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Creating & Managing Monitors

Monitors are the core of Painkiller AI. They track conversations based on your keywords and topics.

Monitor Components

Name

A descriptive name to identify your monitor (e.g., "Email Marketing Tools", "SaaS Project Management").

Query

Keywords, phrases, or topics to search for. Be specific but not too narrow. Examples:

  • "looking for email marketing tool"
  • "need help with project management"
  • "best CRM for small business"

Query Suggestions

Not sure what query to use? Painkiller AI can generate query suggestions based on what you sell or what problem you solve. This is especially helpful when you're creating your first monitors.

How it works:

  1. When creating a new monitor, expand the "Need help? Get query suggestions" section
  2. Describe what you sell or what problem you solve in plain language
  3. Click "Suggest Queries" to generate 3-5 query suggestions
  4. Click any suggested query to use it in your monitor

Example: If you enter "I help Quickbooks users migrate to ERP systems", you'll get suggestions like "businesses looking for Quickbooks alternatives" or "companies searching for ERP migration services".

Schedule

How often the monitor runs:

  • Hourly: Runs every hour
  • Daily: Runs once per day at a specified time
  • Weekly: Runs once per week on a specified day and time
  • Manual: Only runs when you manually trigger it

Active Status

Toggle monitors on/off without deleting them. Inactive monitors won't run or consume usage.

Advanced Filters

Optional filters to narrow your search scope:

Platform Filter

Limit your search to a specific platform. By default, monitors search across all platforms. When you set a platform filter, the monitor will only find conversations from that platform.

Available platforms:

  • Reddit
  • Twitter/X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • GitHub
  • Discord
  • Stack Overflow
  • Product Hunt
  • Indie Hackers

Use platform filters when you know your target audience is active on a specific platform, or when you want to focus your monitoring efforts.

Time Filter

Limit your search to recent content within a specific time period. This helps you find conversations that are currently active or happened recently.

Available time periods:

  • Last 24 Hours: Find conversations from the past day
  • Last 7 Days: Find conversations from the past week
  • Last Month: Find conversations from the past month
  • Last Year: Find conversations from the past year

Use time filters when you want to focus on recent, timely conversations. This is especially useful for time-sensitive opportunities or trending topics.

Creating Effective Monitors

Best Practices:

  • Use natural language queries that match how people actually ask questions
  • Focus on pain points and problems, not just product names
  • Start with 3-5 monitors and refine based on results
  • Use daily or weekly schedules for most monitors to balance coverage and usage
  • Use query suggestions if you're unsure how to phrase your search query
  • Test new monitors by running them manually before relying on scheduled runs
  • Use manual runs to verify query changes work as expected
  • Use platform filters when you know your audience is concentrated on specific platforms
  • Combine time filters with platform filters to find recent, platform-specific conversations
  • Start without filters to see the full scope, then add filters to narrow down based on what you find

Using Advanced Filters

Advanced filters allow you to refine your monitor searches to focus on specific platforms or time periods. These filters are optional and can be combined for more targeted results.

When to Use Platform Filters

  • Platform-specific audiences: If your customers are primarily active on one platform (e.g., developers on GitHub, professionals on LinkedIn)
  • Platform-specific use cases: When your product solves problems that are commonly discussed on a specific platform
  • Reducing noise: To filter out irrelevant results from platforms where your audience isn't active
  • Testing platform effectiveness: Create separate monitors for different platforms to see which ones yield the best results

When to Use Time Filters

  • Time-sensitive opportunities: When you need to respond quickly to recent conversations (use "Last 24 Hours" or "Last 7 Days")
  • Trending topics: To catch conversations about current events or trending discussions
  • Reducing volume: When you're getting too many results and want to focus on the most recent, relevant conversations
  • Seasonal monitoring: Use "Last Month" or "Last Year" to find conversations within a specific timeframe

Filter Combinations

You can combine platform and time filters for even more targeted results:

  • Reddit + Last 7 Days: Find recent Reddit discussions about your topic
  • LinkedIn + Last Month: Find professional conversations from the past month
  • GitHub + Last 24 Hours: Find very recent developer discussions or issues

Remember: Filters narrow your search, so you may get fewer results. Start broad, then add filters based on what you discover.

Manual Monitor Runs

You can trigger a monitor run immediately at any time, regardless of its schedule. This is useful for testing queries, getting results on-demand, or checking if a monitor is working correctly.

How to Run a Monitor Manually

  1. Go to the Monitors page
  2. Find the monitor you want to run
  3. Click the menu button (⋮) on the monitor card
  4. Select "Run Now" from the dropdown menu
  5. The monitor will start executing immediately

Note: Manual runs consume usage just like scheduled runs. Make sure you have available usage before running manually.

When to Use Manual Runs

  • Testing new queries: After creating or editing a monitor, run it manually to see if it finds relevant results before waiting for the scheduled run
  • On-demand searches: When you need immediate results for a specific query or topic
  • Troubleshooting: If a monitor isn't finding results on schedule, run it manually to check if there are any errors
  • One-time searches: For monitors set to "Manual" schedule type, manual runs are the only way to execute them
  • Verifying changes: After modifying a monitor's query or filters, run it manually to verify the changes work as expected

Manual Schedule Type vs. Manual Runs

There's an important distinction:

  • Manual Schedule Type: A monitor with "Manual" schedule will never run automatically. It only runs when you manually trigger it using "Run Now"
  • Manual Run (on scheduled monitors): Monitors with hourly, daily, or weekly schedules can also be run manually at any time. This doesn't change their schedule—they'll still run automatically at their scheduled times

Use "Manual" schedule type when you want complete control over when a monitor runs. Use manual runs on scheduled monitors when you need results immediately without waiting for the next scheduled execution.

What Happens During a Manual Run

When you trigger a manual run:

  • The monitor status changes to "Running" or "Pending"
  • You'll see a notification that the run has started
  • The monitor searches for conversations matching your query
  • Results appear in your Results page when the run completes
  • You can track progress in the monitor's run history

Tip: You can cancel a running monitor if needed. Click the menu button and select "Cancel Run" while a monitor is executing.

Managing Monitors

From the Monitors page, you can:

  • Edit: Click on any monitor to modify its settings, including query, schedule, and advanced filters
  • Toggle Active: Enable/disable monitors without deleting
  • Run Manually: Trigger a monitor run immediately without waiting for the scheduled time. Useful for testing new queries or getting results on-demand
  • Cancel Run: Stop a monitor that's currently running (if needed)
  • View Run History: See detailed history of all runs for a monitor, including status, results count, timing, and any errors
  • View Results: See all results found by a specific monitor
  • View Filters: See which platform and time filters are applied to each monitor (shown as badges on the monitor card)
  • Delete: Remove monitors you no longer need (can be restored)