Quickstart

This guide will get you up and running with Probe in just a few minutes. You’ll create your first workflow and see Probe in action.

Prerequisites

• Probe installed on your system
• Basic understanding of YAML syntax

Your First Workflow

Let’s create a simple workflow that checks if a website is responding correctly.

1. Create a Workflow File

Create a new file called my-first-workflow.yml:

name: My First Website Check
description: Check if my website is responding correctly
 
jobs:
- id: health-check
  name: Website Health Check
  steps:
    - name: Check Homepage
      uses: http
      with:
        url: https://httpbin.org/status/200
        method: GET
      test: res.code == 200
        
    - name: Check API Endpoint
      uses: http
      with:
        url: https://httpbin.org/json
        method: GET
      test: res.code == 200 && res.body.slideshow != null
        
    - name: Success Message
      uses: hello
      echo: "✅ All checks passed! Website is healthy."

2. Run Your Workflow

Execute the workflow using the Probe CLI:

probe my-first-workflow.yml

You should see output similar to:

My First Website Check
Check if my website is responding correctly

⏺ Website Health Check (Completed in 1.23s)
  ⎿ 0. ✔︎  Check Homepage (245ms)
     1. ✔︎  Check API Endpoint (189ms)
     2. ✔︎  Success Message
       ✅ All checks passed! Website is healthy.

Total workflow time: 1.23s ✔︎ All jobs succeeded

3. Understanding What Happened

Let’s break down what this workflow does:

1. Workflow Metadata: The name and description provide context about what this workflow does
2. Job Definition: The health-check job contains the steps to execute
3. HTTP Actions: Two steps make HTTP requests to test endpoints
4. Test Assertions: Each HTTP step includes a test that validates the response
5. Echo Step: Displays a success message when all checks pass

Adding Verbose Output

Want to see more details about what’s happening? Run with the verbose flag:

probe -v my-first-workflow.yml

This will show detailed information about each HTTP request and response.

What’s Next?

Now that you’ve run your first workflow, you can:

1. Learn the core concepts - Understand workflows, jobs, and steps
2. Create your first custom workflow - Build something tailored to your needs
3. Explore CLI options - Learn about all available command-line options

Common Next Steps

Check Multiple Environments

Modify your workflow to check different environments:

name: Multi-Environment Health Check
description: Check health across multiple environments
 
jobs:
- id: production-check
  name: Production Health Check
  steps:
    - name: Check Production API
      uses: http
      with:
        url: https://api.myapp.com/health
        method: GET
      test: res.code == 200
 
- id: staging-check
  name: Staging Health Check
  steps:
    - name: Check Staging API
      uses: http
      with:
        url: https://staging-api.myapp.com/health
        method: GET
      test: res.code == 200

Add Error Handling

Include steps that handle failures gracefully:

- name: Check Service
  uses: http
  with:
    url: https://api.example.com/status
    method: GET
  test: res.code == 200
  
- name: Fallback Check
  uses: http
  with:
    url: https://backup-api.example.com/status
    method: GET
  test: res.code == 200

Troubleshooting

Workflow File Not Found

[ERROR] workflow is required

Make sure you’re providing the correct path to your YAML file.

Invalid YAML Syntax

[ERROR] yaml: line 5: mapping values are not allowed in this context

Check your YAML syntax. Common issues include:

• Incorrect indentation (use spaces, not tabs)
• Missing colons after keys
• Unquoted strings with special characters

Test Failures

If your tests fail, use verbose mode (-v) to see the actual response data and debug your test expressions.

Ready to dive deeper? Continue with Understanding Probe to learn the core concepts.