At Huntress, we’re obsessed with giving businesses the tools to outsmart hackers. Our Managed Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) platform combines cutting-edge technology with 24/7 human expertise to stop attacks in their tracks.
We’re thrilled to unveil a new feature that puts even more control in your hands: a client-side API that lets you ping your local Huntress agent to verify its status, check component versions, and ensure everything is running smoothly.
Whether you’re a managed service provider (MSP) juggling dozens of clients or an IT admin securing a single network, this new tool can make your life easier.
Manage your endpoints with clarity—without the stress
Managing endpoint security isn't easy, especially when you’re an MSP working with multiple clients or an IT admin racing against the clock to stop a threat. One of the biggest headaches? Knowing whether your EDR agent is actually doing its job. Is it running? Is it up to date? Or is it silently failing, leaving your endpoints exposed to stealthy attacks like ransomware or reverse shells?
Without that visibility, you’re flying blind, and in cybersecurity, that’s a recipe for trouble. Traditional troubleshooting often means diving into logs, running manual checks, or reaching out to support, which eats up precious time and resources. For MSPs managing hundreds of endpoints, this can turn into a full-time job, pulling focus from proactive threat hunting. Even worse, an unhealthy agent might miss critical detections, letting attackers slip through the cracks.
The tools you need with the protection you trust
At Huntress, we get it: you need tools that work as hard as you do, without adding complexity. That’s why we’ve built the EDR client-side API. It gives you instant clarity on your agent’s health, so you can focus on what matters and rest easy knowing Huntress has your back.
Figure 1: Agent showing "healthy" status and version information Introducing the Huntress EDR client-side API
This streamlined, powerful tool delivers real-time visibility into your EDR agent’s status. Running directly on the endpoint, this API allows you to ping your Huntress agent to confirm it’s active, retrieve version details for critical components, and assess its overall health with a single query.
Does that mean you need to parse all of that data and figure out the status of the EDR? Beyond detailed insights, we provide a clear “healthy” or “unhealthy” status that cuts through complexity, giving you an unambiguous verdict to act on instantly. We designed this API with MSPs in mind, specifically to integrate seamlessly with remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools.
MSPs can leverage their RMM platforms to automate health checks across hundreds of client endpoints, pulling agent status directly into their workflows for faster, centralized management.
Built for efficiency, the API works within our existing telemetry framework, ensuring no performance hit on endpoints. You can call it as many times as you like, and it'll work. Also, since it’s integrated into the EDR itself, it won’t be affected by our Tamper Protection feature, nor cause status changes during an upgrade.
Robust endpoint management without the guesswork
It’s ideal for MSPs scaling operations, IT admins troubleshooting during incidents, or developers embedding agent status into custom tools. Security is always on our minds, so the information divulged by the API is minimal. And since we’re running locally on the system, there are no open ports or remote access to the system, reflecting Huntress’s commitment to robust protection.
Available on Windows and macOS endpoints (agent version 0.13.10 or higher), this API empowers you to manage your EDR with confidence. Plus, it’s backed by our 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC), making endpoint security simpler and more reliable than ever.
Figure 2: Agent showing "unhealthy" status and which service has stoppedImagine you’re managing several client networks, with computers constantly coming and going—some users are working remotely, others are on vacation, and users are just doing their normal thing. You log into the Huntress portal to check on your fleet but notice a dozen agents haven’t contacted the server in a while. Are they offline? Is someone just out of the office? With the new client-side API, you don’t have to guess.
Using your RMM tool, you run a quick scan to ping every Huntress EDR agent across the network. The API returns clear “healthy” or “unhealthy” statuses, revealing that most agents are running fine, just disconnected due to travel or powered-off devices. But one machine stands out: its agent reports an “unhealthy” state. Digging deeper, you find the endpoint is struggling with RAM issues, causing the EDR agent to falter. You successfully isolate the problem, deploy a fix to stabilize the machine, and get the agent back online, all before it becomes a security blind spot. With a simple scan, you’ve turned a potential vulnerability into a quick win, keeping your clients’ networks secure.
Of course, there may be times you need help from Huntress Support to troubleshoot issues, so we’re always available to help. This tool gives our team a great starting point to quickly get to a resolution.
Ready to give it a whirl?
Great news! If your agents are up to date (at least version 0.14.1), you can use this API today. Getting started with the client-side API is a breeze. With a simple query, you can ping the agent from one of the computers that has Huntress Managed EDR installed to check its status, view component versions, and get that clear “healthy” or “unhealthy” verdict. Here's an example PowerShell one-liner to get you started.
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "http://localhost:24799/health" | ConvertTo-Json
Figure 3: Example PowerShell usageRunning the above command will output a JSON output that could be easily parsed to grab the “status” field. You could also grab the whole response and write it to a log. A script like this could be used by MSPs to integrate the API into their RMM tools to automate health checks across client networks, streamlining fleet management. Tools like PowerShell or Python make interacting with the API a snap, which is perfect for scripting or custom workflows.
Need a hand? Check out our online documentation for more guidance. Whether you’re verifying a single endpoint or scanning hundreds, the API empowers you to keep your EDR running smoothly.
See more, do more, secure more—Endpoint management starts with Huntress
The new client-side API is a game-changer for Managed EDR, giving you instant visibility into your agents with a clear “healthy” or “unhealthy” status and seamless RMM integration for MSPs. It’s about empowering you to manage endpoints with confidence, whether you’re securing one network or hundreds.
At Huntress, we’re relentless about building tools that make cybersecurity simple, effective, and accessible to all levels of businesses that need it most. This API is just another tool to make all of our jobs easier and more effective. Plus, more innovations are on the way to keep you ahead of the hackers.
Ready to dive in? Test the API and share your feedback! Together, let’s make the bad guys’ lives harder and keep your networks locked down tight.
