Getting started

PingBoard ships as a single Docker image with an embedded SQLite database. One container, one volume, one port — no Redis, no queue, no external database.

Run it

With docker run:

docker run -d --restart=always \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v pingboard:/data \
  --name pingboard \
  ghcr.io/steiner-co/pingboard:latest

Or with Docker Compose (clone the repo, then):

docker compose up -d

All configuration is optional — no environment variables are required to boot. See Self-hosting when you're ready to set a public URL, change the port, or put PingBoard behind a reverse proxy.

First run

1. Open http://localhost:3000.
2. You're prompted to create the admin account — email and a password of at least 8 characters. Setup is one-shot: once the first account exists, the setup screen is gone.
3. Click Add monitor, pick a type (HTTP(S) is the common one), paste a target URL, and save. The first check runs immediately.

That's it — you're monitoring. From here the dashboard updates live over Server-Sent Events, with no polling and no page refreshes.

Where next

• Monitors — intervals, timeouts, retries, tags, pausing, and per-monitor alert routing.
• Monitor types — what each of the 7 check types actually verifies and how to configure it.
• Notifications — wire up email, webhooks, Discord, Slack, or ntfy so downs reach you.
• Status pages — publish a public page at /your-slug.
• API tokens and the CLI — script PingBoard instead of clicking it.
• MCP server — query and control your monitors from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client.