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Monitors

A monitor watches one web page for you. You say what you want to know, such as "the lowest price drops below $900" or "a new post about pricing appears", and BrowseWiz picks the items on the page to track, such as the prices or the post titles. When those items change in a way that matches what you described, BrowseWiz saves a summary in History and alerts you.

You set up and change a monitor in the chat. Your monitors are listed with your scheduled tasks in the scheduled tasks drawer, which you open with the clock button in the top menu. There you can run, pause, resume and delete them.

The free plan allows 1 monitor, and a paid plan allows up to 30. This limit is separate from the scheduled task limit: monitors don't use up room for tasks, and tasks don't use up room for monitors. The drawer's header shows how many monitors you have out of your plan's limit, as "Monitors" followed by the count, such as "Monitors 1/30". Paused monitors count too. If you have more monitors than your plan allows, for example after a downgrade, only your oldest monitors, as many as the limit, are checked. The others stay listed and can be deleted, and their status line shows "Paused: over your plan's limit". Once you delete monitors down to the limit, the remaining ones are checked again.

While "Back up everything except chats" is on in Options → Settings (it is by default), your monitors are backed up with your scheduled tasks and come back, paused, in any browser you sign in to. See Monitors on more than one browser. Monitors are included in Export my data in Options → Account, with your scheduled tasks. The match items a monitor adds to History are backed up with your chat history while "Backup sync chat history" is on.

Set up a monitor​

Ask in the chat to be told when something appears or changes on a page, such as "Tell me when a new post about pricing appears on example.com/blog" or "Watch this product page and tell me when the price drops below $900".

BrowseWiz then loads the page in a background tab in the BrowseWiz Tabs group, looks at what it shows, and picks the items to track: for example every price in a product list, the titles of the posts, or the page's text when what you described is about the text rather than single items. It loads the page once more to read the current values of those items, closes the tab, and shows them on a monitor plan card for you to approve. Nothing is saved until you approve.

If BrowseWiz can't load or read the page, for example because it took too long to load or the site blocked it, it shows no card and tells you in the chat.

If a request could be either a monitor or a scheduled task, such as "check this page every morning and tell me if …", BrowseWiz may ask you one short question first. To ask for work at set times, or for a report across several pages or sites, use a scheduled task instead. The built-in "Monitors" prompts in the Promptbook, "Alert me when a page changes" and "Back in stock or price drop", write a monitor request for you.

Setting up a monitor needs:

  • the browser agent to be on (it is by default) and a chat model that supports tools;
  • tab access, so BrowseWiz can open the page in a background tab. If it isn't granted yet, the chat shows a "Grant tab access" prompt first (see Tab access).

If you already have as many monitors as your plan allows, BrowseWiz shows no card and asks you to delete a monitor in the drawer first.

New monitor in the drawer​

The drawer's New monitor button starts the same chat for you. It closes the drawer, starts a new chat (the current one is kept in History) and types "Watch " followed by your active tab's URL and " and notify me when " into the chat input, or "Watch the page at " if the active tab isn't a web page. Finish the sentence and send it. Nothing is sent until you do.

The button is disabled while the browser agent is off ("Turn on the browser agent to add monitors in chat"), and when you have as many monitors as your plan allows ("You can have up to 1 monitor. Delete it to add another." on the free plan, or "You can have up to 30 monitors. Delete one to add another." on a paid plan).

The monitor plan card​

The monitor plan card shows:

  • the monitor's name;
  • the page URL;
  • "Notify me when…" with what you described;
  • "Checked about every 5 minutes.";
  • "Tracking:" followed by one line per tracked item, such as "Price: $949 · $1,099 · $1,249", with the values BrowseWiz just read on the page.

Check the "Tracking:" lines before you approve: they show what the monitor will compare at every check.

  • Approve saves the monitor. If tab access isn't granted yet, Chrome asks for it first, and the monitor is saved whether you grant or decline. The monitor appears in the drawer and is checked right away. The card then shows "Approved" with an "Open scheduled tasks" link, and BrowseWiz confirms in the chat what it watches.
  • Reject saves nothing. Tell BrowseWiz what to change, and it shows a new card. Sending a message while the card waits for an answer rejects the card too, and BrowseWiz answers your message.

A card left unanswered when you stop the reply shows "Cancelled", and nothing is saved.

If the monitor can't be saved after you approve, the card shows "Not saved" with the reason:

  • "You've reached your plan's limit.": you reached your plan's monitor limit after the card appeared, for example in another chat.
  • "Something went wrong while saving.": saving failed for another reason.

Watch several pages​

A monitor watches one page. To watch several pages, ask for all of them at once: BrowseWiz looks at each page and shows one card per page. If you ask for more pages than you have room for, BrowseWiz first says how many monitors you can still add and asks which pages to watch. Once you reach your plan's limit, it shows no more cards.

