Q: I'm building a public status page. What actually needs to be on it?

Q: I'm building a public status page. What actually needs to be on it?

A: A status page that nobody trusts is worse than none. Build it in this order.

— Host it on a separate provider/domain from your app. If your site is down, the status page must still load.
— List components users recognize (Login, Checkout, API), not internal service names.
— Wire it to automated monitors so component status flips on its own, but keep a manual override for nuance.
— Add a subscribe option (email/RSS/webhook) so people pull updates instead of refreshing.
— Show a 90-day uptime history. Hiding it reads as a cover-up.

The follow-up: write a 2-line incident template in advance ("what, who's affected, next update time"). Drafting copy mid-outage is how you go quiet for an hour.

Got a question? Drop it in the comments.