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Section 2 · Create your first watcher

Calibration builds checks and a baseline from your description and data sources, and the watcher runs those checks on its schedule.

Estimated time: 2 min

How calibration works

Clicking Create watcher saves the watcher and starts calibration. Calibration builds checks from your description and data sources, plus a baseline that each run compares your telemetry against. Calibration runs in the background, and you can leave the page while it runs.

Depending on your data sources, checks can include PromQL, LogQL, TraceQL metrics, BigQuery SQL, and Grafana-managed alert checks. If Assistant asks questions, answer them on the Calibration tab and click Continue calibration. Only the person who started calibration can see and answer them.

If calibration stops, it explains why. Correct the description or data sources, then click Retry calibration.

What happens when calibration succeeds

Successful calibration starts monitoring automatically. The watcher runs on the schedule set in Repeats on the form, which defaults to Every 10 minutes. The switch at the top of the page, to the left of Run now, reads Active.

  • Run now triggers one extra run right away, so you don’t have to wait for the next scheduled run.
  • Turn off the Active switch to pause scheduled runs without deleting the watcher.
  • The Calibration tab holds the watcher goal, the Calibration baseline, and the saved checks. Review the thresholds, coverage gaps, and Calibration summary there. Calibrated checks are read-only, so if they need changes, recalibrate.
  • The Ongoing issues tab lists the issues the watcher is tracking, with the evidence behind each one.
  • The Run history tab lists recent runs. Select one to open its report.

Keep the checks current

  • After service changes or repeated noisy findings, click Recalibrate at the top of the watcher’s page, or Suggest a change on the Calibration tab. Optionally describe the change in What would you like to change?, for example to ignore brief latency spikes during deployments, and click Start recalibration. Recalibration pauses scanning and starts monitoring again when it succeeds.
  • To have Assistant review and update the checks on a schedule, open the Configuration tab, turn on Automatically update checks under Automatic actions, and choose a Review frequency. Automatic reviews don’t pause scanning, and they keep your goal, data sources, schedule, and notifications.
  • Calibration changes appear as versions on the Versions tab, where you can restore an earlier definition.