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API Monitoring

Rates API includes a robust monitoring system that continuously checks the health of all endpoints. This system uses GitHub Actions to run automated checks every 15 minutes and alert developers when issues are detected.

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How Monitoring Works

The monitoring workflow:

  1. Runs every 15 minutes via GitHub Actions
  2. Checks the health of all API endpoints
  3. Creates a GitHub Issue when problems are detected
  4. Notifies the repository owner through GitHub’s notification system

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Monitored Endpoints

The following endpoints are continuously monitored:

  • API Root: The main API endpoint
  • Mortgage Rates: Both list and by-institution endpoints
  • Personal Loan Rates: Both list and by-institution endpoints
  • Car Loan Rates: Both list and by-institution endpoints
  • Credit Card Rates: Both list and by-issuer endpoints
  • Time Series Endpoints: Historical data for all rate types
  • API Documentation: The OpenAPI documentation endpoint

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Alert System

When an endpoint fails, the monitoring system:

  1. Creates a new GitHub Issue with detailed information
  2. Labels the issue as “incident” and “high-priority”
  3. Mentions the repository owner to trigger a notification
  4. Provides specific details about which endpoints failed and why

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GitHub Notifications

The notification system uses GitHub’s built-in @mentions to alert team members. Users will receive notifications according to their GitHub notification preferences (email, web, mobile).

To ensure you receive timely alerts:

  1. Check your GitHub notification settings at https://github.com/settings/notifications
  2. Enable notifications for “Issues” activity
  3. Configure your preferred notification method (web, email, mobile)

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Required Permissions

The GitHub Action requires specific permissions to create issues and add labels. These permissions are already configured in the workflow file:

# Required permissions for creating issues and using labels
permissions:
  issues: write
  contents: read

If you’re using an organization with restricted permissions, ensure that:

  1. The repository settings allow GitHub Actions to create issues

    • Go to repository Settings > Actions > General
    • Under “Workflow permissions”, select “Read and write permissions”
    • Check “Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests”
    • Click “Save”

  2. Create the required labels in your repository:

    • Go to repository Issues > Labels
    • Create “incident” and “high-priority” labels if they don’t exist

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Extending the Monitoring System

You can extend the monitoring system to include additional checks:

  • Add new endpoints to the monitoring workflow
  • Implement more detailed health checks
  • Set up additional notification channels (e.g., Slack, Discord, email)
  • Configure custom alerting thresholds or criteria
Deployment