Synthetic Monitoring
Scripted user flows run against the production system around the clock: log in, search, add to cart, check out. Synthetic monitoring is a behavioral test suite whose environment is the real world, giving you a baseline answer to “does it do what we expect?” even when no user happens to be asking.
Sensor properties
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Oracle strength | High — a failed checkout flow is unambiguous |
| Independence | High — runs outside the system, against its public surface |
| Scope | System |
| Feedback latency | Minutes |
| Actionability | Guiding — the failing step localizes the breakage |
| Type | Retrospective |
What it cannot detect
Behavior outside the scripted paths. Synthetics cover the flows you thought to script; the long tail of user behavior is the domain of observability events and real-user monitoring.