Monitor a user flow (Transaction monitor)

The Transaction monitor (API type tran, shown in the app as Transaction check) drives a real Chromium browser through steps you define - open a page, click, type, check text, wait - and fails at the first step that does not work. Use it when one request cannot prove the thing works: a login, a search, add-to-cart, a multi-page form.

At a glance

API type token	tran
Runs from	HostTracker’s browser checkpoint fleet - you pick the locations
Intervals in the app	10, 15, 30, 45 minutes, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24 hours, or a cron schedule
Default interval	10 minutes in the app; 3 minutes if omitted in the API
Steps	1 to 10 authored steps, run in order after the opening page load
Plan gates	the Transaction type is a package feature with its own monitor count (tranCount)

How Down is decided

The check always starts by opening the monitor’s own URL (the Initial navigation step, shown in the API as a read-only step 0 with synthesized: true). Then each step runs in order, and the check fails at the first step that fails - a selector not found, a keyword check that does not pass, a navigation timeout. It also fails when the whole flow exceeds the Transaction timeout, and, with Fail on console error on, when the browser logs a console error that is not on your allow-list.

A failure is re-checked from other locations before the monitor turns Down. The result shows which step failed.

Settings reference

The name, interval, cron, tags, Full Log, Open Stats, subscriptions and locations work as described in Common monitor fields.

Setting (app label)	API field	Type / allowed values	Default	Plan limits	What it does for you
Initial navigation step	url	URL	required	-	The first page the browser opens.
Transaction timeout (Main Settings)	settings.timeout	milliseconds, 0-40000	40000	-	Budget for the whole flow. The app slider goes higher, but values above 40 s are refused.
Transaction Steps	settings.steps	array of 1-10 step objects (below)	required	-	The flow. The counter shows N / 10 steps configured.
Final screenshot	settings.finalScreenshot	boolean	true	-	Screenshot of the page after the last step - the first thing to look at when a step fails.
Skip loading media files	settings.skipMedia	boolean	true	-	Skips images and other media to make runs faster.
Fail on console error (Response Validation)	settings.consoleError	boolean	false	-	Fails the check when the browser logs a console error.
Expected console errors (optional)	settings.expectedConsoleErrors	up to 10 strings, 127 characters each	none	-	Console errors containing any of these texts are ignored (matched case-insensitively).
Recheck strategy, If selected locations are unavailable	recheck, locations.fallback	as on the Website monitor	majority vote, starve	-	How failures are confirmed.

Step actions

Every step has action plus these optional fields: name (up to 19 characters, shown in errors), timeout (milliseconds, 0-40000, overrides the action’s default), screenshot (true - capture after the step) and waitForNavigation (true or {"delay", "failWhenNoNav", "timeout"} - wait for a page change after the step).

App action	action	Fields	What it does
Navigate to a new page	navigate	url (required, up to 2047), skipMedia, timeout (default 20000)	Opens a URL (Page URL, Navigation timeout).
Click page element	click	select (a CSS selector string, or a selector object) or x + y; button (left, right, middle); delay (ms held down); sleep	Clicks an element (CSS selector to click) or a viewport point.
Fill in a text input	type	text (required, up to 255), select, delay (ms between keys), sleep	Types into a field (CSS selector of text input, Text to type).
Verify page elements	select	selector (required, up to 127), validationStrategy, selectStrategy, onlyVisible, delay	Checks how many elements match (CSS selector to find, Validation strategy).
Verify textual content of a page	checkContent	keywords (1-10, up to 127 each), all, reverse, caseSensitive, onlyVisible, highlightKeywords	Checks the rendered text (Content check keywords, Match mode).
Wait for specified time	sleep	delay (1-10000 ms, required), dispersion (0-5000 ms of random jitter)	Pauses (Delay).
Go back to the previous page	back	timeout (default 20000)	Browser Back (Back navigation timeout).
(API only) Hover	hover	select, sleep	Moves the pointer over an element.
(API only) Screenshot	screenshot	none	Captures a screenshot as its own step.
(API only) Wait for navigation	waitForNavigation	delay (default 1000), failWhenNoNav, timeout	Waits for a page change as its own step.

