What are User Agents used for in synthetic monitoring?

User Agents play a crucial role in synthetic monitoring by simulating browser behavior. When a synthetic monitoring tool executes scripted tests, it mimics how actual users interact with web applications through a browser. The User Agent string provides context about the specific browser and operating system that the monitoring tool is simulating. This allows the synthetic tests to accurately represent user interactions, including rendering web pages, executing JavaScript, and processing assets as a real user would.

Simulating browser behavior is essential for identifying performance issues and ensuring that applications behave correctly across different devices and browsers. This capability helps uncover problems that users might face based on their specific environments, making synthetic monitoring a powerful tool for preemptively addressing performance and usability concerns in web applications.