Monitor a Zap with StepCanary

Time: about 3 minutes. You need: a StepCanary check (its ping URL), and a Zapier plan that includes the Webhooks by Zapier app. Webhooks by Zapier is a premium app, so it is not available on Zapier's free plan.

New to StepCanary? A check is our watch on one automation: it listens for a signal each time the automation runs and alerts you when the signals stop. What is a check?

The idea: add one last step to your Zap that tells StepCanary "I ran." If those pings stop arriving, StepCanary emails you.

1. Create the check

In StepCanary, click New check and name it after the Zap, e.g. "New lead → CRM".
Choose how often it should run (see "Which settings should I pick?" below) and create it.
Leave the check page open. It shows your ping URL and "Listening for your first ping…".

Screenshot: StepCanary check page with the ping URL and the "Listening" panel

2. Add the step to your Zap

Open the Zap in the Zapier editor.
Click the + below the last step.
Search for and choose Webhooks by Zapier.
For Action event, choose POST, then Continue.

Screenshot: Zapier editor, choosing Webhooks by Zapier with event POST

3. Copy these settings

Field	What to enter
URL	Your ping URL, e.g. `https://ping.stepcanary.com/p/…`
Payload Type	`json`
Data	Optional. See "Watch the data too" below. Leave empty for a simple heartbeat.
Wrap Request In Array	`No`
Unflatten	`Yes`
Basic Auth, Headers, File	Leave empty

Screenshot: Webhooks by Zapier POST step with URL and Payload Type filled in

4. Test it

Click Test step in Zapier.
Look at the StepCanary check page. Within a couple of seconds it changes to "Connected! First ping received". No refresh needed.
Publish the Zap.

Screenshot: StepCanary check page showing "Connected! First ping received"

That is all. StepCanary sends no alerts until the first ping has arrived, so nothing can fire while you are still setting up.

Which settings should I pick?

Your Zap…	Use
Runs on a schedule (e.g. every morning at 9 AM)	Schedule mode with the same times, and 15-30 minutes of grace. Zapier's schedule trigger can start a few minutes late.
Polls for new items (most Zapier triggers) and normally finds something every hour or so	Interval mode. Pick an interval comfortably longer than the longest normal quiet spell.
Only gets activity in business hours (lead forms, bookings)	Interval mode with an active window, e.g. Mon–Fri, 9:00 AM–6:00 PM, so nights and weekends never alert.
Runs dozens or hundreds of times a day	Volume mode: StepCanary learns what is normal for each weekday and tells you when it drops.

Remember that the ping only happens when the Zap runs to the end. A polling Zap that finds nothing new does not run, so does not ping. Choose the interval with that in mind.

Watch the data too (optional, Pro)

Zaps often keep running while a mapped field quietly goes blank. To catch that:

In the Data section of the webhook step, add a row for each field you care about: type a name on the left (e.g. email) and map the real field from an earlier step on the right.
In StepCanary, edit the check and turn on "Alert me when the data it sends changes shape".

StepCanary only looks at field names and whether each one is filled in, blank, or a different type. It never stores the values.

Screenshot: Data section of the webhook step with two mapped fields

Report failures right away (optional)

By default you find out about a failure when the pings stop. If you use Zapier's per-step error handler (on plans that have it), add a Webhooks by Zapier POST step on the error path with the URL …/p/your-token/fail. StepCanary then alerts immediately instead of waiting.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
The check stays on "Listening…" after Test step	The URL must be the whole ping URL with nothing added or missing. Copy it again with the Copy button.
Zapier shows a 404 for the step	The URL is not a valid ping URL. Copy it again from the check page.
"Malformed payload" warning on the check	A mapped value contains a character that broke the JSON. The ping still counted. Setting Payload Type to `json` and using the Data rows (not a hand-typed body) avoids this.
Alerts when the Zap is fine	The interval is shorter than a normal quiet spell. Lengthen it, add an active window, or switch to Volume mode.
"Runaway loop detected"	The Zap is running more than 60 times a minute. Check for a Zap that triggers itself.
Filters or Paths in the Zap	Steps after a Filter that stops, or on a Path that was not taken, do not run. Put the ping step where it will run for every case you count as "working."