds: 60
    regions:
      - us-east
    assertions:
      - config:
          type: icmp_reachable
        severity: fail
      - config:
          type: icmp_packet_loss
          maxPercent: 10
        severity: warn

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MCP Server monitors

Check that an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server starts and responds correctly. Useful for monitoring AI tool servers. 
monitors:
  - name: My MCP Server
    type: MCP_SERVER
    config:
      command: npx
      args:
        - "@my-org/mcp-server"
      env:
        API_KEY: ${MCP_API_KEY}
    frequencySeconds: 300
    regions:
      - us-east
    assertions:
      - config:
          type: mcp_connects
        severity: fail
      - config:
          type: mcp_tool_available
          toolName: search
        severity: fail

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Heartbeat monitors

Passive monitors — your service pings DevHelm instead of DevHelm checking your service. Ideal for cron jobs, background workers, and batch processes. 
monitors:
  - name: Nightly Backup
    type: HEARTBEAT
    config:
      expectedInterval: 86400
      gracePeriod: 3600
    frequencySeconds: 86400
After creating a heartbeat monitor, you’ll receive a ping endpoint URL. Send a request to it from your job: 
curl -X POST https://api.devhelm.io/api/v1/heartbeat/<token>
Heartbeat monitors cannot have probe regions — they rely on incoming pings from your infrastructure.

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Customizing incident policies

Override the default incident policy per monitor: 
monitors:
  - name: API Health
    type: HTTP
    config:
      url: https://api.example.com/health
    frequencySeconds: 60
    regions:
      - us-east
      - eu-west
      - ap-south
    incidentPolicy:
      triggerRules:
        - type: consecutive_failures
          count: 3
          scope: per_region
          severity: down
        - type: response_time
          thresholdMs: 5000
          aggregationType: p95
          severity: degraded
      confirmation:
        type: multi_region
        minRegionsFailing: 2
        maxWaitSeconds: 120
      recovery:
        consecutiveSuccesses: 3
        minRegionsPassing: 2
        cooldownMinutes: 10

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Next steps

Alerting guide

Route monitor incidents to your team.

Monitoring as Code

Manage monitors in YAML and deploy from CI.