How a check works​

  • BrowseWiz checks each monitor about every 5 minutes. With more than 5 monitors on one site, each is checked about every N minutes, where N is the number of monitors on that site, so a site gets about one visit a minute at most. A site is the page's registrable domain, so www.example.com and shop.example.com count as one site. Paused monitors are not counted. BrowseWiz spaces out its visits to the same site and backs off if a site seems to block the checks, so you are not flagged as a bot.
  • A check opens the page in a new background tab, reads the text of the tracked items as the page shows them, and closes the tab. Only the page itself is read, not frames embedded in it. Because the check opens the page in your browser, it sees the page as you do, signed in to the sites where you're signed in.
  • The first check stores the tracked items as the starting point ("Watching since …"). It never alerts you, even if the page already matches what you described.
  • Later checks compare the tracked items with the last check's, ignoring their order: an item that only moved on the page is not a change. If nothing changed, nothing more happens and no credits are used.
  • If something changed, BrowseWiz makes a single request to a BrowseWiz model to decide whether the page now matches what you described. The request sees every tracked item on the page now, marked new or unchanged, plus the items that are gone, so something like "the lowest price dropped" is judged on the whole list, not only on the items that changed. That request uses your BrowseWiz credits (see What uses credits). If the request fails, the status line shows "Check failed: something went wrong", and the next check looks at the same changes again. If you're out of BrowseWiz credits, it shows "Check failed: out of credits" instead, and the next check looks at the same changes again.

When a tracked item is no longer on the page​

If a site changes its layout, an item the monitor tracks can disappear from where the monitor looks for it. The monitor then tries to fix itself: it looks at the page again and makes one request to a BrowseWiz model to find the item in the new layout. This uses your BrowseWiz credits like a check's request (see What uses credits), and happens at most once a day per monitor.

  • It fixes itself quietly when it is sure: the item's last value appears exactly once on the page, and the item it found shows that value. The monitor carries on as before, with no alert.
  • It tells you when it found the item but can't be sure, for example when the value changed or appears more than once on the page, or for an item that tracks a page's text. It carries on with the item it found, and alerts you the way it does for a match (see Match alerts), titled "Monitor: " followed by the monitor's name, with "name found a tracked item again". The History item says, for each item, what it was and what it is now. If the check also matches, these lines are added to the match's History item instead. Under the message, Fix in chat lets you check it picked the right item: it types "Check the monitor "name": it found items again with a new selector. Is it tracking the right item?" into a new chat.
  • After it fixed itself, the monitor's row shows "Fixed itself on" followed by the date, for 7 days.

If it can't find the item, or already tried in the last day, the status line shows "Check failed: a tracked item is no longer on the page".

The first time this happens, BrowseWiz adds one item to History, titled with the monitor's name and saying "name can't find a tracked item", with the items it couldn't find and the page's URL. It alerts you the way it does for a match (see Match alerts), titled "Monitor: " followed by the monitor's name. Later checks that still can't find the item add nothing more to History and don't alert you again. If the item comes back, the monitor carries on comparing as before.

To watch the page with its new layout, click Fix in chat. It sits under the monitor's status line in the drawer, and under the message when you open the "can't find a tracked item" item in History. It closes the drawer, starts a new chat (the current one is kept in History) and types "Fix the monitor "name": it can't find items on the page any more." into the chat input, naming the items it couldn't find. Send it, or add what you want first. BrowseWiz looks at the page again and shows an update card with the new items to track. Your monitor keeps its History and its latest match.

Fix in chat is disabled while the browser agent is off ("Turn on the browser agent to fix monitors in chat"). In History, it is also disabled once you have deleted the monitor ("This monitor was deleted.").

Change a monitor​

Ask in any chat to change a monitor, such as "watch for under 3 500 zł instead", "also track the shipping price" or "rename my GPU monitor". You can change its name, what it watches for, the items it tracks and the page it watches. BrowseWiz reads the monitor's current settings and, when the page or the tracked items change, looks at the page again. It then shows an update card: a monitor plan card that says "Updates monitor" followed by the monitor's current name, with the values it just read under "Tracking:".

  • Approve update changes the monitor in place: it keeps its place in the drawer, its matches in History, its latest match, and whether it is paused. If tab access isn't granted yet, Chrome asks for it first. When the page or the tracked items changed, the next check runs right away and stores a new starting point, so the change itself doesn't alert you. When only the name or what it watches for changed, the monitor keeps comparing with the items it already stored, and the next check uses what you now watch for.
  • Reject, a message sent while the card waits, and stopping the reply change nothing, as on a new monitor's card.
  • If you delete the monitor before you approve, the card shows "Not saved" and "The monitor was deleted.", and nothing is saved.

