Browser Flow monitor

A Browser Flow monitor runs a scripted sequence of steps in a real browser — navigate, click, fill, assert — modelling a real user journey end-to-end. Use it for the workflows that matter most to the business: sign-in, checkout, multi-page form submission, search → result → detail.

For single-page assertions without interaction, see the lighter Browser Lite monitor.

Plan & add-ons

Flow slots are sold per variant:

Variant	Minimum interval	Where to get it
Standard	15 min	$7.99/mo per slot (Pro+). Pro includes 1; Business includes 2.
Fast	5 min	$14.99/mo per slot (Pro+). Business includes 1.
Real-time	1 min	$39.99/mo per slot (Business+).

Self-hosted flow checks share the Self-hosted browser monitor add-on slot — $9.99/mo on Starter+ runs Flow plus Lite on the same slot pool, with a 1-minute minimum interval and no managed runtime cap. See Self-hosted runners.

Top-level configuration

Field	Type	Default	Notes
Browser	enum	chromium	One of chromium, firefox, webkit.
Browsers	array	—	Run the same flow across multiple engines (Business + add-ons). Takes precedence over Browser when set.
Viewport	object	1280 × 720	{width, height}. Width 320–3840, height 240–2160.
User agent	string	browser default	Optional override. Max 500 chars.
Steps	array	—	One or more flow steps (see catalogue). Required.
Variables	string map	—	Reusable values referenced in steps as {{name}}.
Secrets	string map	—	Sensitive values referenced as {{secret.name}}. Never logged or stored in plaintext on the check result.
Screenshot on failure	bool	true	Capture a screenshot when a step fails.
Trace capture	bool	false	Record a full trace artifact. Larger; useful for debugging intermittent failures.
Ignore HTTPS errors	bool	false	Disable certificate verification. Staging-only.

Step actions

The flow editor exposes 50+ step actions. Common ones:

Category	Action	What it does
Navigation	navigate	Load a URL with optional wait_until (load, domcontentloaded, networkidle, commit).
Navigation	wait_for_navigation	Wait for the next navigation to finish.
Interaction	click / double_click / right_click / hover	Mouse actions against a selector.
Interaction	fill / clear_input / select / check_checkbox	Form-field input.
Interaction	press_key	Send a single keystroke (e.g. Enter).
Interaction	upload_file	Provide a file for a file-input element.
Waiting	wait	Sleep for a fixed duration.
Waiting	wait_for_element	Wait for an element to reach a state (visible, hidden, attached, detached).
Waiting	wait_for_api_response	Pause until a specific XHR / fetch resolves.
Assertions	assert_text / assert_title / assert_url	Text-content checks.
Assertions	assert_visible / assert_element_count / assert_attribute / assert_css	DOM-state checks.
Assertions	assert_response / assert_redirect	Network-level checks.
Assertions	assert_console_errors	Fail the check if the browser console logged errors above the configured level.
Assertions	assert_cookie	Verify a cookie was set with expected attributes.
Capture	screenshot	Save a screenshot artifact.
Capture	store_value	Capture a selector’s text or attribute into a variable for later steps.
Control flow	if_else	Branch on element visibility / variable equality.
Control flow	skip_steps_if	Skip the next N steps conditionally.
Control flow	repeat_steps	Loop a block of steps.
Network	http_request	Send an arbitrary HTTP request from the browser context.
Network	block_request / set_extra_headers	Modify outgoing requests.
Tabs / frames	switch_to_tab / close_tab / switch_to_iframe / switch_to_main_frame	Multi-context navigation.
Browser state	set_cookie / delete_cookies / set_local_storage	Pre-seed browser state.
Browser state	emulate_device / set_viewport / set_geolocation / set_permissions	Emulation overrides.
Misc	execute_javascript	Run arbitrary JS in the page context.
Misc	handle_dialog	Accept or dismiss alert / confirm / prompt.
Misc	log_message	Annotate the trace timeline.

See the full step actions reference for parameters and selector syntax.

Variables and secrets

Variables let one flow run cleanly against staging and production:

variables:
  base_url: https://app.example.com
  username: regression+ci@example.com
secrets:
  password: hunter2
steps:
  - action: navigate
    url: "{{base_url}}/sign-in"
  - action: fill
    selector: input[name=email]
    value: "{{username}}"
  - action: fill
    selector: input[name=password]
    value: "{{secret.password}}"

Secrets are masked in artifacts and never logged in cleartext. Rotate them from the monitor’s settings; the next run picks up the new value.

Runtime cap

Cloud-managed flow checks have a 90 second total runtime cap. A flow that doesn’t complete inside the cap is marked down with reason runtime_exceeded.

Self-hosted flows configure their own cap on the runner.

Result data

Each flow check returns:

• Total flow duration (ms).
• Per-step duration and pass / fail outcome.
• Final page URL.
• HTTP status of the last navigation.
• Screenshot artifact (on failure if screenshot_on_failure: true, or any step with an explicit screenshot action).
• Trace artifact (when trace_capture: true).
• Console error counts.

Status mapping

Outcome	Status
All steps complete, all assertions pass	up
Total flow duration exceeds the monitor’s degraded threshold	degraded
Any assertion fails, any required step times out	down
Browser fails to launch, navigation aborts, network unreachable	down
Runtime cap exceeded	down

Tips

• Split long flows — a 30-step end-to-end is hard to debug. Three 10-step monitors give you cleaner alert signals and let you alert on partial coverage.
• Variables per environment — keep one flow definition and pass env-specific values via variables; you don’t need a copy of the flow per environment.
• Multi-browser sparingly — chromium covers most issues. Add Firefox or WebKit only where you’ve seen real engine-specific failures.
• Self-hosted for private surfaces — sign-in flows against internal-only admin panels work fine on the Self-hosted browser add-on without exposing the panel publicly.