# Quickstart

Paste a URL, pick what to watch, say where alerts go. About a minute, and no account until the third step.

## 1. Paste a URL

On the [home page](https://openping.ai/), type an address into “What should we watch?” and press **Check it**. It takes a website, an API, an MCP server, an agent card, an IP or `host:port`, or a GitHub repo.

## 2. We look around

For about 10 seconds OpenPing checks the address and shows what it finds as it goes:

- whether the page is up from our regions, and how fast
- the certificate and when the domain expires
- key pages: sign-in, pricing, docs
- health addresses such as `/health` and `/api/health`
- DNS and mail records
- the host and the stack it was built with
- AI surfaces: `/mcp`, `/.well-known/agent-card.json`, `/v1/models`
- a status page you already have

## 3. Pick what to watch

You get a list of suggested monitors, already ticked, each with a reason and an interval, for example “Sign-in page: checks the words *Sign in* appear, every 3 minutes.” Untick what you don’t want.

## 4. Say where alerts go

This is the first time we ask you to sign in: Google, GitHub or an email link. Email alerts are on from the start. Add a Slack channel if you like, then press **Send a test alert** to see it arrive.

## 5. A status page, already made

A status page is built from the monitors you picked. It stays private until you publish it. See [status pages](https://openping.ai/docs/status-pages).

## Prefer the terminal?

The CLI reads your project and writes the monitors for you:

```bash
npx openping init      # writes openping.yml with suggested monitors
npx openping test      # runs them now, from your machine
npx openping login     # signs in through the browser
npx openping deploy    # shows the plan, then applies it
```

More in [the CLI](https://openping.ai/docs/cli) and [monitors as code](https://openping.ai/docs/monitors-as-code).

## Or ask your AI assistant

Add the [OpenPing MCP server](https://openping.ai/docs/mcp-server) to Claude, Cursor or any MCP client, then say: “watch yourapp.com and tell me in Slack if it breaks”.

## What to do next

- [Add an agent test](https://openping.ai/docs/agent-tests) if your product answers questions.
- [Add a heartbeat](https://openping.ai/docs/heartbeats) to each scheduled job.
- Invite a teammate. People are not what you pay for.