HTTP Headers Inspector
A practical reference for teams that need to review the headers a web service returns.
HTTP Headers Inspector from Sandglass helps you review the headers a web service returns. Use the result to decide what to monitor continuously.
When to reach for this tool
Reach for this when you need to review the headers a web service returns during setup, debugging, or an incident review. A one-off check is useful for diagnosis, but production systems need continuous monitoring once the immediate question is answered.
- Cache headers explain why you may be seeing a stale response.
- Redirect headers expose chains a status code alone hides.
- Security headers are easy to drop in a deploy and worth watching.
From one-off check to continuous monitor
Use header inspection to debug redirects, caching behavior, and security headers, then choose the exact URL and expectations your monitor should assert on.
- Recreate the same check in Sandglass on an interval so the next change is caught without re-running the lookup.
- Send failures to email, a Slack webhook channel, or a generic webhook owned by whoever fixes the problem.
- Track the result over time instead of treating one manual reading as the final answer.
Why a lookup is not monitoring
Headers reveal what a status code hides. A page can return 200 while a cache header serves a stale copy or a redirect chain quietly sends users elsewhere.
Use this tool well
Step 1: Run the check and read the result
Use the output to confirm the current state, and treat anything surprising as a starting point for diagnosis rather than a verdict.
Step 2: Define what healthy means
Write down which results count as healthy, degraded, or failed before you automate anything.
Step 3: Promote it to a continuous monitor
Recreate the same check in Sandglass on an interval so the next change is caught automatically.
Step 4: Route the alert to an owner
Send failures to email, a Slack webhook channel, or a generic webhook owned by whoever will fix them.