Changing a monitor doesn't use up room under your plan's limit, so you can change monitors even when you are over it. From the chat, BrowseWiz doesn't pause or delete monitors: use the drawer.

The monitor's row​

Monitors share one list with your scheduled tasks in the drawer. A monitor's row shows:

  • the monitor's name;
  • an eye icon ("Monitor") and the page's host, such as www.example.com, where a task shows a clock icon and its schedule;
  • a status line (see Status line). A monitor that has not been checked yet has no status line;
  • a "Grant tab access" button under the status line, if the latest check was skipped because tab access is missing. Click it to open Chrome's permission prompt;
  • "Fixed itself on" followed by a date, under the status line, for 7 days after the monitor found a tracked item again in a new layout (see When a tracked item is no longer on the page);
  • a "Fix in chat" button under the status line, while the latest check couldn't find a tracked item (see When a tracked item is no longer on the page);
  • three buttons at the row's top right, lined up with the same buttons on task rows, shown when you hover over the row or reach them with the Tab key: a play button ("Run task now"), a pause button ("Pause task") and a ⋮ button ("More actions"), which opens a menu with Notify via email and Delete task.

A monitor has no schedule, no plan button and no "Edit in chat": to change it, ask in the chat.

  • Run task now checks the page right away, still spacing out visits to the same site. It's never disabled.
  • Pause task stops the checks, and the status line shows "Paused". Click the circled play button ("Resume task") to start checking again. The monitor is checked right away, against the items as they were before you paused, so changes made while it was paused can still alert you. A paused monitor still counts toward your plan's limit. To free a slot, delete it. Pause and resume work on every plan.
  • Delete task, in the ⋮ menu, replaces the row with a confirmation, as for a task: click Delete to delete the monitor, or Cancel (or press Esc) to keep it. Once deleted, no further check of it starts. Its matches stay in History.

Status line​

The status line shows the first of these that applies:

  • "Runs in …" or "Not running · last seen in …" while another browser checks the monitor (see Monitors on more than one browser).
  • "Paused" while you have paused the monitor.
  • "Backing off until …" while the site is in backoff.
  • After a skipped or failed check:
    • "Paused: over your plan's limit"
    • "Paused: sign-in required"
    • "Paused: tab access required"
    • "Check failed: the page took too long to load"
    • "Check failed: the site blocked the check" (the site answered with an HTTP 403, 429 or 503 error, or showed a captcha-style page)
    • "Check failed: unexpected reply from the model"
    • "Check failed: a tracked item is no longer on the page" (see When a tracked item is no longer on the page)
    • "Check failed: out of credits" (you're out of BrowseWiz credits; see What uses credits)
    • "Check failed: something went wrong"
  • "Last match … ago" followed by the match's headline, when the latest check matched.
  • "Watching since …" when the latest check stored the starting point.
  • "Last checked … ago" otherwise.

Open a monitor's latest match​

A row with a match opens the monitor's latest match in History. Click the row, or Tab to it and press Enter. The drawer closes and the History item opens, as when you click a match alert. A row without a match does nothing when clicked. Clicking the play, pause or ⋮ button, an item in the ⋮ menu, "Grant tab access" or "Fix in chat" on a row does not open the match.

In History, items that came from a monitor match show an eye icon, with the tooltip "Monitor match · " followed by the match's time. If the match was deleted from History first, the side panel opens and shows "This task run is no longer in your history."

Match alerts​

When a check matches, BrowseWiz adds an item to History titled with the monitor's name. It shows a bold headline, a short summary and the page's URL. You are alerted like for a finished scheduled task: a notice in the side panel, a pill on the page, or a system notification, titled "Monitor: " followed by the monitor's name, with the headline as its text. Clicking the alert opens the History item. See Run alerts for how BrowseWiz picks the alert.

The "Notify me when a task finishes" switch does not apply to monitors. To stop a monitor's alerts, pause or delete it.

To also get each match by email, click ⋮ ("More actions") on the monitor's row and turn on Notify via email. The email has the monitor's name, the headline, the summary, the page's URL and a link that opens the match in BrowseWiz on the computer that checked the page, and goes to your account's email address. It's off until you turn it on, and it works as for a task (see Email alerts). Matches, and a monitor that stopped working, are emailed: a monitor that can't find a tracked item, or found one again, alerts you only in Chrome.

A check that ends without a match, or fails, creates no History item and shows no alert. Only the monitor's status line changes. The exceptions are the first check that can't find a tracked item, a check that found one again but can't be sure it's the right one (see When a tracked item is no longer on the page), and the third failed check in a row (see When a monitor stops working).

