Dependency Monitors
Dependency monitors track third-party services and APIs that your application relies on. Know when Stripe, Shopify, AWS, or any external service experiences issues.
Why Monitor Dependencies?
Track third-party services that can impact your application
Your website may be running perfectly, but if a critical third-party service goes down, your users are still affected. Dependency monitors help you:
- Identify root causes: Know whether an issue is your fault or a third-party problem
- Communicate proactively: Alert customers before they report issues
- Track reliability: Build a history of third-party uptime for vendor discussions
Common Dependencies to Monitor
Popular third-party services worth tracking
Payment Processors
- Stripe
- PayPal
- Square
E-commerce
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- BigCommerce
Email Services
- SendGrid
- Mailchimp
- Resend
Cloud Providers
- AWS
- Google Cloud
- Azure
CDN & Performance
- Cloudflare
- Fastly
- Akamai
APIs & Integrations
- Twilio
- Auth0
- Algolia
Configuration Options
Settings for dependency monitoring
Endpoint URL
The URL to monitor. Many services offer status or health check endpoints:
https://api.example.com/health
https://status.aws.amazon.com/rss/ec2-us-east-1.rss
Expected Content (Optional)
Optionally verify the response contains specific text. Uses the same matching options as content monitors:
- None: Only check if the endpoint responds
- Contains: Verify specific text is present
- Not Contains: Alert if specific text appears
Severity Level
How dependency failures affect your parent monitor:
Ownership
Mark whether you own/control this dependency or if it's a third-party service. This helps with reporting and root cause analysis.
How Dependency Monitoring Works
Understanding the dependency check workflow
Attach to Parent Monitor
Dependencies are linked to an uptime monitor (the "parent")
Independent Checks
Dependencies are checked on the same schedule as their parent
Status Aggregation
Dependency failures can affect the parent's status based on severity
Separate Incidents
Dependency failures create their own incidents for clear tracking
Best Practices
Tips for effective dependency monitoring
- Use official status endpoints
Most services offer status pages or health endpoints. Check their documentation.
- Set appropriate severity
Use Critical for payment processors, Degraded for non-essential services.
- Group related dependencies
Attach all related dependencies to the appropriate parent monitor for a complete view.