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Quick Start Guide

Follow this step-by-step guide to set up your first Private Location and start monitoring internal systems.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:
  • Checkly Account: Owner or Admin permissions
  • Infrastructure: Container runtime (Docker, Podman, or similar)
  • Network Access: Outbound HTTPS to agent.checklyhq.com
  • Target Access: Network connectivity to your applications

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Step 1: Create Your Private Location

Navigate to Private Locations and click “New private location”: Create a new private location with name and icon Provide a descriptive name and choose an icon that represents your location or environment.

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Step 2: Secure Your API Key

Copy and securely store the generated API key. This key authenticates your agents with Checkly: Copy and securely store your Private Location API key
The API key is only shown once during creation. Store it securely in your secrets management system.

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Step 3: Deploy Your First Agent

Start a Checkly Agent using Docker: 
docker run -e API_KEY="pl_your_api_key_here" -d checkly/agent:latest
For production deployments, consider:
  • Using specific version tags instead of latest
  • Configuring resource limits and restart policies
  • Setting up monitoring and logging for the agent containers

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Step 4: Verify Agent Connection

Refresh your Private Locations page to see your active agents: Verify that your Checkly Agent is connected and running The interface shows:
  • Number of active agents
  • Last connection time
  • Agent health status

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Step 5: Configure Your Checks

When creating checks, select your Private Location from the available locations: Select your Private Location when creating or editing checks Deselect other locations to ensure your checks run exclusively from your Private Location.

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Resource Requirements

Memory Guidelines:
  • API checks: ~150MB per concurrent check
  • Browser checks: ~1.5GB per concurrent check
  • Minimum recommended: 2 CPU cores, 4GB RAM for mixed workloads

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Next Steps

Once your first agent is running, explore these advanced topics:

Agent Configuration

Learn advanced agent configuration options, environment variables, and production settings

Kubernetes Deployment

Deploy Private Locations on Kubernetes for production-scale monitoring

Use Cases

Explore real-world examples and deployment patterns

CLI Integration

Integrate Private Locations with monitoring-as-code workflows
Start small with a single agent to test connectivity and functionality, then scale based on your monitoring requirements and workload patterns.