[GH-ISSUE #436] Document the handling of confirmation links #327

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opened 2026-02-25 23:42:03 +03:00 by kerem · 4 comments

kerem commented

2026-02-25 23:42:03 +03:00

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Originally created by @cuu508 on GitHub (Sep 30, 2020).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/healthchecks/healthchecks/issues/436

When a ping body contains the word "confirm", Healthchecks assumes it might contain a confirmation link. To draw user's attention to it, it shows a badge in the dashboard:

The badge is not explained anywhere on the site or in the documentation.

Originally created by @cuu508 on GitHub (Sep 30, 2020). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/healthchecks/healthchecks/issues/436 When a ping body contains the word "confirm", Healthchecks assumes it might contain a confirmation link. To draw user's attention to it, it shows a badge in the dashboard: ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/661859/94653743-b799e200-0304-11eb-995a-c32f6d5bbafd.png) The badge is not explained anywhere on the site or in the documentation.

kerem closed this issue

2026-02-25 23:42:03 +03:00

kerem commented

2026-02-25 23:42:03 +03:00

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@cuu508 commented on GitHub (Oct 14, 2020):

Added an informative tooltip:

@cuu508 commented on GitHub (Oct 14, 2020): Added an informative tooltip: ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/661859/95975866-6703a800-0e1f-11eb-803a-a5a582692fc0.png)

kerem commented

2026-02-25 23:42:03 +03:00

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@anxodio commented on GitHub (May 21, 2024):

Hi! Why it's important to show a badge if the body contains the word "confirm"? What's the intention? Thank you :)

@anxodio commented on GitHub (May 21, 2024): Hi! Why it's important to show a badge if the body contains the word "confirm"? What's the intention? Thank you :)

kerem commented

2026-02-25 23:42:03 +03:00

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@cuu508 commented on GitHub (May 22, 2024):

@anxodio the specific use case I had in mind was AWS SNS and webhook subscriptions.

In AWS SNS you can create a Topic and create Subscriptions for that topic. Among the supported subscription types is HTTP and HTTTPS: when a message is posted to the topic, AWS SNS will send an HTTP(S) request to the nominated URL.

When you first create a HTTP(S) subscription, AWS SNS will first send a special request to the URL which contains a confirmation link. Once the confirmation link is clicked, the subscription is active. The message payload looks like this:

{
  "Type" : "SubscriptionConfirmation",
  "MessageId" : "a75c4bbe-2925-4108-82b4-a9a7c4c72985",
  "Token" : "xxxx",
  "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:eu-central-1:xxxx:Demo-Topic",
  "Message" : "You have chosen to subscribe to the topic arn:aws:sns:eu-central-1:xxxx:Demo-Topic.\nTo confirm the subscription, visit the SubscribeURL included in this message.",
  "SubscribeURL" : "https://sns.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/?Action=ConfirmSubscription&TopicArn=arn:aws:sns:eu-central-1:xxxx:Demo-Topic&Token=xxxx",
  "Timestamp" : "2024-05-22T11:50:05.094Z",
  "SignatureVersion" : "1",
  "Signature" : "xxxx",
  "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-60eadc530605d63b8e62a523676ef735.pem"
}

The "confirmation link" badge is meant to draw user's attention to the fact that the ping body contains the word "confirm" and so perhaps there's a confirmation link in there, that needs to be acted upon.

@cuu508 commented on GitHub (May 22, 2024): @anxodio the specific use case I had in mind was AWS SNS and webhook subscriptions. In AWS SNS you can create a *Topic* and create *Subscriptions* for that topic. Among the supported subscription types is HTTP and HTTTPS: when a message is posted to the topic, AWS SNS will send an HTTP(S) request to the nominated URL. When you first create a HTTP(S) subscription, AWS SNS will first send a special request to the URL which contains a confirmation link. Once the confirmation link is clicked, the subscription is active. The message payload looks like this: ```json { "Type" : "SubscriptionConfirmation", "MessageId" : "a75c4bbe-2925-4108-82b4-a9a7c4c72985", "Token" : "xxxx", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:eu-central-1:xxxx:Demo-Topic", "Message" : "You have chosen to subscribe to the topic arn:aws:sns:eu-central-1:xxxx:Demo-Topic.\nTo confirm the subscription, visit the SubscribeURL included in this message.", "SubscribeURL" : "https://sns.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/?Action=ConfirmSubscription&TopicArn=arn:aws:sns:eu-central-1:xxxx:Demo-Topic&Token=xxxx", "Timestamp" : "2024-05-22T11:50:05.094Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "xxxx", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-60eadc530605d63b8e62a523676ef735.pem" } ``` The "confirmation link" badge is meant to draw user's attention to the fact that the ping body contains the word "confirm" and so *perhaps* there's a confirmation link in there, that needs to be acted upon.

kerem commented

2026-02-25 23:42:03 +03:00

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@anxodio commented on GitHub (May 22, 2024):

Thank you for the explanation @cuu508 :)

We have some ping bodies that contain the word confirm but it's not a confirmation link, but knowing that it is not important, we can simply ignore the badge

@anxodio commented on GitHub (May 22, 2024): Thank you for the explanation @cuu508 :) We have some ping bodies that contain the word confirm but it's not a confirmation link, but knowing that it is not important, we can simply ignore the badge