Authenticate API calls with a Datadog API key and application key passed as headers DD-API-KEY and DD-APPLICATION-KEY
Send a POST request to the Synthetics tests endpoint with a JSON body specifying type: api, subtype: http, and a config object containing the request method, URL, assertions, and headers
Define assertions in the config.assertions array, each with a type (e.g., statusCode, responseTime, body), operator (e.g., is, lessThan, contains), and target value
Set options.tick_every to the check interval in seconds (e.g., 60 for one-minute checks) and locations to an array of Datadog managed or private location identifiers
Use the returned public_id from the creation response to later retrieve results, pause, resume, or delete the test via the corresponding API endpoints
Manage tests as code using the Datadog Terraform provider (datadog_synthetics_test resource) or the datadog-ci CLI to sync test definitions from a Git repository
Known gotchas
The application key used must belong to a user with the Datadog Admin role or the Synthetics Write permission; using a key with insufficient permissions returns a 403 with a non-obvious error message
Managed location identifiers (e.g., aws:us-east-1) change over time as Datadog adds and retires PoPs — retrieve the current list from the Synthetics locations endpoint before hardcoding them
API tests are billed per test run, not per test; high-frequency checks across many locations multiply costs quickly — use tick_every and location counts deliberately
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