Set up your first watch

From signup to a running snapshot schedule in five minutes — REST OpenAPI, vendor URLs, or MCP tools/list catalogs.

Overview

A watch stores scheduled snapshots of an external contract. DriftGuard diffs each snapshot against the previous baseline and classifies changes as breaking, warning, or info.

  1. Start the free trial

    Paste a vendor URL at /start — no credit card.

  2. Review watch suggestions

    Confirm name, poll interval, and snapshot strategy.

  3. Copy your API key

    Use /activate or the console account panel.

  4. Verify the first snapshot

    Open the watch in console and confirm OK or baseline captured.

  5. Wire alerts (optional)

    Route breaking drift to Slack or a webhook.

Step 1 — Start the trial

Visit /start and paste one of:

  • An OpenAPI or Swagger URL (https://api.example.com/openapi.json)
  • A REST base URL (DriftGuard probes common spec paths)
  • An MCP server URL for tools/list monitoring

Click Start free trial on the suggestion card. Trial includes full Pro features on one watch.

DriftGuard /start wizard — goal chips and OpenAPI watch type selected
/start step 1 — goal chips and watch type grid (MED-1).

Step 2 — Confirm the watch

The wizard calls POST /api/watches/suggest to infer vendor, snapshot type, and display name. Review:

  • Poll interval — trial plans use daily snapshots; upgrade for hourly.
  • Watch type — openapi, rest, or mcp.
  • Headers — add auth headers if the spec requires a token.

Confirm to create the watch. You land in ConsoleFleet with your new row.

Console fleet table with watch rows and OK status
Console fleet after first watch (MED-2).

Step 3 — Copy your API key

For CI, MCP, or API automation, copy the key from ConsoleAccountAPI keys or the post-checkout /activate page.

export DRIFTGUARD_API_KEY=dg_live_…
export DRIFTGUARD_API_URL=https://driftguard.org

Step 4 — Verify the first snapshot

Open the watch detail panel. The first successful poll establishes the baseline schema. Status shows OK when no drift is detected.

Trigger an on-demand poll from Run now if you do not want to wait for the schedule.

Watch detail panel with OK status and baseline snapshot
Watch detail — baseline captured, status OK (MED-2).

Step 5 — Wire alerts

Under Alerts, connect Slack, PagerDuty, or a signed webhook. Start with breaking-only to avoid noise on info-level vendor tweaks.

Webhook payload reference: webhooks & alerts (OSS).

Walkthrough video

Video walkthrough — first watch from /start to console (~4 min)

Next steps

  • Connect MCP in Cursor
  • Add DriftGuard to GitHub Actions
  • Watches concept reference