# The moment your site goes down.

> Forward your uptime monitor to Pocket Alert. Get a push when your site or API goes down, plus a recovery alert, from UptimeRobot, Pingdom, or Uptime Kuma.

<!-- source: https://pocketalert.app/use-cases/uptime-monitoring -->

Pocket Alert turns uptime-monitor webhooks into push notifications on your phone. When UptimeRobot, Better Stack, Healthchecks.io, or Uptime Kuma sees your site go down, you know in under a second — and you get the recovery ping the moment it comes back.

## Three steps to uptime alerts

1. **Create your webhook** — Create a webhook with a GJSON message template and copy its receive URL from the Webhooks page.
2. **Wire up your monitor** — Paste it as a webhook alert contact in UptimeRobot, Better Stack, Healthchecks.io, or Kuma.
3. **Stay ahead of outages** — Trigger a check failure. The down alert lands right away, and recovery follows once it passes.

## Catch downtime before your users do

When your site goes dark, minutes count, and a push reaches you well ahead of an email digest.

- **Works with any monitor** — Forward the webhook from UptimeRobot, Better Uptime, Pingdom, or Uptime Kuma and alerts start flowing.
- **Down and recovery** — Both the down alert and the all-clear land on your phone, so you know when it broke and when it returned.
- **Status in the alert** — Response time and status code travel inside the message. Triage before you open a laptop.
- **Map their payload** — A GJSON template maps the monitor name and status straight from your tool's own webhook payload.
- **Per-site channels** — A channel per site shows which service is down as soon as the push arrives.
- **Faster than email** — Push beats email by minutes. During downtime, those minutes cost users and revenue.

## Connect your uptime monitor

### 1. Create a webhook and copy its URL

On the [Webhooks](https://pocketalert.app/webhooks) page, create a webhook with a GJSON `message` template, then copy its receive URL, e.g. `https://p4a.me/wh/1234abcd`.

### 2. Paste it into your monitor

In **UptimeRobot**, add a custom **Web-Hook** alert contact, paste the receive URL, and set a JSON POST body. UptimeRobot fills its own macros, and your GJSON template reads them back:

```
UptimeRobot POST body:
{"monitorFriendlyName":"*monitorFriendlyName*","alertTypeFriendlyName":"*alertTypeFriendlyName*","alertDetails":"*alertDetails*"}

Pocket Alert message template (GJSON):
%monitorFriendlyName% is %alertTypeFriendlyName% — %alertDetails%
```

In **Better Stack** or **Healthchecks.io**, add a webhook integration pointed at the same receive URL. For Healthchecks map `%name%` and `%status%`; for Better Stack map `%data.attributes.name%` and `%data.attributes.cause%`.

### 3. Or run a curl healthcheck from cron

```
curl -fsS https://acme.com/health || \
  curl -X POST "https://api.pocketalert.app/v1/messages" \
    -H "Token: YOUR_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{"title":"acme.com is DOWN","message":"health check failed","level":"critical"}'
```

Pause a monitor or break an endpoint to test. The recovery ping arrives once the check passes. The [docs](https://info.pocketalert.app/getting-started.html) cover the rest.

## FAQ

### How do uptime alerts work?

Point your uptime monitor at your Pocket Alert webhook URL. UptimeRobot, Better Uptime, Pingdom, and Uptime Kuma all work. A failed check pushes a down alert straight to your phone.

### Do I get a recovery notification too?

Yes. Most monitors fire one webhook on down and another on up, so you get both the outage and the all-clear. Each carries the response time and status code.

### Which uptime monitors work?

Anything that sends a webhook on a state change works: UptimeRobot, Better Uptime, Pingdom, Cronitor, Uptime Kuma, Healthchecks.io, and your own ping script.

### Can I monitor without a third-party tool?

For a basic check, chain a curl onto a scheduled ping. For full coverage, run a dedicated monitor and forward its webhook to Pocket Alert.

### How do I make outages stand out?

Use a separate application per site so you see which service is affected the moment the push arrives. Word the GJSON template so the status and host read clearly, and the down alert tells you everything before you open a laptop.

### Will a downtime alert wake me if my phone is on silent?

Yes. Send the down alert with level critical and it bypasses Do Not Disturb on Android and cuts through Focus on iPhone as a time-sensitive notification. Keep the recovery ping at default or silent, so 3 AM only happens when the site is actually down.