> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.spidra.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Create a Monitor > Watch a template, a preset or a list of pages on a schedule, and get told what changed. A monitor runs its sources on a schedule, compares each check with the previous one, and alerts you when something changed. The [Monitors guide](https://docs.spidra.io/monitors.md) explains each option; this page shows the request. ## Example request Watch Google Maps for new dentists in Lekki, every morning at 8: ```bash cURL theme={null} curl -X POST https://api.spidra.io/api/monitors \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPIDRA_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "name": "Dentists in Lekki", "sources": [ { "kind": "template", "template": "google-maps-leads", "inputs": { "query": "dentist", "areas": ["Lekki, Lagos"] } } ], "schedule": { "every": "1d", "at": "08:00", "timezone": "Africa/Lagos" }, "alertOn": "new", "notify": { "email": { "enabled": true } } }' ``` ```javascript JavaScript theme={null} const res = await fetch("https://api.spidra.io/api/monitors", { method: "POST", headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.SPIDRA_API_KEY}`, "Content-Type": "application/json", }, body: JSON.stringify({ name: "Dentists in Lekki", sources: [{ kind: "template", template: "google-maps-leads", inputs: { query: "dentist", areas: ["Lekki, Lagos"] } }], schedule: { every: "1d", at: "08:00", timezone: "Africa/Lagos" }, alertOn: "new", notify: { email: { enabled: true } }, }), }); const { monitor } = await res.json(); ``` ```python Python theme={null} import os, requests res = requests.post( "https://api.spidra.io/api/monitors", headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SPIDRA_API_KEY']}"}, json={ "name": "Dentists in Lekki", "sources": [{"kind": "template", "template": "google-maps-leads", "inputs": {"query": "dentist", "areas": ["Lekki, Lagos"]}}], "schedule": {"every": "1d", "at": "08:00", "timezone": "Africa/Lagos"}, "alertOn": "new", "notify": {"email": {"enabled": True}}, }, ) monitor = res.json()["monitor"] ``` ## Response `201` with the monitor. This one watches a single page for text changes, with email alerts off: ```json theme={null} { "status": "success", "monitor": { "id": "d6761e12-b011-4633-a593-fa6be2ef466c", "name": "Docs test page", "status": "active", "sources": [{ "id": "ae22524a61ad", "kind": "urls", "urls": ["https://httpbin.org/uuid"], "label": "httpbin.org" }], "schedule": { "every": "1d", "at": "09:00", "timezone": "Africa/Lagos" }, "cron": "0 9 * * *", "alertOn": "page", "watchFields": [], "rule": null, "goal": null, "notify": { "email": { "enabled": false } }, "nextRunAt": "2026-10-25T08:00:00.000Z", "lastCheckAt": null, "lastChangeAt": null, "lastStatus": null, "lastSummary": null, "createdAt": "2026-10-24T18:50:07.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-10-24T18:50:07.000Z" }, "recipients": [] } ``` The first check runs straight away and records the starting point ("Started watching (1 item)"). It doesn't alert. Send `"checkNow": false` to wait for the schedule instead. `nextRunAt` is in UTC. `recipients` lists any extra email addresses with their status. Each one gets a confirmation email and receives alerts only after confirming. ## Sources | `kind` | Fields | Watches | | - | - | - | | `template` | `template`, `inputs` | A template's rows. Each row has a stable key, so new, changed and removed items are exact. | | `preset` | `presetId` | A saved scrape, batch, map, search or template preset. | | `urls` | `urls` (up to 50) | Public pages. | Up to 10 sources per monitor. Each can have a `label`, shown in alerts. ## Errors | Status | When | | - | - | | `422` | A field needs fixing. `errors` lists each one, for example `{ "field": "schedule", "message": "Your plan checks at most every 15 minutes." }` or `{ "field": "sources[0].urls[0]", "message": "\"http://localhost/x\" can't be a private or internal address." }`. | | `403` | Your plan's monitor limit is reached (`MONITOR_LIMIT`). Paused monitors count. | | `409` | Another monitor is being created on your account at the same moment (`BUSY`). Try again. | ## OpenAPI ````yaml POST /monitors openapi: 3.1.0 info: title: Spidra API version: 1.0.0 description: >- Public API endpoints for web scraping via Spidra. Authenticate with `Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY`. servers: - url: https://api.spidra.io/api security: - BearerAuth: [] - ApiKeyAuth: [] paths: /monitors: post: tags: - Monitors summary: Create a Monitor description: >- Creates a monitor and, unless `checkNow` is false, runs its first check, which records the starting point without alerting. requestBody: required: true content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorInput' example: name: Dentists in Lekki sources: - kind: template template: google-maps-leads inputs: query: dentist areas: - Lekki, Lagos schedule: every: 1d at: '08:00' timezone: Africa/Lagos alertOn: new notify: email: enabled: true responses: '201': description: Created. content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: status: type: string enum: - success monitor: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Monitor' recipients: type: array items: type: object properties: email: type: string status: type: string enum: - pending - confirmed - unsubscribed description: Extra email recipients and whether they confirmed. '401': description: Missing or invalid API key. