How to Monitor REST APIs the Right Way
When an API goes down, it takes your app, your integrations and your customers' mobile clients with it — often silently. Monitoring APIs well takes a bit more thought than a homepage check.
Pick the right endpoints
Monitor a lightweight health endpoint for basic availability, plus one or two real endpoints that exercise your database and core logic. A /health route that only returns 200 can hide a broken database.
Use the correct method and payload
Many endpoints expect POST or PUT with a JSON body. Configure the method, content type and body so the check mirrors a real request:
bash
curl -X POST https://api.example.com/v1/orders \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"ping":true}' -w "\n%{http_code} in %{time_total}s\n"Validate the response
- Set the exact expected status code(s) — APIs often use 201, 202 or 204.
- Add a keyword check for a field that should always be present.
- Watch latency — slow APIs break user experiences even at 200.
Monitor it with TorixPulseTorixPulse supports methods, headers, request bodies and keyword checks for real API monitoring.
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