August 2023 Summaries

The Checkly CLI provides a JavaScript/TypeScript-native workflow for coding, testing and deploying synthetic monitoring at scale from your code repository. It solves problems encountered when shifting synthetic monitoring practices to the left by introducing resource constructs written in JavaScript or TypeScript that represent resources to be executed or created on the Checkly cloud backend. The CLI uses two core commands: test to run monitoring checks as tests in CI or on local machines, and deploy to push resources to the Checkly cloud and run them around the clock. This enables teams to integrate synthetic monitoring with their software development lifecycle (SLDC), moving from left to right through phases including analysis, design, development, testing, deployment, maintenance. The integration supports a broader monitoring as code workflow, tying together features like Checkly Code Explorer and Activity Log, which export resources created via the Web UI to CLI constructs or Terraform manifests, and track origin and update history with git commit attribution respectively. By using the Checkly CLI, teams can automate synthetic monitoring tasks, reduce manual work, increase productivity, and improve overall quality of their software.

Synthetic monitoring simulates real-user interactions with applications to identify performance issues before they impact users, providing a safety net for development and DevOps teams. It enables developers to ship fast and confidently by automating critical application flows, detecting mission-critical issues in high intervals, and reducing noise with meaningful alerts. Synthetic monitoring also provides clear performance benchmarks, more transparency with monitored third-party services, and cost-effectiveness. However, it comes with challenges such as complexity, shared ownership, cost, and false alerts, which can be overcome by adopting a Monitoring as Code approach that integrates testing and monitoring into a single workflow. By leveraging this approach, development teams can rely on a single tool to test and monitor their app's user experience, fostering a collaborative environment that enhances the overall health of their application.