---
title: Create a check-in
description: Creates a new check-in monitor.
url: https://docs.honeybadger.io/api/v3/check-ins/create-check-in/
---

API v3 is in preview

Endpoints and response shapes [can change before general availability](https://docs.honeybadger.io/api/v3/#preview). API v2 is unchanged.

POST `https://app.honeybadger.io/v3/projects/{project_id}/check_ins`

[Required scope](https://docs.honeybadger.io/api/v3/authentication/#scopes) `checkins:write`

Creates a new check-in monitor.

Example request

```sh
curl -X POST "https://app.honeybadger.io/v3/projects/$PROJECT_ID/check_ins" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HONEYBADGER_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "name": "Nightly backup",
  "report_period": "1 day"
}'
```

## Parameters

### Path parameters

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `project_id` required | string | Project ID. |

## Request body

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `name` | string \| null | Display name. Null clears it; an unnamed check-in shows its ID. |
| `slug` | string \| null | Short identifier used in the check-in's reporting URL. Null clears it. Renaming it breaks jobs reporting to `…/check_in/<ingestion key>/<slug>` and changes how `PUT /check_ins` matches this check-in. |
| `schedule_type` | string | Switching to `simple` clears `cron_schedule` and resets `cron_timezone` to `UTC`; switching to `cron` clears `report_period`. |
| `report_period` | string \| null | How often a report is expected, for `simple` schedules. Required unless `schedule_type` is `cron`, and may not be zero. A duration such as `5 minutes`, `1 hour 30 minutes` or `01:30:00`. Returned in long form: `1 week` comes back as `7 days`. |
| `grace_period` | string \| null | How long after the expected time before the check-in is considered missing. Same format as `report_period`; zero is `00:00:00`. Null resets it to zero. Default: `"00:00:00"`. |
| `cron_schedule` | string \| null | Cron expression, required when `schedule_type` is `cron`. |
| `cron_timezone` | string \| null | Timezone the cron schedule is evaluated in. A time zone name as the web app lists them, not an IANA identifier — `Central Time (US & Canada)`, not `America/Chicago`, which is rejected. Required when `schedule_type` is `cron`. Null resets it to `UTC`. Default: `"UTC"`. |

## Responses

### 201 Check-in created

Example payload

```json
{
  "data": {
    "id": "Ci5xWq",
    "project_id": "Xk9mZp",
    "name": "Daily Backup",
    "slug": "daily-backup",
    "schedule_type": "simple",
    "state": "pending",
    "reported_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "expected_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "missed_count": 0,
    "grace_period": "10 minutes",
    "report_url": "https://api.honeybadger.io/v1/check_in/Ci5xWq",
    "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "cron_schedule": "0 2 * * *",
    "cron_timezone": "Eastern Time (US & Canada)",
    "report_period": "1 day",
    "links": {
      "web": "https://app.honeybadger.io/projects/Xk9mZp"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "6f1c2b0e-8d4a-4f6e-9b2a-3c5d7e9f1a2b"
  }
}
```

Response schema

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `data` required | object | A check-in monitor for a scheduled job. The job requests the check-in's report URL each time it runs, and Honeybadger alerts when a report doesn't arrive on schedule. |
| `data.id` required | string | |
| `data.project_id` required | string | ID of the project this check-in belongs to. |
| `data.name` required | string \| null | Display name. |
| `data.slug` required | string \| null | URL-safe identifier. |
| `data.schedule_type` required | string | `simple` expects a report every `report_period`. `cron` expects reports on a cron schedule and requires `cron_schedule`. Allowed values: `simple`, `cron`. Default: `"simple"`. |
| `data.state` required | string | Current check-in state. Allowed values: `pending`, `reporting`, `missing`, `paused`. |
| `data.reported_at` required | date-time \| null | When the last report was received. |
| `data.expected_at` required | date-time \| null | When the next report is expected. |
| `data.missed_count` required | integer | Number of consecutive missed reports. |
| `data.grace_period` required | string | How long after the expected time before the check-in is missing. A duration such as `5 minutes`, `1 hour 30 minutes` or `01:30:00`. Returned in long form: `1 week` comes back as `7 days`, and zero as `00:00:00`. |
| `data.report_url` required | string | URL to ping when the task completes. |
| `data.created_at` required | date-time | When the check-in was created. |
| `data.cron_schedule` | string \| null | Cron expression (for cron schedule type). |
| `data.cron_timezone` required | string | Timezone for cron schedule, as the web app names time zones. `UTC` on a simple check-in. |
| `data.report_period` | string \| null | How often a report is expected, for `simple` schedules. Same format as `grace_period`. Null for `cron` schedules, which use `cron_schedule`. |
| `data.links` required | object | Links into the Honeybadger web UI. |
| `data.links.web` required | uri | The resource's page in the Honeybadger web UI, as an absolute URL. Resources without a page, such as outages and deploys, don't have `links`. For a project provisioned through Heroku, error, notice and comment links go through Heroku's single sign-on. |
| `meta` | object | |
| `meta.request_id` | string | Unique identifier for the request, for correlating with support. |

