Open-Source Observability · brotandgames

ciao

Ciao is an open-source HTTP uptime monitoring tool that checks URLs at regular intervals and sends notifications via email or webhooks. It provides a web UI and REST API without requiring external databases or dependencies, making it suitable for both private and public deployments.

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Source: GitHub — github.com/brotandgames/ciao

GitHub stars

108

Forks

Ruby

Primary language

MIT

License (OSI-approved)

Key facts

Objective fields from the source. Values we can't verify are shown as “Unknown” rather than guessed.

Field	Value
Repository	brotandgames/ciao
Owner	brotandgames
Primary language	Ruby
License	MIT — OSI-approved
Stars	2k
Forks	108
Open issues	2
Latest release	1.10.0 (2026-02-24)
Last updated	2026-04-17
Source	https://github.com/brotandgames/ciao

What ciao is

Ruby-based monitoring application using Cron scheduling for HTTP/S endpoint checks, SQLite for state storage, and optional Prometheus metrics export. Offers HTTP Basic auth, configurable SMTP/webhook integrations, and TLS certificate expiration monitoring with environment-variable configuration following 12-factor principles.

Quickstart

Get the ciao source

Clone the repository and explore it locally.

terminalbash

1git clone https://github.com/brotandgames/ciao.git2cd ciao3# follow the project's README for install & configuration

Need it deployed, integrated, or customized instead? DEV.co ships production installs.

Best use cases

Self-hosted uptime monitoring for small to mid-size teams

Deploy on internal infrastructure with Docker or VMs; no external SaaS dependency. Suitable for teams managing 10–100+ endpoints with Docker volume persistence.

Multi-environment HTTP endpoint validation

Monitor public and private API endpoints, web services, and third-party integrations in dev/staging/prod. REST API allows programmatic check management.

Integration with existing alerting stacks (Slack, Rocket.Chat, email)

Webhook support enables notification routing to chat/incident tools. Prometheus `/metrics` endpoint integrates with Grafana for dashboarding.

Implementation considerations

SQLite database must be persisted via Docker volume or filesystem mount; data loss on container removal without volume.
HTTP Basic auth and TLS strongly recommended for public deployments; README warns against unprotected public exposure.
SECRET_KEY_BASE auto-generation available but manual configuration advised for production consistency across restarts.
SMTP and webhook configuration is environment-variable driven; secrets should be managed via secure vaults (not hardcoded in docker-compose examples).
No built-in clustering or HA; single point of failure for monitoring stack. Consider external load balancer only for redundancy.

When to avoid it — and what to weigh

Need enterprise SLA guarantees and managed service — Ciao is self-hosted; no official managed offering. You assume responsibility for availability, backups, and updates.
Require distributed or multi-tenant monitoring at scale — Single SQLite database; horizontal scaling not designed. Not suitable for monitoring thousands of endpoints or multi-tenant SaaS.
Need advanced alerting logic or complex workflows — Notifications are simple (email/webhook on status change). Lacks conditional logic, escalation policies, or on-call integration.
Strict data residency or air-gapped environments without Docker Hub access — Default deployment uses `brotandgames/ciao` from Docker Hub. Requires custom image builds or manual Ruby setup in restricted networks.

License & commercial use

MIT License permits commercial use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions. Attribution not required but recommended.

MIT is a permissive OSI license. Commercial use is legally permitted. However, no warranty or support guarantees are provided; users assume liability. Consult internal legal review if critical for business operations.

DEV.co evaluation signals

Editorial assessment — not user reviews. Directional, with an explicit confidence level.

Signal	Assessment
Maintenance	Active
Documentation	Adequate
License clarity	Clear
Deployment complexity	Low
DEV.co fit	Good
Assessment confidence	High

Security considerations

HTTP Basic auth available (optional) but README stresses TLS requirement for public deployments. SECRET_KEY_BASE auto-generation acceptable for development; production should use explicit values. SQLite lacks encryption-at-rest. No mention of input validation, SQL injection mitigations, or vulnerability disclosure process. Ensure environment variables (especially SMTP_PASSWORD) are not logged or exposed in container metadata.

Alternatives to consider

Uptime Robot

Managed SaaS with enterprise uptime guarantees, no self-hosting ops overhead. Costs scale with endpoints; privacy depends on third-party.

Prometheus + Alertmanager (with blackbox exporter)

Open-source, designed for scale and advanced alerting logic. Steeper learning curve and requires separate database/storage setup.

Better Uptime

SaaS alternative with advanced features (status pages, multi-region checks). No self-hosting; subscription model.

Software development agency

Build on ciao with DEV.co software developers

Deploy Ciao in minutes with Docker. For enterprise-grade monitoring or custom integrations, consult with our development team.

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ciao FAQ

Can I use Ciao to monitor private/internal endpoints?

Yes. Deploy Ciao on your internal network and it will check private URLs. Network access must be configured so Ciao's container can reach the endpoints.

What happens if Ciao is restarted? Do I lose check history?

Check configuration is stored in the SQLite database; persist the `db/sqlite/` directory as a Docker volume. Status change history is maintained in the database.

How do I scale Ciao to monitor thousands of checks?

Ciao is not designed for large-scale horizontal scaling. Single SQLite instance is a bottleneck. For high volumes, consider Prometheus + blackbox exporter or a managed service.

Does Ciao support mutual TLS (mTLS) for checking endpoints?

Not clearly stated in README. Requires source code review or feature request on GitHub.

Software development & web development with DEV.co

DEV.co helps companies turn open-source tools like ciao into production software. Our software development services cover the full lifecycle — architecture, web development, integration, and maintenance — delivered by software developers and web developers who ship. Engage our software development agency to implement or customize it for your open-source observability stack.

Ready to self-host your uptime monitoring?

Deploy Ciao in minutes with Docker. For enterprise-grade monitoring or custom integrations, consult with our development team.

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