--- title: WatchFor in Your Terminal — Free curl Network Checks description: Ping, DNS, TLS grades, CDN cache, MTR, email auth and 30+ more checks from your terminal: curl https://watchfor.io//. Free, no signup, runs from the location nearest you. canonical: https://watchfor.io/terminal --- For people who live in the terminal # WatchFor in Your Terminal Ping, DNS, TLS grades, CDN cache checks and 30+ more — from the location nearest you, with nothing to install. Because sometimes the fastest dashboard is a terminal. $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io Copy Free · no signup · works with curl, wget, HTTPie and xh ## Copy, Paste, Know Eight commands to start with. Every one runs a real check the moment you press Enter. $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ ssl/ github.com Copy Certificate, chain and days left $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ tls/ github.com Copy TLS grade A+ … F and what caps it $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ cdn/ www.cloudflare.com Copy Edge cache HIT or MISS, per location $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ propagation/ github.com Copy Your DNS answer around the world $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ mtr/ 1.1.1.1 Copy Hop-by-hop path with loss and latency $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ headers/ example.com Copy Security headers grade with fixes $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ audit/ example.com Copy The whole site in one grade $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ ip Copy Just your public IP — script friendly ## Real Output, Real Network Not mock-ups: these are live results from the WatchFor probe fleet, exactly as they print in your terminal. curl https://watchfor.io/tls/github.com A+ grade, protocols, certificate and HSTS curl https://watchfor.io/mtr/1.1.1.1 Hop-by-hop path, loss and latency curl https://watchfor.io/ssl/github.com Certificate, chain and days left curl https://watchfor.io/whois/github.com Registrar, expiry and nameservers curl https://watchfor.io/email/github.com SPF, DKIM and DMARC in one grade curl https://watchfor.io/uptime/99.95 What 99.95% allows per day, month and year ## Why a Terminal? ### Nothing to install curl is already on every Mac, Linux box and Windows 10+. No agent, no account, no API key — just a URL. ### Real probes, not your laptop Checks run from the WatchFor location nearest you, the same fleet that monitors production sites — so a firewall or VPN on your side doesn't skew the answer. ### Grades that tell you why TLS, security headers, CDN, email: an A+ … F grade, what caps it, and the exact fix — the same rubric as the dashboard. ### Made for scripts too ?json returns the full result with honest HTTP status codes, ?plain drops colour for logs, and curl -f fails your CI when a check fails. ### Every tool, one URL scheme 44 commands, the same free tools as the website: network, DNS, web, email, plus a few calculators for the 3 a.m. subnet math. ### A little bit of fun Because sometimes the fastest dashboard is a terminal. And yes, there are easter eggs. ## Built for Scripts, Too Same URLs, machine-friendly modes. ### Just the IP Prints only your public IP address — like ifconfig.me. $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ ip Copy ### JSON for jq The full result, with 200 / 422 / 429 status codes. $ curl -s 'https:/ / watchfor.io/ tls/ example.com? json' | jq .result Copy ### Fail the build Exits non-zero when the check finds a problem. $ curl -fsS 'https:/ / watchfor.io/ ssl/ example.com? json' >/ dev/ null Copy ### Plain logs No colour, no spinner — tidy in CI logs. $ curl 'https:/ / watchfor.io/ dns/ example.com? plain' Copy ### Per-command help Any command without a target explains itself. $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ dns Copy ### All commands The command list as JSON, for your own tooling. $ curl 'https:/ / watchfor.io/ help? json' Copy ## Every Command curl https://watchfor.io//. Aliases work too: mtr is also traceroute, tcp is also port. ### Network - ping ICMP round trips and loss curl https://watchfor.io/ ping /1.1.1.1 - mtr Hop-by-hop path and loss curl https://watchfor.io/ mtr /1.1.1.1 - tcp Is the port open? curl https://watchfor.io/ tcp /github.com:443 - ntp Time server offset & stratum curl https://watchfor.io/ ntp /pool.ntp.org - blacklist Spam blocklist status curl https://watchfor.io/ blacklist /1.1.1.1 ### DNS & domains - dns DNS records, any type curl https://watchfor.io/ dns /github.com - a IPv4 addresses (A) curl https://watchfor.io/ a /github.com - aaaa IPv6 addresses (AAAA) curl https://watchfor.io/ aaaa /google.com - mx Mail servers (MX) curl https://watchfor.io/ mx /gmail.com - ns Name servers (NS) curl https://watchfor.io/ ns /github.com - txt TXT, SPF & verifications curl https://watchfor.io/ txt /google.com - soa Zone authority (SOA) curl https://watchfor.io/ soa /github.com - srv Service records (SRV) curl https://watchfor.io/ srv /_imaps._tcp.gmail.com - caa Allowed CAs (CAA) curl https://watchfor.io/ caa /google.com - cname Alias target (CNAME) curl https://watchfor.io/ cname /www.github.com - ptr Reverse DNS of an IP curl https://watchfor.io/ ptr /8.8.8.8 - propagation Same answer worldwide? curl https://watchfor.io/ propagation /github.com - whois Registrar & expiry date curl https://watchfor.io/ whois /github.com ### Web & TLS - audit Whole-site health, one grade curl https://watchfor.io/ audit /github.com - ssl Certificate, chain, expiry curl https://watchfor.io/ ssl /github.com - tls TLS grade A+ … F, and why curl https://watchfor.io/ tls /github.com - http Status, timing waterfall curl https://watchfor.io/ http /github.com - headers Security headers grade curl https://watchfor.io/ headers /github.com - redirect Follow the redirect chain curl https://watchfor.io/ redirect /github.com - cdn Cache HITs from every region curl https://watchfor.io/ cdn /www.cloudflare.com - sitemap Find and test the sitemap curl https://watchfor.io/ sitemap /www.sitemaps.org - brotli Brotli / gzip compression curl https://watchfor.io/ brotli /www.cloudflare.com - ws WebSocket handshake + ping curl https://watchfor.io/ ws /echo.websocket.org - mcp MCP server handshake + tools curl https://watchfor.io/ mcp /mcp.deepwiki.com/mcp - php PHP version, php2shell, EOL curl https://watchfor.io/ php /watchfor.io/demo/php/8.3.14 - exposure Exposed versions, EOL, CVEs curl https://watchfor.io/ exposure /example.com ### Email - email SPF + DMARC health grade curl https://watchfor.io/ email /github.com - spf SPF record and lookups curl https://watchfor.io/ spf /github.com - dmarc DMARC policy and reports curl https://watchfor.io/ dmarc /github.com - dkim DKIM key for a selector curl https://watchfor.io/ dkim /gmail.com?selector=20230601 - smtp Mail server: TLS, relay curl https://watchfor.io/ smtp /gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com ### You - ip Your IP — or look one up curl https://watchfor.io/ ip - myip Your IP, network & location curl https://watchfor.io/ myip ### Calculators - subnet IPv4 CIDR calculator curl https://watchfor.io/ subnet /10.0.0.0/24 - ipv6 IPv6 prefix calculator curl https://watchfor.io/ ipv6 /2001:db8::/48 - cron Explain a cron schedule curl https://watchfor.io/ cron /*/5_*_*_*_* - time Unix time ↔ dates curl https://watchfor.io/ time - uptime Allowed downtime for an SLA curl https://watchfor.io/ uptime /99.9 - chmod Octal ↔ rwx permissions curl https://watchfor.io/ chmod /755 ## Psst — There Are Easter Eggs We take uptime seriously. Ourselves, less so. Start here: $ curl https:/ / watchfor.io/ coffee Copy ## Frequently asked questions [All questions→](/faq)[Ask us directly](/contact) Is it really free? Yes. The terminal commands are the same free tools as the website, with the same anonymous limits per IP address (around 60 checks an hour across all tools; some heavier checks have their own lower limit). A free WatchFor account gets higher limits — and monitoring that runs 24/7 with alerts. Where do the checks run from? Can I use it in scripts and CI? What am I allowed to check? Which clients work? What do you log? Can I check internal hosts? ## From One Check to 24/7 Monitoring The terminal tells you how things are right now. A free WatchFor account watches them every minute, from many locations, and wakes the right person when they break. [Start monitoring free](/auth/sign-up)[Browse the free tools](/free-tools) --- Canonical page: https://watchfor.io/terminal · Site guide: https://watchfor.io/llms.txt