
Shortly after we added the very first graphs to the AppSignal interface, we added deploy markers. These markers are the little dots at the bottom of each graph that indicate when a new revision of an application was deployed. They're a great way to compare deploys with each another and see if the new version increased or decreased application performance.
But, deploys aren't the only things that impact the behavior of an application. Spinning up additional dyno's, getting Product Hunted and other external factors greatly affect how your app operates. Until now though, there was no way to track these events in AppSignal.
Introducing Custom Markers
Our new Custom Markers provide a new way to add more context to graphs, allowing you to add annotations yourself. Create a marker for scaling operations, when there was a sudden spike in traffic or when a database was acting up.
Sending the following JSON payload in a POST request to the custom markers endpoint (https://appsignal.com/api/<site_id>/markers.json?token=<token>
) will result in a new marker being created:
{ "marker": { "kind": "custom", "icon": "🚀", "message": "Scale up frontend servers", "created_at": "2016-10-21T13:30:00.000Z" } }
Then hover over the marker in the interface to read the message:

For more information about how to send Custom Markers or deploy markers to AppSignal, check out the documentation.
Wondering what you can do next?
Finished this article? Here are a few more things you can do:
- Try out AppSignal with a 30-day free trial.
- Reach out to our support team with any feedback or questions.
- Share this article on social media
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Robert Beekman
As a co-founder, Robert wrote our very first commit. He's also our support role-model and knows all about the tiny details in code. Travels and photographs (at the same time).
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AppSignal monitors your apps
AppSignal provides insights for Ruby, Rails, Elixir, Phoenix, Node.js, Express and many other frameworks and libraries. We are located in beautiful Amsterdam. We love stroopwafels. If you do too, let us know. We might send you some!
