Create monitor

Create a monitor

Creates a new monitor that will capture screenshots of the given URL on a recurring schedule. The minimum required fields are url, frequency_minutes, device_type, viewport_width, and viewport_height. Everything else is optional and lets you fine-tune the capture behavior.

The API validates the frequency against your plan — for example, Starter plans can capture at most once per day (1440 minutes), while Business plans allow hourly captures (60 minutes). If you request a frequency your plan doesn't support, you'll receive a frequency_not_allowed error.

POST/v1/monitors

Request body

Field	Type	Required	Description
`url`	string	Yes	URL to monitor (max 2048 chars, must be a valid URL)
`name`	string	No	Display name (max 255 chars)
`project_id`	integer	No	Assign to a project
`frequency_minutes`	integer	Yes	Capture interval in minutes (min 60, depends on plan)
`device_type`	string	Yes	`desktop` or `mobile`
`viewport_width`	integer	Yes	Viewport width in pixels (320–3840)
`viewport_height`	integer	Yes	Viewport height in pixels (480–2160)
`full_page`	boolean	No	Capture full scrollable page (default: false)
`delay_seconds`	integer	No	Wait before capture, 0–30 seconds
`wait_for_selector`	string	No	CSS selector to wait for before capturing
`hide_selectors`	array	No	CSS selectors to hide (max 20 items)
`click_selector`	string	No	CSS selector to click before capturing
`clip_selector`	string	No	CSS selector to clip screenshot to
`disable_animations`	boolean	No	Disable CSS animations and transitions
`http_auth_user`	string	No	HTTP Basic auth username
`http_auth_password`	string	No	HTTP Basic auth password
`custom_headers`	array	No	Custom HTTP headers (max 20), each with `name` and `value`
`cookies`	array	No	Cookies to set (max 20), each with `name`, `value`, `domain`
`diff_enabled`	boolean	No	Enable visual change detection
`diff_threshold_percent`	number	No	Change threshold to trigger alerts (0–100)
`watermark_enabled`	boolean	No	Add timestamp watermark to screenshots
`alert_enabled`	boolean	No	Enable change alerts
`alert_email`	string	No	Email for change notifications
`alert_webhook_url`	string	No	Webhook URL for change notifications
`alert_slack_webhook_url`	string	No	Slack incoming webhook URL
`alert_discord_webhook_url`	string	No	Discord webhook URL

bash

curl -X POST https://api.snapshotarchive.com/v1/monitors \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "name": "Example Homepage",
    "project_id": 1,
    "frequency_minutes": 360,
    "device_type": "desktop",
    "viewport_width": 1920,
    "viewport_height": 1080,
    "full_page": true,
    "hide_selectors": [".cookie-banner", "#popup"],
    "diff_threshold_percent": 5,
    "alert_enabled": true,
    "alert_email": "[email protected]"
  }'

$response = Http::withToken('YOUR_API_KEY')
    ->post('https://api.snapshotarchive.com/v1/monitors', [
        'url' => 'https://example.com',
        'name' => 'Example Homepage',
        'project_id' => 1,
        'frequency_minutes' => 360,
        'device_type' => 'desktop',
        'viewport_width' => 1920,
        'viewport_height' => 1080,
        'full_page' => true,
        'hide_selectors' => ['.cookie-banner', '#popup'],
        'diff_threshold_percent' => 5,
        'alert_enabled' => true,
        'alert_email' => '[email protected]',
    ]);
$monitor = $response->json('data');

resp = requests.post(f'{BASE}/monitors', headers=headers, json={
    'url': 'https://example.com',
    'name': 'Example Homepage',
    'project_id': 1,
    'frequency_minutes': 360,
    'device_type': 'desktop',
    'viewport_width': 1920,
    'viewport_height': 1080,
    'full_page': True,
    'hide_selectors': ['.cookie-banner', '#popup'],
    'diff_threshold_percent': 5,
    'alert_enabled': True,
    'alert_email': '[email protected]',
})
monitor = resp.json()['data']

const { data: monitor } = await fetch(`${BASE}/monitors`, {
  method: 'POST', headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    url: 'https://example.com', name: 'Example Homepage',
    project_id: 1, frequency_minutes: 360, device_type: 'desktop',
    viewport_width: 1920, viewport_height: 1080, full_page: true,
    hide_selectors: ['.cookie-banner', '#popup'],
    diff_threshold_percent: 5, alert_enabled: true,
    alert_email: '[email protected]',
  }),
}).then(r => r.json());

uri = URI("#{BASE}/monitors")
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri, headers)
req.body = { url: 'https://example.com', name: 'Example Homepage',
  project_id: 1, frequency_minutes: 360, device_type: 'desktop',
  viewport_width: 1920, viewport_height: 1080, full_page: true,
  hide_selectors: ['.cookie-banner', '#popup'],
  diff_threshold_percent: 5, alert_enabled: true,
  alert_email: '[email protected]' }.to_json
resp = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
monitor = JSON.parse(resp.body)['data']

payload := map[string]interface{}{
    "url": "https://example.com", "name": "Example Homepage",
    "project_id": 1, "frequency_minutes": 360, "device_type": "desktop",
    "viewport_width": 1920, "viewport_height": 1080, "full_page": true,
    "hide_selectors": []string{".cookie-banner", "#popup"},
    "diff_threshold_percent": 5, "alert_enabled": true,
    "alert_email": "[email protected]",
}
body, _ := json.Marshal(payload)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", BASE+"/monitors", bytes.NewReader(body))
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+apiKey)
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
resp, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)