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' '403': description: Your plan's monitor limit is reached (`MONITOR_LIMIT`). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' '409': description: >- Another monitor is being created on your account right now (`BUSY`). Try again. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse' '422': description: Some inputs need fixing. `errors` lists each field. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/InvalidInputError' components: schemas: MonitorInput: type: object properties: name: type: string description: Defaults to the first source's label. sources: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorSource' minItems: 1 maxItems: 10 schedule: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorSchedule' alertOn: type: string enum: - new - changed - removed - page - every description: >- What counts as a change. Default `page` when every source is a URL list, otherwise `new`. watchFields: type: array items: type: string maxItems: 20 description: 'alertOn changed: only these fields count. Empty means every field.' rule: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorRule' goal: type: - string - 'null' maxLength: 1000 description: >- Plain-language goal. When something changed, AI decides whether it matches before alerting, and says why. notify: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorNotify' checkNow: type: boolean default: true description: >- Create only: run the first check straight away. It records the starting point and doesn't alert. Monitor: type: object properties: id: type: string name: type: string status: type: string enum: - active - paused sources: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorSource' schedule: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorSchedule' cron: type: string description: The schedule as a cron expression. alertOn: type: string watchFields: type: array items: type: string rule: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorRule' goal: type: - string - 'null' notify: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitorNotify' nextRunAt: type: - string - 'null' format: date-time lastCheckAt: type: - string - 'null' format: date-time lastChangeAt: type: - string - 'null' format: date-time lastStatus: type: - string - 'null' lastSummary: type: - string - 'null' description: The last check in a few words, such as "3 new" or "No change". createdAt: type: string format: date-time updatedAt: type: string format: date-time ErrorResponse: type: object properties: status: type: string enum: - error message: type: string required: - status - message InvalidInputError: type: object properties: status: type: string enum: - error code: type: string enum: - INVALID_INPUT message: type: string errors: type: array items: type: object properties: field: type: string message: type: string description: One entry per field that needs fixing. MonitorSource: type: object required: - kind properties: id: type: string description: >- Optional. Kept per source so changes are compared against the same source next time. kind: type: string enum: - template - preset - urls label: type: string description: Shown in alerts. Defaults to the template, preset or site name. template: type: string description: 'kind template: the template''s slug.' inputs: type: object description: 'kind template: the template''s inputs.' presetId: type: string description: >- kind preset: the preset's ID. Scrape, batch, map, search and template presets can be watched. urls: type: array items: type: string maxItems: 50 description: 'kind urls: up to 50 public pages.' MonitorSchedule: type: object properties: every: type: string enum: - 5m - 15m - 30m - 1h - 6h - 12h - 1d - 1w at: type: string description: >- "HH:MM". The time for 1d and 1w, and the minute past the hour for 1h, 6h and 12h. Default 09:00. day: type: integer minimum: 0 maximum: 6 description: '1w only: 0 is Sunday. Default 1 (Monday).' cron: type: string description: 'Instead of `every`: a 5-field cron expression.' timezone: type: string description: An IANA time zone such as Africa/Lagos. Default UTC. description: >- Your plan sets the shortest interval: daily on Free, hourly on Starter, every 15 minutes on Builder, every 5 minutes on Pro. MonitorRule: type: - object - 'null' properties: field: type: string op: type: string enum: - lt - lte - gt - gte - eq - neq - contains - drops_by_pct - rises_by_pct value: type: - number - string description: >- Only alert about items where this is true, for example `{ "field": "price", "op": "drops_by_pct", "value": 10 }`. MonitorNotify: type: object properties: email: type: object properties: enabled: type: boolean default: true recipients: type: array items: type: string maxItems: 10 description: >- Extra addresses. Each gets alerts only after confirming by email. description: Your account's email is on unless `enabled` is false. webhook: type: object properties: url: type: string description: A public https URL. secret: type: string description: >- 16 to 128 letters, digits, - or _. Generated when you leave it out. slack: type: object properties: webhookUrl: type: string description: A Slack incoming webhook URL (https://hooks.slack.com/...). discord: type: object properties: webhookUrl: type: string description: A Discord webhook URL (https://discord.com/api/webhooks/...). securitySchemes: BearerAuth: type: http scheme: bearer bearerFormat: API key ApiKeyAuth: type: apiKey in: header name: x-api-key ```` This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.