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Creating and managing Check-ins

Create a Check-in

To create a check-in, navigate to the Check-ins page and click "Add check-in". On the side, you can select whether to create a cron check-in or a heartbeat check-in. The following options can be set:

  • Identifier: A name to uniquely identify this check-in in your application. You will use this name later when configuring your application to send check-in events.
  • Schedule: The schedule at which AppSignal expects to receive cron check-in events, specified using crontab syntax. You can learn more about crontab syntax in our Crontab Learning Center article.
  • Server timezone: The timezone to use to interpret the cron check-in schedule. If you're using cron to run your scheduled jobs, then this should match your server's configured timezone, as that is the timezone cron will use. When in doubt, we recommend leaving this configuration option on its default value of UTC.
  • Maximum duration: The maximum run-time of your job in minutes. If a cron check-in event is not received between the start time determined by the schedule and the end of the maximum job duration, or if a heartbeat check-in event is not received within this duration from the last heartbeat check-in event, it will be reported as failing.
  • Description: An optional description of what this check-in monitors.
  • Notify me through: The channels that AppSignal should use to notify you of any missed or late check-in occurrences.
Screenshot of cron check-ins form

For a cron check-in, a finish check-in event will be expected for each of the occurrences defined by the schedule, before the maximum duration has passed. For a heartbeat check-in, heartbeat events will be expected continuously, before the maximum duration since the last heartbeat event has passed.

When this expectation isn't met, the check-in occurrence will be considered failed, and AppSignal will notify you as configured.

Once created, you need to configure your application to send check-in events to AppSignal.

View all Check-ins

To view all of your app's check-ins, go to the check-ins overview page. You can get there from the AppSignal app navigation sidebar:

Screenshot of Check-ins overview

Clicking on the check-in name will take you to the check-in's occurrence overview.

Edit a Check-in

To edit a check-in's settings, navigate to the check-ins overview page in the AppSignal app, click on the name of the check-in you want to change the settings of, then click "Edit" to modify the check-in's settings.

See the Create a Check-in section for more information on the settings.

Remove a Check-in

To remove a check-in, click on the name of the check-in you want to remove, then click "Remove" and follow the on-screen instructions.