HookPulse

Monitor cron jobs, webhooks, backups and scheduled GitHub Actions workflows with HookPulse (hookpulse.net), a dead man's switch. Create a monitor with an interval or a cron schedule, import a crontab, send start, success and failure signals with the exit code, instrument a fleet with one setup key, and read monitor state, check-ins and the public status page. A missed or failed run alerts by e-mail or webhook. Use when a task mentions a cron job, crontab, scheduled task, heartbeat, dead man's switch, missed run, backup that stopped, or a GitHub Actions schedule.

HookPulse watches routines that should run on a schedule. The routine sends a check-in to its link when it runs. If the check-in is late, or the routine reports a failure, HookPulse sends an alert. The next good check-in sends a recovery message.

Connect

• MCP server (preferred): https://hookpulse.net/mcp?checkout=site. Transport: Streamable HTTP. With checkout=site, the person buys on the site and the agent never pays.
• HTTP API: base URL https://hookpulse.net. Each MCP tool calls one route of this API.
• Identity: create_guest returns a guest token hp_…. Send it as X-Guest-Token on later calls. Keep it: the monitors belong to it until the person signs in on the site.
• Discovery: GET https://hookpulse.net/api/ lists the routes, prices and limits. https://hookpulse.net/llms-full.txt has the full reference.

MCP tools

Tool	HTTP	Use it to
create_guest	POST /api/guest	Get the guest token that owns the monitors.
create_endpoint	POST /api/endpoints	Create a monitor: interval_sec, or cron + tz + grace_sec, and the alert destinations.
import_crontab	POST /api/import/crontab	Read a crontab and propose one monitor per line. Nothing is written without apply=1.
list_endpoints	GET /api/endpoints	List the monitors and their state.
get_endpoint	GET /api/endpoints/{id}	Read one monitor: state, next expected time, last check-in.
list_events	GET /api/endpoints/{id}/events	Read the latest check-ins of a monitor.
delete_endpoint	DELETE /api/endpoints/{id}	Remove a monitor.
ping_ingest	GET /in/{id}	Send a success check-in, as the routine does.
signal_start	GET /in/{id}/start	Record that a run started, to measure its duration.
signal_fail	GET /in/{id}/fail	Record a failed run; the alert leaves on the next five-minute check.
signal_exit_code	GET /in/{id}/{exit_code}	Record the shell exit code: 0 is success, 1 to 255 a failure.
ingest_key	GET /api/ingest-key	Get the setup key for /in/{key}/{slug}: the first check-in of a name creates its monitor.
ping_slug	GET /in/{key}/{slug}	Check in by name with the setup key, creating the monitor the first time.
status_feed_url	GET /api/status-feed	Get the public status page and feed of all monitors of the owner.
list_templates	GET /api/templates	Get ready snippets: curl, crontab line, n8n, GitHub Actions and the alert JSON.
billing	GET /api/billing	Read the free allowances, prices and the account trial.
pricing	GET /api/pricing	Read the current prices.

Rules

1. Read billing before you create more than ten monitors or add e-mail alerts to more than one monitor. Do not use a price from memory.
2. Never pay by yourself. If a call returns HTTP 402, show the price and https://hookpulse.net/pricing to the user. The person buys on the site.
3. The monitor ID is a credential: whoever has it can send check-ins and silence the alarm. Do not print it in public logs or issues. The status page link is the one to share.
4. A start or failure signal is not proof of life. Only a success check-in resets the expected time.
5. For a schedule, prefer cron with tz and a grace_sec that covers the usual delay and run time.
6. If you get HTTP 429 or 503, wait for the time in Retry-After and try once more.

Examples

bash

# Guest token, then a monitor for a backup at 03:00 São Paulo time with 15 minutes of allowed delay
HP=$(curl -s -XPOST https://hookpulse.net/api/guest | jq -r .token)
curl -s -XPOST https://hookpulse.net/api/endpoints -H "X-Guest-Token: $HP" -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name":"nightly-backup","cron":"0 3 * * *","tz":"America/Sao_Paulo","grace_sec":900}'

# At the end of the routine: the exit code of the last command
curl -fsS "https://hookpulse.net/in/$ID/$?"

Limits

• The service checks monitors every five minutes, so an alert can arrive up to five minutes after the allowed delay.
• Terms: https://hookpulse.net/terms. Privacy: https://hookpulse.net/privacy. Contact: [e-mail].