## Errors

### 400 Bad Request

A query parameter is malformed or outside its allowed values. `error.details` names the parameter.

Example payload

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_parameter",
    "message": "unmapped must be true or false",
    "details": [
      {
        "field": "unmapped",
        "message": "must be true or false"
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Response schema

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `error` required | object | |
| `error.code` required | string | Machine-readable code. Branch on this, not the message. Allowed values: `unauthorized`, `unsupported_auth_scheme`, `credential_in_query`, `access_denied`, `insufficient_scope`, `requires_user_token`, `project_restricted`, `account_inactive`, `account_parked`, `feature_unavailable`, `not_found`, `validation_error`, `delete_failed`, `limit_reached`, `rate_limit_exceeded`, `concurrent_request`, `streams_provisioning`, `ingestion_key_not_accepted`, `maintenance_mode`, `invalid_parameter`, `forbidden_attributes`, `service_unavailable`, `ambiguous_account`, `fault_merged`. |
| `error.message` required | string | Human-readable explanation. |
| `error.details` | array\<object> \| object | A list of `{field, message}` on `validation_error` and `invalid_parameter`, and on `feature_unavailable` or `limit_reached` when one field caused the refusal; `{required_scope, token_scopes}` on `insufficient_scope`; `{merged_into, location}` on `fault_merged`. Absent when there's nothing to add. |
| `meta` | object | |
| `meta.request_id` | string | Unique identifier for the request, for correlating with support. |

### 401 Unauthorized

The credential is missing, invalid, expired or revoked (`unauthorized`), or was sent in a way v3 doesn’t accept (see the examples).

Example payload: unauthorized (Missing, malformed, expired or revoked credential)

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "unauthorized",
    "message": "Access denied"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Example payload: unsupported\_auth\_scheme (Sent as HTTP basic, which v3 does not accept)

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "unsupported_auth_scheme",
    "message": "Send the credential as `Authorization: Bearer <token>`; v3 does not accept HTTP basic"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Example payload: credential\_in\_query (Sent as the \`auth\_token\` query parameter)

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "credential_in_query",
    "message": "Credentials must be sent in the Authorization header"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Response schema

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `error` required | object | |
| `error.code` required | string | Machine-readable code. Branch on this, not the message. Allowed values: `unauthorized`, `unsupported_auth_scheme`, `credential_in_query`, `access_denied`, `insufficient_scope`, `requires_user_token`, `project_restricted`, `account_inactive`, `account_parked`, `feature_unavailable`, `not_found`, `validation_error`, `delete_failed`, `limit_reached`, `rate_limit_exceeded`, `concurrent_request`, `streams_provisioning`, `ingestion_key_not_accepted`, `maintenance_mode`, `invalid_parameter`, `forbidden_attributes`, `service_unavailable`, `ambiguous_account`, `fault_merged`. |
| `error.message` required | string | Human-readable explanation. |
| `error.details` | array\<object> \| object | A list of `{field, message}` on `validation_error` and `invalid_parameter`, and on `feature_unavailable` or `limit_reached` when one field caused the refusal; `{required_scope, token_scopes}` on `insufficient_scope`; `{merged_into, location}` on `fault_merged`. Absent when there's nothing to add. |
| `meta` | object | |
| `meta.request_id` | string | Unique identifier for the request, for correlating with support. |

### 403 Forbidden

The credential isn’t allowed to do this. `error.code` says why. An account or project the credential doesn’t cover is 404 `not_found`, not 403.

