May 2023 Summaries

Checkly has introduced Retry Insights, which provides more detailed information on failed check runs by storing all attempts, including the initial one. This feature helps users identify intermittent issues and debug flaky checks that may be caused by network instability, poor test design, location-based errors, or unreliable external dependencies. With Retry Insights, users can now view both the final result and earlier attempts, including assets, on their check result page, making it easier to understand what went wrong initially and troubleshoot problems more effectively. The feature is enabled by default for new checks but can be toggled off or applied to entire check groups as needed.

We set out to connect our fully remote team and align them around our goal to make Checkly the leading synthetic monitoring company, and we succeeded with 90% of respondents feeling more connected and 77% feeling more aligned. To achieve this, we defined clear retreat goals, reserved 50% of time for work and allowed the rest for non-work activities that benefit from team presence, left space for serendipity, and made sure the schedule was flexible and social hangovers were avoided. Our balanced schedule with a mix of sessions, working time, and free time has been successful in achieving our retreat goals and improving our team's culture and cohesion.

Monitoring as code (MaC) is key to achieving great Mean Time To Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR) numbers by enabling organizations to proactively monitor their web applications or APIs, detect issues early, and provide the necessary information for swift incident response. Highly programmable checks that mimic business critical user flows are required, as well as extremely reliable checks with minimal false positives. Checks should run at high frequency based on the criticality of the flow being monitored, with customizable alerting and in-depth reports providing essential insights to engineers. The missing piece is engineering team ownership of synthetic monitoring, where monitoring becomes code-first, integrating seamlessly into existing workflows and allowing teams to drive down detection and investigation times, ultimately contributing to lower MTTR numbers.

We are thrilled to unveil our new branding and website, reflecting our commitment to providing engineers with the best monitoring as code (MaC) platform for modern software stacks. Our rebranding efforts signify a new era for Checkly and highlight our commitment to continuous innovation and dedication to enabling a MaC workflow for you and your teams. We have gained significant momentum, including over 5 billion checks executed, nearly 800 customers, and thousands of users globally across all industries, and we remain committed to MaC as the prime workflow allowing users to code, test, and deploy checks. Our new branding and website aim to educate our users on the advantages and functionality of MaC and how it can optimize, streamline, and scale their software development process. We've introduced an updated mascot and logo, which embody our drive for innovation, creativity, and excellence, and we're inviting users to help us give our new mascot a name. Our new website is designed to be more educational, engaging, and helpful to our users, and includes improved resources, examples, references, and insights to help our customers build better and more reliable experiences for their users. We've also released the Checkly CLI, which allows engineers to automate the entire monitoring process from code to test to deploy all through a single command line interface. Our new branding, website, and Checkly CLI represent our continued dedication to providing the best MaC platform for developers using modern stacks.

We are excited to announce that our Checkly CLI is now available to everyone, allowing users to code, test, and deploy API and browser checks from their code repository to Checkly as tests or monitors on a schedule 24/7. The new CLI comes with many additional features, including the ability to trigger checks, manage environment variables, and create markdown-based reports for GitHub Actions. We also launched a new website and enhanced branding that reflects our commitment to innovation and support of MaC, which aims to revolutionize how monitoring is set up as code and live in your repository.

The Checkly CLI is now generally available, marking a significant milestone for the company and its users. The CLI allows developers to create powerful monitoring as code workflows using plain TypeScript/JavaScript, with features such as recording test sessions, deploying checks, and integrating with CI/CD pipelines. New commands have been added to optimize local development workflow and make migration to the CLI easier, including `trigger` and `env`. The CLI also introduces a new frequency construct and fromId() function for constructing alert channels and referencing existing ones. A test session is recorded whenever a check or set of checks is run from a local CLI command or triggered by a vendor integration like GitHub or Vercel. The CLI's new reporters allow for multiple reporting formats, including a GitHub Actions Markdown report. Deploying checks to the monitoring stage involves setting alert channels and picking the right point in the CI/CD pipeline to trigger the deploy command, with features such as integrating with CI providers like GitHub and Vercel.