A manual check triggers an immediate on-demand HTTP request to your monitor's endpoint, outside of the normal scheduled interval. The result appears in your check history just like a scheduled check.
When to Use a Manual Check
- After making a configuration change — confirm that headers, auth, or body changes are working correctly before the next scheduled check
- After a deployment — verify the endpoint is healthy right now without waiting for the next interval
- During troubleshooting — get an immediate data point when investigating a problem
- After setting up a new monitor — confirm PulseAPI can reach the endpoint
How to Run a Manual Check
- In the left sidebar, click Monitors.
- Click the monitor you want to check.
- On the monitor detail page, click Run Manual Check (or Check Now).
PulseAPI sends the request immediately. The result appears in the Check History section at the bottom of the page within a few seconds.
What the Result Shows
The manual check result is recorded identically to a scheduled check:
- Status — Up or Down (with specific failure type if down)
- HTTP status code — the code returned by the endpoint
- Response time — how long the request took in milliseconds
- Error message — if the check failed, the reason
A manual check is labeled in the check history so you can distinguish it from scheduled checks.
Does a Manual Check Trigger Alerts?
A manual check follows the same alert rule evaluation logic as a scheduled check. If the manual check fails and matches an active alert rule (and the cooldown has elapsed), an incident will be created and notifications sent.
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