APIs fail silently. 200 OK doesn't mean correct.

curl (quick health check)

# Check status code AND response body
curl -sf https://api.example.com/health \
  -w "\nHTTP_CODE:%{http_code} TIME:%{time_total}s\n" \
  | jq -e '.status == "healthy"' > /dev/null \
  || echo "ALERT: API health check failed"

Python (with response body validation)

import requests
import time

def check_api():
    start = time.time()
    try:
        r = requests.get(
            "https://api.example.com/health",
            headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"},
            timeout=10
        )
        elapsed = time.time() - start

        if r.status_code != 200:
            alert(f"Bad status: {r.status_code}")
            return

        data = r.json()
        if data.get("status") != "healthy":
            alert(f"Unhealthy: {data}")
            return

        if elapsed > 2.0:
            alert(f"Slow response: {elapsed:.1f}s")

    except requests.exceptions.Timeout:
        alert("API timed out after 10s")
    except Exception as e:
        alert(f"API unreachable: {e}")

Node.js (fetch with assertions)

async function checkApi() {
  const controller = new AbortController();
  const timeout = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 10_000);

  try {
    const start = performance.now();
    const res = await fetch("https://api.example.com/health", {
      headers: { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" },
      signal: controller.signal,
    });
    const elapsed = performance.now() - start;

    if (!res.ok) {
      alert(`Bad status: ${res.status}`);
      return;
    }

    const data = await res.json();
    if (data.status !== "healthy") {
      alert(`Unhealthy response: ${JSON.stringify(data)}`);
      return;
    }

    if (elapsed > 2000) {
      alert(`Slow: ${Math.round(elapsed)}ms`);
    }
  } catch (err) {
    alert(`API unreachable: ${err.message}`);
  } finally {
    clearTimeout(timeout);
  }
}