> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://pulse-41cf5b0d.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart: Monitor Your First Endpoint with PulseGuard

> Create your first PulseGuard monitor, configure a notification channel, and view live uptime data in your dashboard — all in under five minutes.

PulseGuard is ready to monitor your first endpoint in under five minutes. This guide walks you through signing up, creating an HTTP monitor, wiring up a notification channel, and exploring the live dashboard. You don't need to deploy anything or configure any infrastructure — PulseGuard's global probe network handles all the check execution.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sign up at app.pulseguard.io">
    Open [app.pulseguard.io](https://app.pulseguard.io) and create a free account with your email address. After verifying your email, you land directly in the PulseGuard dashboard.

    <Tip>
      If your organization already has a PulseGuard workspace, ask your administrator for an invite link so your monitors and status pages are grouped under the same account.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create your first monitor">
    In the dashboard, click **New Monitor**. Fill in the three required fields:

    | Field        | Example value                    |
    | ------------ | -------------------------------- |
    | **Name**     | Production API                   |
    | **URL**      | `https://api.yourapp.com/health` |
    | **Interval** | 60 seconds                       |

    Leave the type set to **HTTP** for now — it sends a `GET` request and expects a `2xx` response. When you're ready, you can switch to one of the other 15 monitor types from the same form.

    Choose one or more **probe regions** to check from. Selecting multiple regions means PulseGuard triangulates failures: if one region sees a problem but others don't, you get a regional incident rather than a global one.

    Click **Save Monitor**. PulseGuard immediately schedules your first check.

    <Info>
      You can also trigger an on-demand check at any time from the monitor detail page, or using the CLI:

      ```bash theme={null}
      pulse trigger <monitor-id>
      ```
    </Info>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a notification channel">
    Navigate to **Settings → Notification Channels** and click **Add Channel**. Choose the delivery method that fits your workflow:

    * **Email** — enter one or more recipient addresses
    * **Slack** — paste your Slack incoming webhook URL
    * **Discord** — paste your Discord webhook URL
    * **Webhook** — provide any HTTPS endpoint; PulseGuard sends a JSON `POST`
    * **Telegram** — enter your bot token and chat ID
    * **SMS** — enter a verified phone number

    After saving the channel, go back to your monitor, open **Alert Policy**, and attach the channel. Set the **alert threshold** — for example, `1` means PulseGuard alerts you after the first confirmed failure.

    <Tip>
      Send a test notification right from the channel settings page to confirm delivery before a real incident happens.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="View your dashboard">
    Return to the **Dashboard** home screen. You'll see your monitor's current status badge update in real time over WebSocket — no page refresh needed.

    Click the monitor name to open its detail view, where you'll find:

    * **Status timeline** — a colour-coded bar showing UP/DOWN history
    * **Latency chart** — response time trends per region over the last 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days
    * **Check log** — a timestamped list of every probe result with HTTP status code and latency

    Use the **Command Palette** (`Cmd+K` / `Ctrl+K`) to jump to any monitor, tool, or settings page by name.

    <Note>
      You can also verify your monitor is reachable manually with `curl`:

      ```bash theme={null}
      curl -i https://api.yourapp.com/health
      ```

      A `200 OK` response confirms PulseGuard will mark the check as UP.
    </Note>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set up your public status page (optional)">
    Go to **Status Pages** in the sidebar and click **New Status Page**. Give the page a name — this becomes the default subdomain (e.g., `status.yourapp.com`).

    Select the monitors you want to display publicly, then choose a visibility setting:

    * **Public** — accessible to anyone without login
    * **Password-protected** — visitors must enter a passphrase

    Once published, your users can visit the page to see real-time service health and subscribe to email updates for the monitors they care about.

    <Tip>
      You can add a **maintenance window** under **Status Page → Schedule Maintenance** before a planned deployment. This prevents alerts from firing and lets subscribers know downtime is expected.
    </Tip>
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What's Next?

Now that your first monitor is running, explore these areas to get more from PulseGuard:

* **[Monitor Types](/monitors/overview)** — configure SSL, DNS, Heartbeat, and Browser monitors
* **[Alerting](/alerting/alert-rules)** — build escalation policies and incident workflows
* **[CLI](/cli/overview)** — manage monitors as code with `pulseguard.yaml` files
* **[Authentication](/authentication)** — generate an API key to use the REST API or CLI
* **[Private Probes](/probes/overview)** — monitor internal services behind your firewall