POST Create Monitor

Create a scheduled website-change monitor

POSThttps://api.anakin.io/v1/monitors

Create a monitor that checks a URL every intervalMinutes and records a change whenever the page differs from the previous check.

A monitor has a scope: page (default) watches a single URL, while site crawls the whole site each run and reports pages added, removed, and changed. See Site monitors for the site-only config, endpoints, and change shape.

Request Body

{
  "url": "https://example.com/product/123",
  "watchMode": "specific_data",
  "outputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": { "price": { "type": "number" }, "inStock": { "type": "boolean" } },
    "required": ["price"]
  },
  "intervalMinutes": 60,
  "aiMode": true,
  "aiGoal": "only when the price drops or it goes out of stock",
  "country": "us",
  "alertWebhookUrl": "https://your-app.com/hooks/anakin",
  "alertEmails": "you@example.com"
}

Only url and intervalMinutes are required. Every other field is optional — the defaults below are used when you omit it.

Parameter	Type	Description
`url` required	string	Page (or, for `site` scope, the root URL) to monitor. Must start with `http://` or `https://`.
`intervalMinutes` required	number	How often to check, in minutes. Minimum `15`.
`scope` optional	string	`page` (default) — watch this one URL. `site` — crawl the whole site each run and diff the page set.
`maxPages` site only	number	Max pages to crawl per run. Capped at `50`. Bills 1 credit per page crawled.
`maxDepth` site only	number	Link hops to follow from the root (`1`–`5`). Default `2`.
`includePatterns` site only	string[]	Only crawl URLs matching these globs/URLs. Exact URLs here are how the dashboard's hand-picked page set is stored.
`excludePatterns` site only	string[]	Skip URLs matching these globs.
`watchMode` optional	string	`full_page` (default) or `specific_data`. Site monitors always use `full_page`.
`watchFormat` optional	string	`full_page` only — what to diff: `markdown` (default), `html`, or `cleaned_html`. Ignored for `specific_data`.
`outputSchema` required for `specific_data`	object	JSON Schema of the fields to track (AI-extracted). Only used — and required — in `specific_data` mode; ignored for `full_page`.
`aiMode` optional	boolean	Filter trivial noise and summarize meaningful changes. Adds +1 credit/check. Requires an LLM-enabled server. Default `false`.
`aiGoal` optional	string	Optional even when `aiMode` is on. A natural-language hint that narrows what counts as meaningful (e.g. "only when the price drops or it goes out of stock"). Omit it and the AI flags any meaningful change on its own.
`useBrowser` optional	boolean	Render with a headless browser (needed for JS-heavy pages). Default `false`. Forced `true` when `sessionId` is set.
`country` optional	string	Proxy country code. Default `"us"`. See Supported Countries.
`sessionId` optional	string	Saved browser session for monitoring logged-in pages.
`isActive` optional	boolean	Start active or paused. Default `true`.
`alertWebhookUrl` optional	string	Webhook to POST each detected change to (HMAC-signed). See Alerts.
`alertEmails` optional	string	Comma-separated email recipients. Requires email alerts to be enabled on the server.

Response

201 Created

Returns the full Monitor object. When you set alertWebhookUrl, the response includes a freshly generated alertWebhookSecret — store it now, it's what you use to verify webhook signatures.

{
  "id": "b1e7c2a4-…",
  "url": "https://example.com/product/123",
  "watchMode": "specific_data",
  "intervalMinutes": 60,
  "isActive": true,
  "aiMode": true,
  "creditCostPerRun": 4,
  "nextRunAt": "2026-01-01T12:00:00Z",
  "alertWebhookUrl": "https://your-app.com/hooks/anakin",
  "alertWebhookSecret": "whsec_9f2c…",
  "createdAt": "2026-01-01T11:00:00Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T11:00:00Z"
}

The first check runs on the next scheduler tick (usually within a minute). Poll GET /v1/monitors/{id} for lastCheckedAt, or list changes.

Errors

Status	`error`	When
`400`	`invalid_request`	Missing/invalid `url`, `intervalMinutes < 15`, bad `watchMode`/`watchFormat`, missing `outputSchema` for `specific_data`, or malformed emails.
`402`	`monitor_limit_reached`	You're at your plan's active-monitor cap (Free 5 / Pro 20 / Scale 100).

Code Examples

curl -X POST https://api.anakin.io/v1/monitors \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/product/123",
    "watchMode": "specific_data",
    "outputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "price": { "type": "number" } }, "required": ["price"] },
    "intervalMinutes": 60,
    "alertWebhookUrl": "https://your-app.com/hooks/anakin"
  }'

import requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.anakin.io/v1/monitors",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "your_api_key"},
    json={
        "url": "https://example.com/product/123",
        "watchMode": "specific_data",
        "outputSchema": {
            "type": "object",
            "properties": {"price": {"type": "number"}},
            "required": ["price"],
        },
        "intervalMinutes": 60,
        "alertWebhookUrl": "https://your-app.com/hooks/anakin",
    },
)
monitor = res.json()
print("Created", monitor["id"], "— save secret:", monitor.get("alertWebhookSecret"))

const res = await fetch("https://api.anakin.io/v1/monitors", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "X-API-Key": "your_api_key", "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    url: "https://example.com/product/123",
    watchMode: "specific_data",
    outputSchema: { type: "object", properties: { price: { type: "number" } }, required: ["price"] },
    intervalMinutes: 60,
    alertWebhookUrl: "https://your-app.com/hooks/anakin",
  }),
});
const monitor = await res.json();
console.log("Created", monitor.id, "— save secret:", monitor.alertWebhookSecret);