Importing a list of monitors

View as Markdown

Onboarding many sites? Instead of one form per monitor, paste a list of addresses and HostTracker creates them in one batch, all with the same settings. If you are moving from another monitoring service, the importer converts its export into that list for you.

Add a list of addresses

On Sites, click Add Monitor and pick the monitor type.
Above the address field, click add list.
Paste one address per line. To name a monitor, add the name after a comma:
```
https://shop.example.com/, Shop
https://blog.example.com/
api.example.com
```
For Ping, enter hosts or IPs (8.8.8.8, Google DNS); for Port and SSL certificate checks, host:port (mail.example.com:25).
Set everything else once - interval, locations, validation, attached checks, alert and report subscriptions. Every monitor in the batch gets these settings.
Click Save. The list is checked first (Checking the list…) and nothing is created yet. You see:
- how many lines will be created, how many will be created disabled (over limit) and how many are rejected;
- each rejected line with its reason under Next urls are invalid, blacklisted or already present, and a leave only valid urls button.
If some lines were rejected, fix or remove them - or click Save again unchanged to create the valid lines anyway. A clean list is checked and submitted in one click.
The monitors are created by a background job (Creating the monitors…); follow it in the jobs indicator in the top bar. You can close the panel.

add list is available for Website/HTTPS, API, Page speed, Web content check, Ping, Port, DNSBL, Domain expiry, SSL certificate expiry and Russian BL monitors. Transaction, Database, Counter, SNMP, Web Risk and Site crawl monitors are created one at a time.

The counter under the box (N of M lines) shows how many lines you may paste in one batch: your plan’s monitor count, never more than 5000.

Import from another service

In add list mode (or from the address field), click import from another service.
Choose the service. The panel shows the command to run with your own API key of that service - the key is never sent to HostTracker. For Uptime Kuma, export a backup (Settings -> Backup -> Export) instead.
Paste the JSON the command returned and click Convert. The service is detected automatically.
The monitors are grouped by the HostTracker type they map to. Click a group to load it into the list, then Save as above. Import one group (one type) per batch.

Service	Command shown in the app
UptimeRobot	`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" https://api.uptimerobot.com/v3/monitors` (the older v2 `getMonitors` response is accepted too)
Pingdom	`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" https://api.pingdom.com/api/3.1/checks`
StatusCake	`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" https://api.statuscake.com/v1/uptime`
Better Stack	`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" https://uptime.betterstack.com/api/v2/monitors`
Site24x7	`curl -H "Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" https://www.site24x7.com/api/monitors`
Uptime Kuma	Backup export file

How monitors map:

Source monitor	Becomes	Line format
HTTP(S) / URL / homepage / status / API / REST API	Website/HTTPS (Fast Check Https)	The URL
Keyword (and Better Stack keyword absence)	Web content check; one shared keyword is prefilled when the group uses a single keyword	The URL
Ping	Ping check	The host
Port / TCP, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, SSH	TCP Port check	`host:port` (standard port for the protocol when the export names none)
Site24x7 SSL certificate	Certificate expiration	The address
Site24x7 domain expiry	Domain expiration	The host
Heartbeat / push / cron, UDP, DNS, unknown types, entries without an address or port	Not imported - listed under Not imported with the reason	-

Do it with the API or MCP

The API equivalent is the bulk create: shared defaults plus one item per monitor (item fields win). Validate first, then submit (scope monitor:write):

BODY='{
  "defaults": { "type": "http", "interval": 300, "locations": { "pools": ["allworld"] }, "tags": ["imported"] },
  "items": [
    { "url": "https://shop.example.com/", "name": "Shop" },
    { "url": "https://blog.example.com/" },
    { "type": "ping", "url": "8.8.8.8", "name": "Google DNS" }
  ],
  "onOverlimit": "disable",
  "onDuplicate": "skip"
}'

# 1. Preview: one verdict per item, nothing written
curl -X POST https://api2.host-tracker.com/monitor/bulk-validate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HT_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "$BODY"
# { "valid": 3, "invalid": 0, "wouldDisable": 0, "items": [ { "index": 0, "valid": true, "overlimit": "fits" }, ... ] }

# 2. Submit: 202 + job id (Idempotency-Key required)
curl -X POST https://api2.host-tracker.com/monitor/bulk \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HT_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: import-2026-09-29" -d "$BODY"

bulk-validate does not accept callback or onError - drop them from the preview body. Poll the job with GET /job/{id} (see Bulk operations); each item ends created, createdDisabled, skipped or failed.

MCP: bulk_create_monitors with itemsJson (the items array) and defaultsJson; the first call validates only, the second with submit=true creates. Intervals are in seconds ({"interval":300}). The tool always uses the API defaults (onOverlimit: "fail", onDuplicate: "fail"); use api_request with POST /monitor/bulk to set them.

What happens next

Every created monitor behaves like one made by hand and is picked up within about a minute. Subscriptions you set in the form are applied to the new monitors when the job finishes. Adjust individual monitors afterwards, or use bulk edit to change many at once.

Limits and gotchas

Plan limits still apply. In the app, lines beyond your plan’s monitor count are created disabled rather than refused. On the API, the default onOverlimit: "fail" fails those items; send "disable" to match the app.
Duplicates. An address that already has a monitor of the same type is rejected (duplicate_monitor); on the API, onDuplicate: "skip" skips it instead.
Batch size. More lines than your cap (GET /account -> limits.maxBulkItems, at most 5000) are refused with 422 too_many_items; split the list.
One type per batch. A pasted list becomes monitors of the type you picked; the API’s items may mix types.
The placeholder text in the list box mentions “up to 100 sites” - the real limit is the N of M lines counter.