> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/Shashank-H/gaiter-gaurd/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Health endpoints

> Liveness and readiness checks for monitoring and orchestration

GaiterGuard provides two health check endpoints for monitoring service availability and database connectivity.

## Liveness check

<api>GET /health</api>

Returns a basic health status without performing any external checks. Use this endpoint for liveness probes in container orchestration.

### Response

<ResponseField name="status" type="string">
  Always returns `"ok"` if the service is running
</ResponseField>

### Example

```bash theme={null}
curl http://localhost:3000/health
```

```json Response theme={null}
{
  "status": "ok"
}
```

<Note>
  This endpoint does not check database connectivity. It only confirms the HTTP server is running and accepting requests.
</Note>

## Readiness check

<api>GET /ready</api>

Performs a database connectivity check to verify the service is ready to handle requests. Use this endpoint for readiness probes in container orchestration.

### Response

<ResponseField name="status" type="string">
  Returns `"ready"` when all dependencies are available
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="database" type="string">
  Connection status: `"connected"` or error message
</ResponseField>

### Example

```bash theme={null}
curl http://localhost:3000/ready
```

```json Success (200) theme={null}
{
  "status": "ready",
  "database": "connected"
}
```

```json Failure (503) theme={null}
{
  "error": "Database connection failed",
  "statusCode": 503
}
```

<Warning>
  If the database is unavailable, this endpoint returns a 503 Service Unavailable status. Configure your orchestrator to restart or replace the service if this check fails repeatedly.
</Warning>

## Kubernetes configuration

Use these endpoints in your Kubernetes deployment:

```yaml theme={null}
livenessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /health
    port: 3000
  initialDelaySeconds: 10
  periodSeconds: 30
  timeoutSeconds: 5
  failureThreshold: 3

readinessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /ready
    port: 3000
  initialDelaySeconds: 5
  periodSeconds: 10
  timeoutSeconds: 3
  failureThreshold: 2
```

## Docker Compose healthcheck

```yaml theme={null}
healthcheck:
  test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
  interval: 30s
  timeout: 5s
  retries: 3
  start_period: 10s
```

<Info>
  Both endpoints are unauthenticated and can be called without an `Agent-Key` or `Authorization` header.
</Info>