healthchecks.io API

Credentials available as env vars:

• $HC_API_KEY — read-write API key (create/update/delete checks)
• $HC_API_KEY_READONLY — read-only API key (list/view only)
• $HC_PING_KEY — ping key (for https://hc-ping.com/$HC_PING_KEY/<slug> URLs)

HC_API="https://healthchecks.io/api/v3"

Create a check

curl -s -X POST "$HC_API/checks/" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "service: job-name",
    "tags": "nuc cron",
    "desc": "What this monitors",
    "grace": 3600,
    "schedule": "0 * * * *",
    "tz": "America/Chicago"
  }' | jq '{name, ping_url, uuid}'

Key fields:

• grace — seconds after expected ping before alerting (3600 = 1h buffer)
• schedule — cron expression for expected cadence (sets the deadline clock)
• timeout — alternative to schedule for simple heartbeats (seconds between pings)
• tz — timezone for cron interpretation

Returns ping_url (https://hc-ping.com/<uuid>) — save this to your config.

List / find existing checks

# All checks with status summary
curl -s "$HC_API/checks/" -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY" \
  | jq '.checks[] | {name, status, last_ping, ping_url}'

# Find by name substring
curl -s "$HC_API/checks/" -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY" \
  | jq '.checks[] | select(.name | contains("bugster")) | {name, uuid, status, ping_url}'

# Find by tag
curl -s "$HC_API/checks/" -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY" \
  | jq '.checks[] | select(.tags | contains("nuc")) | {name, status}'

Statuses: new up grace down paused

Delete a check

curl -s -X DELETE "$HC_API/checks/<uuid>" -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY" \
  | jq '{name, n_pings, last_ping}'   # returns the deleted check

Ping from a script

PING_URL="https://hc-ping.com/<uuid>"

# Signal start (measures duration, alerts if no success follows)
curl -sS -m 10 --retry 3 "$PING_URL/start"

# Signal success
curl -sS -m 10 --retry 3 "$PING_URL"

# Signal failure
curl -sS -m 10 --retry 3 "$PING_URL/fail"

# Signal success/failure by exit code (0 = success, non-zero = fail)
curl -sS -m 10 --retry 3 "$PING_URL/$EXIT_CODE"

# Attach logs to a ping (POST body, up to 10KB)
curl -sS -m 10 --retry 3 "$PING_URL" --data-raw "$(journalctl -u myservice -n 50 --no-pager)"

Wrap a script with start+exit-code:

curl -sS -m 10 "$PING_URL/start"
/path/to/my-script.sh
curl -sS -m 10 "$PING_URL/$?"

Verify a check received pings

# Single check detail (includes last_ping, n_pings, status)
curl -s "$HC_API/checks/<uuid>" -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY" \
  | jq '{name, status, n_pings, last_ping, next_ping}'

# Recent ping log for a check
curl -s "$HC_API/checks/<uuid>/pings/" -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY" \
  | jq '.pings[:5] | .[] | {type, date, body}'

Ping types in log: start success fail

Update an existing check

curl -s -X POST "$HC_API/checks/<uuid>" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"grace": 7200, "tags": "nuc cron updated"}'

Pause / resume

curl -s -X POST "$HC_API/checks/<uuid>/pause" -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY"
curl -s -X POST "$HC_API/checks/<uuid>/resume" -H "X-Api-Key: $HC_API_KEY"

Useful when intentionally stopping a service (prevents false alarms).

Naming convention

<service>: <job-name>         # bugster: github_personal_tasknotes
<host>/<service>              # nuc/znapzend

Tags: host + category (e.g. nuc backup, bugster cron).