Parallel Monitor#

Continuously track the web for changes. A monitor is a recurring research task that runs on a cadence (hourly / daily / weekly / every two weeks) and emits an event each cycle. Optionally deliver events to a webhook.

When to Use#

Trigger this skill when the user asks for:

• "monitor [thing]", "track changes to [thing]", "watch [page/topic]"
• "alert me when [X] changes / files / launches / posts"
• "keep an eye on [pricing page / competitor / SEC filings]"
• Recurring research that should re-run automatically without re-prompting

Use Search for one-off lookups; use Monitor when the user wants ongoing observation.

Quick Start#

bash

parallel-cli monitor create "Track price changes for iPhone 16 Pro" --json

CLI Reference#

Basic Usage#

bash

parallel-cli monitor create "<objective>" [options]
parallel-cli monitor list --json
parallel-cli monitor get mon_xxx --json
parallel-cli monitor update mon_xxx [options] --json
parallel-cli monitor delete mon_xxx
parallel-cli monitor events mon_xxx --json
parallel-cli monitor simulate mon_xxx --json

Common Flags (create / update)#

FlagDescription-c, --cadence``hourly, daily (default), weekly, every_two_weeks``--webhook <url>Webhook URL for event delivery (required for simulate)--output-schema <json>JSON schema for structured event output--jsonOutput as JSON

Examples#

Create a basic monitor (daily cadence):

bash

parallel-cli monitor create "Track new SEC filings from Tesla" --json

Hourly monitor with webhook delivery:

bash

parallel-cli monitor create "New AI funding announcements" \
  --cadence hourly \
  --webhook https://example.com/hooks/funding \
  --json

Structured-output monitor:

bash

parallel-cli monitor create "Track iPhone 16 Pro pricing on apple.com" \
  --output-schema '{"properties":{"price_usd":{"type":"number"},"in_stock":{"type":"boolean"}}}' \
  --json

List existing monitors (default 10):

bash

parallel-cli monitor list --json

Inspect events from a monitor:

bash

parallel-cli monitor events mon_xxx --json

Test webhook delivery without waiting for a real cycle:

bash

parallel-cli monitor simulate mon_xxx --json

( simulate requires a --webhook was set on the monitor; otherwise it errors.)

Update cadence on an existing monitor:

bash

parallel-cli monitor update mon_xxx --cadence weekly --json

Delete a monitor:

bash

parallel-cli monitor delete mon_xxx

Best-Practice Prompting#

Objective#

Write 1-3 sentences describing:

• What signal the monitor should look for (e.g., "price changes", "new filings", "site outage")
• What "change" means (numeric threshold, new entity appearing, status flip)
• Source preference if relevant (e.g., "from sec.gov", "on the official pricing page")

Cadence#

Pick the slowest cadence that still catches the signal in time:

• hourly — breaking news, pricing fluctuations, status pages
• daily (default) — most ongoing tracking
• weekly / every_two_weeks — slow-moving topics, regulatory filings, executive changes

Output Schema (optional)#

Provide a JSON schema when you want structured per-event output (e.g., {price_usd, in_stock}). The Monitor API will populate that schema each cycle, making downstream automation easier.

Response Format#

monitor create and monitor list return JSON with fields like:

• monitor_id — mon_xxx
• objective — the natural-language description
• cadence — current schedule
• webhook — delivery URL (if set)
• created_at / updated_at — timestamps
• last_event_at — most recent event timestamp (if any)

monitor events returns an array of {event_id, observed_at, output} objects.

Output Handling#

When relaying monitor results to the user:

• Always echo the monitor_id so the user can manage the monitor later
• Default monitor list to -n 10 to avoid megabyte-scale dumps in long-lived workspaces
• For events output, summarize the trend across cycles, not just the latest event

Running Out of Context?#

For long-running monitor management sessions, save state and use sessions_spawn:

bash

parallel-cli monitor list --json -o /tmp/monitors.json

Then spawn a sub-agent:

json

{
  "tool": "sessions_spawn",
  "task": "Read /tmp/monitors.json and produce a summary of active monitors grouped by cadence.",
  "label": "monitor-summary"
}

Error Handling#

Exit CodeMeaning0Success1Unexpected error (network, parse)2Invalid arguments3API error (non-2xx)

Prerequisites#

Requires parallel-cli (installed and authenticated). If parallel-cli --version fails, or if a later command fails with an authentication error, tell the user to see https://docs.parallel.ai/integrations/cli and stop.

References#

• API Docs
• Monitor API Reference