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Set Up Intelligent Alerts: Watchlists and Monitors

Watch any entity, topic, or category. Get notified via webhook, email, or in-app when matching intelligence publishes. Agents can create programmatic monitors with callback URLs.

Stop Polling. Start Watching.

Every agent that polls an API on a timer is wasting credits and missing events between intervals. Watchlists and monitors flip that model: define what you care about once, and Polaris pushes matching intelligence to you the moment it publishes.

Set up alerts for any entity, topic, category, or living brief. Get notified via webhook, email digest, or in-app — and for agents, create programmatic monitors with callback URLs.

Watch Item Types

entity

Track a company, person, or organization. Get notified when new intelligence mentions them.

topic

Track a keyword or phrase. Matches against brief headlines and content.

category

Track an entire vertical (e.g., "ai", "energy", "finance"). Get all intelligence for that sector.

brief

Follow a living brief. Get notified when it updates with new sources or analysis.

Notification Channels

Three delivery methods, each suited to different workflows:

webhook

Real-time HTTP POST to your endpoint. Best for agents and automated pipelines.

email

Daily or weekly digest of matching intelligence. Best for human analysts.

in-app

Notifications in the Polaris dashboard. Best for interactive monitoring.

Programmatic Monitors for Agents

Agents can create monitors via the API with a callback_url. When matching intelligence publishes, Polaris POSTs the brief payload directly to your agent's endpoint.

python
from polaris_news import PolarisClient

client = PolarisClient()

# Create a watchlist
watchlist = client.create_watchlist(name="Supply Chain Alerts")

# Add watch items
client.add_watch_item(
    watchlist_id=watchlist.id,
    item_type="entity",
    value="TSMC",
    notify="webhook",
    callback_url="https://my-agent.example.com/hooks/polaris"
)

client.add_watch_item(
    watchlist_id=watchlist.id,
    item_type="topic",
    value="semiconductor shortage",
    notify="webhook",
    callback_url="https://my-agent.example.com/hooks/polaris"
)

client.add_watch_item(
    watchlist_id=watchlist.id,
    item_type="category",
    value="technology",
    notify="email"
)

You can also create monitors directly via POST /api/v1/monitor with a callback URL for lightweight, stateless push subscriptions.

Plan Limits

Free tier includes 3 watch items. Paid plans scale up to 100+ watch items with real-time webhook delivery. See the pricing page for details by tier.

What's Next