API Documentation

Programmatic access to DownDetector status monitoring

Overview

This API provides real-time status information about downdetector.com availability. The server polls DownDetector every 30 seconds and caches the result. API requests return the cached status instantly without triggering new checks.

No authentication required. No rate limits enforced (please be reasonable). Response format is JSON.

Endpoint

GET/api/status

Returns the current cached status of downdetector.com, including when it was last checked and the Unix timestamp of that check for countdown synchronization.

Example Response

{
  "status": "up",
  "timestamp": "2025-01-15T14:30:00.000Z",
  "lastCheckAt": 1705329000000
}

statusstringCurrent status: "up", "down", or "checking" (initial state before first check completes)

timestampstringISO 8601 timestamp of when the status was determined. Null if status is "checking".

lastCheckAtnumberUnix timestamp (milliseconds) of the last check. Use this to sync countdown timers with the server's 30-second polling interval.

View Live Response

Usage Notes

Polling Strategy: The frontend polls this endpoint every 5 seconds to stay synchronized with server-side checks. For your own integrations, polling every 10-30 seconds is sufficient since the server only updates every 30 seconds.

Status Interpretation: A status of "up" means DownDetector responded with an HTTP status code less than 500. This includes Cloudflare challenge pages (403), which indicate the infrastructure is operational even if bot detection is triggered.