Validation strategy (validationStrategy): Fail if no elements found = oneOrMore (default), Fail if any element present = zero, Fail if not exactly one = one; the API also accepts zeroOrMore (never fails on the count). selectStrategy picks which matches a click or type acts on: all (default), first, random; a plain selector string means first.

After click behavior in the app maps to the step’s post-actions: End current step (none), Wait a few seconds (sleep), Wait for navigation (waitForNavigation: true), Wait for navigation, otherwise fail (waitForNavigation: {"failWhenNoNav": true}).

Match mode for text checks: ANY keyword must be PRESENT (all: false, reverse: false), ALL keywords must be PRESENT (all: true), ANY keyword must be ABSENT (reverse: true - fails only when every keyword is found), ALL keywords must be ABSENT (all: true, reverse: true - fails when any keyword is found).

Set it up in the app

1. On the Sites dashboard, click Add Monitor and choose Transaction check in Monitoring Type.
2. Enter the start page in Initial navigation step and a name.
3. In Main Settings, set the interval and Transaction timeout.
4. In Transaction Steps, click Add new transaction step for each step, choose the Action and fill in its fields. Steps run top to bottom.
5. Keep Final screenshot on. Optionally switch on Fail on console error in Response Validation.
6. Pick browser locations in Monitoring Locations and click Save.

Do it with the API or MCP

A login flow:

curl -X POST https://api2.host-tracker.com/monitor \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HT_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "tran",
    "url": "https://app.example.com/login",
    "name": "Login flow",
    "interval": 600,
    "locations": { "pools": ["allworld"] },
    "settings": {
      "timeout": 40000,
      "steps": [
        { "action": "type", "name": "email", "select": "#email", "text": "[email protected]" },
        { "action": "type", "name": "password", "select": "#password", "text": "<password>" },
        { "action": "click", "name": "submit", "select": "button[type=submit]",
          "waitForNavigation": { "failWhenNoNav": true } },
        { "action": "checkContent", "name": "dashboard", "keywords": ["Dashboard"] }
      ]
    }
  }'

Update - replace the steps (the array is replaced as a whole) or change one setting:

curl -X PATCH https://api2.host-tracker.com/monitor/<monitor-id> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HT_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "settings": { "consoleError": true, "expectedConsoleErrors": ["favicon"] } }'

When you read a Transaction monitor back, steps[0] is the synthesized opening step. Sending the array back unchanged is safe - that step is dropped on write, and the 10-step limit counts only your own steps.

MCP (interval is passed to the API as-is, in seconds):

create_monitor(type="tran", url="https://app.example.com/login", interval=600, pools="allworld",
               settingsJson="{\"steps\":[{\"action\":\"checkContent\",\"keywords\":[\"Sign in\"]}]}")

Recipes

• Login works - type email, type password, click submit with Wait for navigation, otherwise fail, then Verify textual content for a word only a signed-in user sees.
• Search returns results - type into the search box, click search, Verify page elements .result with Fail if no elements found.
• No error dialog - Verify page elements .error-modal with Fail if any element present.
• Slow SPA - add a Wait for specified time step (for example 2000 ms) before a check.

What happens next

Each run stores per-step timings, the failing step’s error and the screenshots. A failure is re-checked from other locations, then opens an incident and alerts the subscribed contacts.

Limits and gotchas

• 403 package_limit - your package does not include Transaction monitors, or its count is used up.
• 422 invalid_settings - more than 10 steps, a step name of 20 or more characters, a timeout above 40000, a screenshot post-action on a screenshot step, or a field that does not belong to the step’s action.
• Step text, including passwords, is stored in the monitor. Use a dedicated test account.
• locations.pools is required on create.

Related

• Content check monitor
• Page speed monitor
• API monitor
• Choosing a monitor type