When a monitor stops working​

When 3 checks of a monitor in a row fail, BrowseWiz tells you once that the monitor stopped working, and why. A check counts as failed when it shows "Check failed: …" (except "a tracked item is no longer on the page", which alerts you on its own), or when it is skipped with "Paused: sign-in required" or "Paused: tab access required". A check skipped while the site is in backoff or because you're over your plan's limit neither counts nor starts the count again. A check that reads the page normally, pausing or resuming the monitor, and changing its page, tracked items or what it watches for start the count again.

BrowseWiz then adds an item to History titled with the monitor's name. It says "name stopped working", then why and what to do, then the page's URL:

  • "BrowseWiz is signed out." Sign in from the side panel so checks can run.
  • "BrowseWiz has no tab access." Grant tab access from the monitor's row under Scheduled tasks.
  • "The page took too long to load, 3 times in a row." Check that the page still opens.
  • "The site blocked the checks." BrowseWiz backs off and keeps trying; open the page to check it still works for you.
  • "The model gave an unexpected reply, 3 times in a row." BrowseWiz keeps trying.
  • "You're out of BrowseWiz credits." Top up, or wait for your monthly credits to reset.
  • "Checks failed 3 times in a row." BrowseWiz keeps trying.

The reason is that of the third failed check. You are alerted as for a match (see Match alerts), titled "Monitor: " followed by the monitor's name, with "Stopped working: " and the reason as its text, and the toolbar badge shows a red "!", as for a failed task. Clicking the alert opens the History item. The monitor keeps checking: later failed checks don't alert you again until the count has started again. BrowseWiz doesn't alert you when the monitor works again; its status line shows it.

With Notify via email on for the monitor, you also get an email titled "Monitor stopped working: " followed by the monitor's name, with the alert's text, the page's URL and a link that opens the History item in BrowseWiz. No email is sent while you're signed out.

Monitors on more than one browser​

While backup is on, your monitors are backed up with your scheduled tasks: their name, page, what to watch for, the items they track, their latest match, a record of their latest 5 attempts to find a tracked item again (the old and new items and the values each showed) and the name of the browser that checks them. The values a monitor compares against stay in the browser that checks it, apart from the few values in that record, each cut to 200 characters. When you sign in on another browser, your monitors appear in its drawer, paused there.

Each monitor is checked in one browser at a time:

  • A monitor that another browser checks shows "Runs in" with that browser's name, such as "Chrome on Windows", and when it was last seen.
  • A monitor whose browser hasn't been seen for 48 hours shows "Not running · last seen in" with that browser's name.
  • To check a monitor in this browser instead, click its "Resume task" button. If the other browser was seen in the last 48 hours, BrowseWiz asks first, under the row: click "Run here" to move the monitor, or "Cancel" to leave it. The other browser stops checking it the next time it syncs; until then, both may check it and alert you.
  • Moving a monitor needs a connection to BrowseWiz. If it fails, the row says "Couldn't move this task here. Check your connection and try again." and nothing changes.
  • A moved monitor is checked right away and starts with a fresh starting point in its new browser, so changes made before the move don't alert you.
  • Pausing a monitor, and resuming one that no other browser checks, also work offline.
  • Deleting a monitor in one browser removes it from every browser.

Tab access​

To look at a page and to check it, BrowseWiz opens it in a new background tab in the BrowseWiz Tabs group and closes the tab afterwards. This needs the tab access permission.

When you ask for a monitor and the permission is not granted yet, the chat shows a "Grant tab access" prompt before BrowseWiz looks at the page. When you click "Approve" on a monitor plan card and the permission is still not granted, Chrome asks for it, and the monitor is saved whether you grant or decline. Without tab access, the monitor shows "Paused: tab access required". Click "Grant tab access" under its status line to open Chrome's permission prompt again. As soon as you grant tab access, from here or anywhere else, monitors showing "Paused: tab access required" are checked again. Monitors you paused yourself stay paused.

When checks run​

  • Checks run only while Chrome is running. When you open Chrome again, the next check compares the page with the last one checked, so changes made in the meantime can still alert you. On Windows and Linux, turn on Keep running after I close Chrome to keep checks running after you close Chrome's windows.
  • If no Chrome window is open when a check is due, the check opens a minimized Chrome window and closes it again when it's done.
  • Checks stop while a monitor is paused, while you are signed out, without tab access, and for monitors over your plan's limit. Signing out sets your monitors aside in this browser with your scheduled tasks (see Sign out).
  • Checks always use BrowseWiz's own model, whatever model you chose in the chat, and never your own API keys.

Monitors from earlier versions​

Monitors made with earlier versions of BrowseWiz worked differently. They were removed when BrowseWiz updated to monitors that track the items BrowseWiz picks, and were not converted. To watch those pages again, ask BrowseWiz in the chat.

Their past matches stay in History and open as before.

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