Example payload: access\_denied (The credential isn't allowed to do this to this record)

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "access_denied",
    "message": "Access denied"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Example payload: insufficient\_scope (The credential lacks the permission this endpoint requires)

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "insufficient_scope",
    "message": "Insufficient scope",
    "details": {
      "required_scope": "faults:write",
      "token_scopes": [
        "faults:read",
        "insights:read"
      ]
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Example payload: requires\_user\_token (The endpoint records who acted, and an account token has nobody)

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "requires_user_token",
    "message": "This endpoint records the person who acted, so it requires a user credential rather than an account token"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Example payload: project\_restricted (A project-restricted credential cannot create a project)

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "project_restricted",
    "message": "Project-restricted tokens cannot create projects"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Response schema

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `error` required | object | |
| `error.code` required | string | Machine-readable code. Branch on this, not the message. Allowed values: `unauthorized`, `unsupported_auth_scheme`, `credential_in_query`, `access_denied`, `insufficient_scope`, `requires_user_token`, `project_restricted`, `account_inactive`, `account_parked`, `feature_unavailable`, `not_found`, `validation_error`, `delete_failed`, `limit_reached`, `rate_limit_exceeded`, `concurrent_request`, `streams_provisioning`, `ingestion_key_not_accepted`, `maintenance_mode`, `invalid_parameter`, `forbidden_attributes`, `service_unavailable`, `ambiguous_account`, `fault_merged`. |
| `error.message` required | string | Human-readable explanation. |
| `error.details` | array\<object> \| object | A list of `{field, message}` on `validation_error` and `invalid_parameter`, and on `feature_unavailable` or `limit_reached` when one field caused the refusal; `{required_scope, token_scopes}` on `insufficient_scope`; `{merged_into, location}` on `fault_merged`. Absent when there's nothing to add. |
| `meta` | object | |
| `meta.request_id` | string | Unique identifier for the request, for correlating with support. |

### 404 Not Found

Resource not found

Example payload

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "not_found",
    "message": "Resource not found"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Response schema

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `error` required | object | |
| `error.code` required | string | Machine-readable code. Branch on this, not the message. Allowed values: `unauthorized`, `unsupported_auth_scheme`, `credential_in_query`, `access_denied`, `insufficient_scope`, `requires_user_token`, `project_restricted`, `account_inactive`, `account_parked`, `feature_unavailable`, `not_found`, `validation_error`, `delete_failed`, `limit_reached`, `rate_limit_exceeded`, `concurrent_request`, `streams_provisioning`, `ingestion_key_not_accepted`, `maintenance_mode`, `invalid_parameter`, `forbidden_attributes`, `service_unavailable`, `ambiguous_account`, `fault_merged`. |
| `error.message` required | string | Human-readable explanation. |
| `error.details` | array\<object> \| object | A list of `{field, message}` on `validation_error` and `invalid_parameter`, and on `feature_unavailable` or `limit_reached` when one field caused the refusal; `{required_scope, token_scopes}` on `insufficient_scope`; `{merged_into, location}` on `fault_merged`. Absent when there's nothing to add. |
| `meta` | object | |
| `meta.request_id` | string | Unique identifier for the request, for correlating with support. |

### 422 Unprocessable Content

Validation error

Example payload

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "validation_error",
    "message": "Name can't be blank",
    "details": [
      {
        "field": "name",
        "message": "can't be blank"
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "abc123"
  }
}
```

Response schema

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `error` required | object | |
| `error.code` required | string | Machine-readable code. Branch on this, not the message. Allowed values: `unauthorized`, `unsupported_auth_scheme`, `credential_in_query`, `access_denied`, `insufficient_scope`, `requires_user_token`, `project_restricted`, `account_inactive`, `account_parked`, `feature_unavailable`, `not_found`, `validation_error`, `delete_failed`, `limit_reached`, `rate_limit_exceeded`, `concurrent_request`, `streams_provisioning`, `ingestion_key_not_accepted`, `maintenance_mode`, `invalid_parameter`, `forbidden_attributes`, `service_unavailable`, `ambiguous_account`, `fault_merged`. |
| `error.message` required | string | Human-readable explanation. |
| `error.details` | array\<object> \| object | A list of `{field, message}` on `validation_error` and `invalid_parameter`, and on `feature_unavailable` or `limit_reached` when one field caused the refusal; `{required_scope, token_scopes}` on `insufficient_scope`; `{merged_into, location}` on `fault_merged`. Absent when there's nothing to add. |
| `meta` | object | |
| `meta.request_id` | string | Unique identifier for the request, for correlating with support. |

---

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