# Start watching a new server

After you create a server at your cloud provider, InfraNest finds it at its next sync. This recipe turns on
monitoring for it and adds a check on its website, so a new machine is watched from its first hour.

**Runnable code:** the code on this page, ready to clone and run, is in [`infranest-examples/examples/watch-new-server`](https://github.com/InfraNest-Infrastructure-Organized/infranest-examples/tree/main/examples/watch-new-server). CI runs it against the [sandbox](../sandbox.md).

## The token

Make a token with **Servers → Write** and **Monitoring → Write**.

## Find the server

```sh
curl "https://api.infranest.io/api/organizations/42/cloud-servers?search=web-03" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INFRANEST_TOKEN" -H "Accept: application/json"
```

The answer is a page of servers; take the `id` and `ipv4` of the one in `data`. InfraNest syncs with your
provider on a schedule, so a server created a moment ago may not be listed yet. To fetch it at once, select
**Sync now** on the provider under **Integrations** in the app.

## Turn on monitoring

```sh
curl -fsS -X POST https://api.infranest.io/api/organizations/42/cloud-servers/77/monitoring \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INFRANEST_TOKEN" -H "Accept: application/json"
```

The answer says how many monitored servers your plan allows and how many you use:

```json
{ "monitoring_enabled": true, "monitoring_enabled_at": "2026-01-15T12:00:00+00:00", "usage": 4, "limit": 10 }
```

At the limit, the API answers `402` with the code [`plan_limit`](../errors.md#plan_limit). Turning it on again
when it is already on changes nothing.

For CPU, memory and disk metrics, install the server agent as well. See
[Install the agent on many servers](../agent/install-on-many-servers.md).

## Watch its website

```sh
curl -fsS -X POST https://api.infranest.io/api/organizations/42/monitoring-checks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INFRANEST_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: server-77-http" \
  -d '{"name": "web-03 website", "type": "http", "target": "https://web-03.example.com", "interval_seconds": 60}'
```