Monitor Your Apps and Get Alerts with Uptime Kuma

← Self-Hosting · Foundations 7 of 8 · Replaces: UptimeRobot / Pingdom

What You'll Build

Uptime Kuma checks each of your apps every 60 seconds and messages you if one stops answering — so you find out before your family does. It also graphs response times and can publish a status page.

Port: 3001 · Time: 20 minutes · Difficulty: Easy

Step 1: Start Uptime Kuma

mkdir -p ~/stacks/uptime-kuma && cd ~/stacks/uptime-kuma
nano compose.yaml

services:
  uptime-kuma:
    image: louislam/uptime-kuma:2      # version 2
    container_name: uptime-kuma
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data               # monitors, history, settings

docker compose up -d

Open http://192.168.1.50:3001, choose the default embedded database if asked, and create your admin account.

Step 2: Add Monitors

Click + Add New Monitor for each app:

Monitor type	Use it for	Example
HTTP(s)	Any web app	`https://photos.home.example.com`
HTTP(s) – Keyword	Check the page really loaded (not an error page)	Keyword `Immich`
DNS	Pi-hole / AdGuard answering	Hostname `example.com`, resolver `192.168.1.50`
Ping	Devices: router, NAS, printer	`192.168.1.1`
Docker Container	Apps with no web page	Needs the Docker socket mounted (see tip)

To use Docker Container monitors, add - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro under volumes:, run docker compose up -d, then add a Docker Host in Settings → Docker Hosts using the socket.

Step 3: Get Notified on Your Phone (ntfy)

ntfy is a free push-notification app with no account needed.

Install the ntfy app (Android/iOS) and subscribe to a hard-to-guess topic name, e.g. homeserver-alerts-k29xq.
In Uptime Kuma: Settings → Notifications → Setup Notification → type ntfy. Server https://ntfy.sh, topic the same name → Test.
Tick Default enabled and Apply on all existing monitors → Save.

Prefer Discord, Telegram, email, or Home Assistant? They're all in the same notification-type list.

Step 4: A Status Page (Optional)

Status Pages → New Status Page, pick the monitors to show, and share the link with your household so they can check "is Jellyfin down, or is it just me?"

Troubleshooting

A monitor for a *.home name is always down — the container can't resolve your local DNS names. Monitor the IP:port instead, or set the container's DNS to your Pi-hole with dns: [192.168.1.50] in compose.
Too many alerts for short blips — in a monitor's settings, raise Retries to 3 so a single failed check doesn't alert.
Who watches the watcher? If the whole server dies, Uptime Kuma dies with it. A free external monitor (or a second tiny device running Kuma) covers that.

What's Next?

Want graphs of CPU, memory, temperature, and disk over time?

Foundations 8: Grafana + Prometheus →