# Synthetic Monitoring

[Requires Production Plan](https://www.blackfire.io/pricing)

Synthetic monitoring simulates real user journeys against your live application to verify its performance and behavior.

With [Blackfire Player](../../builds-cookbooks/player), you write scenarios in `.bkf` files that visit URLs, submit forms, and assert on responses and performance metrics. Running those scenarios with `--blackfire-env` and `--report` sends the results to Blackfire and produces a consolidated build report.

```bash
blackfire-player run monitoring.bkf \
    --blackfire-env=<ENV_NAME_OR_UUID> \
    --report
```

Player exits with a non-zero code when assertions fail, making it easy to gate a deployment on performance results. Run it from your CI/CD pipeline after each deployment, on pull-request preview environments, or on a schedule — from your own infrastructure, with full control over timing and secret management.

> **Note**
>
> [Explore the full setup guide](../../builds-cookbooks/synthetic-monitoring), including scenario examples, GitHub Actions integration, pull-request comparison builds, and exit-code reference.