Monitor API
# Automated web monitoring for
## Create always-on web searches that notify you when new results become available
## If it can be searched, it can be monitored
The Parallel Monitor API is like a web search that’s always on. Define a query that kicks off an ongoing stream of updates every time new related information appears on the web.
The Parallel Monitor API is like a web search that’s always on. Define a query that kicks off an ongoing stream of updates every time new related information appears on the web.
Get notified when competitors launch products, change pricing, or publish announcements. Stay ahead of market moves with real-time alerts on competitor activity.
# Natural language in, structured events out
Describe what you want to track. Set a schedule. Receive webhooks with structured event data and source URLs, ready for your agents and workflows.
from httpx import Response
from parallel import Parallel
client = Parallel(api_key="PARALLEL_API_KEY")
res = client.post(
"/v1alpha/monitors",
cast_to=Response,
body={
"query": "Extract recent news about AI",
"cadence": "daily",
"webhook": {
"url": "https://example.com/webhook",
"event_types": ["monitor.event.detected"],
},
"metadata": {"key": "value"},
},
).json()
print(res["monitor_id"])- - Query: Define your monitor in plain English. No query syntax, no filter configuration. Just describe what you're looking for.
- - Schedule: Set hourly, daily, or weekly cadence. Match the frequency to how fast your domain moves.
- - Receive: Events arrive via webhook the moment they're detected. Each event includes structured data, timestamps, and source citations.
Patterns for proactive systems
- Ambient sub-agents
- Workflow triggers
- Continuous intelligence feeds
1. Ambient sub-agents
Invoke an agent when something changes on the web. A market intelligence agent watches for competitor blog posts. When one appears, it pulls content, runs searches for context, and delivers a synthesized report to Slack without anyone asking.
2. Workflow triggers
Use web events as the starting signal for automation. A sales team monitors for funding announcements in their ICP, each match triggers enrichment, scores the lead, and pushes qualified prospects to the CRM.
3. Continuous intelligence feeds
Maintain always-current data streams for your application. A research team can create monitors for each component of their thesis supporting evidence, contradicting signals, and material changes flow into a unified feed.
Invoke an agent when something changes on the web. A market intelligence agent watches for competitor blog posts. When one appears, it pulls content, runs searches for context, and delivers a synthesized report to Slack without anyone asking.
Use web events as the starting signal for automation. A sales team monitors for funding announcements in their ICP, each match triggers enrichment, scores the lead, and pushes qualified prospects to the CRM.
Maintain always-current data streams for your application. A research team can create monitors for each component of their thesis supporting evidence, contradicting signals, and material changes flow into a unified feed.
## FAQ
Search API returns results for a query at a single point in time. Monitor API runs that query on a schedule and notifies you only when new, relevant information appears. Use Search for on-demand lookups; use Monitor for ongoing tracking.
The Monitor API tracks what's been surfaced in previous runs and filters duplicates automatically. You receive each relevant event once, even if the underlying content remains indexed across multiple runs.
Match the cadence to your domain. Hourly for fast-moving signals like news or social. Daily for product launches, funding announcements, or regulatory updates. Weekly for slower-moving changes like market reports or policy shifts.
Yes. Include domain constraints in your natural language query (e.g., "New blog posts from competitor.com" or "SEC filings mentioning [company]"). The API respects these scoping instructions.
Yes. Update the cadence, webhook URL, or metadata at any time. You can also pause or delete monitors to stop future runs.
Each event includes: a summary of what was detected, the event date, source URLs, and an event group ID for retrieving related events. All data arrives as structured JSON.
Chain Monitor events into downstream API calls. When an event triggers, use Extract API to pull full page content, Search API to gather additional context, or Task API to run structured enrichment—all programmatically.