Upptime — GitHub-Powered Uptime Monitor and Status Page

Introduction

Upptime is an open-source uptime monitor and status page that runs entirely on GitHub infrastructure. It uses GitHub Actions for scheduled checks, GitHub Issues for incident tracking, and GitHub Pages for a public status page. There is no server to maintain or database to manage.

What Upptime Does

• Monitors HTTP endpoints at configurable intervals using GitHub Actions cron jobs
• Automatically creates and resolves GitHub Issues when downtime is detected
• Generates a static status page deployed via GitHub Pages
• Tracks historical uptime and response time data in the repository itself
• Sends notifications through email, Slack, Telegram, SMS, and other channels

Architecture Overview

Upptime stores all configuration in a single .upptimerc.yml file in your GitHub repository. A scheduled GitHub Actions workflow runs every five minutes, sends HTTP requests to each configured endpoint, and commits the results as JSON and SVG badges to the repo. When a site goes down, it opens a GitHub Issue and triggers configured notification channels. The static status page is built with Svelte and deployed to GitHub Pages on each update.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Fork or use the Upptime template repository on GitHub
• Define monitored sites in .upptimerc.yml with URL, method, headers, and expected status
• Configure notification channels (Slack, email, Telegram) via repository secrets
• Customize the status page theme, logo, and domain in the config file
• Adjust check frequency by modifying the GitHub Actions cron schedule

Key Features

• Zero infrastructure cost when using GitHub's free tier for public repos
• Full history stored as git commits, making every data point auditable
• Supports TCP, HTTP, DNS, and ICMP monitoring types
• Multi-language status page with internationalization support
• Custom request headers and body for authenticated endpoint checks

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Uptime Kuma — Self-hosted monitoring with a web dashboard; Upptime requires no server at all
• Gatus — Go-based health checker with alerting; Upptime uses GitHub as both the runner and the data store
• Statuspage.io — Commercial hosted status page; Upptime is free and fully open source
• Cachet — Self-hosted PHP status page; Upptime eliminates the need for hosting by using GitHub Pages

FAQ

Q: Is Upptime really free? A: Yes. GitHub Actions provides enough free minutes for public repositories to run checks every five minutes indefinitely.

Q: Can I monitor internal or private endpoints? A: Yes, by using a self-hosted GitHub Actions runner inside your network, or by using the TCP/ICMP check types with appropriate network access.

Q: How is data stored? A: All monitoring data is committed to the repository as JSON files and SVGs. Historical data lives in git history, so it is versioned and auditable.

Q: Can I use a custom domain for the status page? A: Yes. Configure your custom domain in the GitHub Pages settings and update the CNAME record.

Sources

• https://github.com/upptime/upptime
• https://upptime.js.org