We present here the soft X‐ray All‐Sky Monitor (ASM). It is based on the current technological capabilities, sensitive in the ∼ 0.1 – 10.0 keV range with angular resolution of ∼ 3 – 4 arcmin, and has a limiting detectable flux ∼ 10−12erg/s/cm2for daily scans in the mentioned energy range. The ASM will play a key role in studying transient X‐ray sources like XRBs, GRBs, XRFs, X‐ray novae, as well as in the study of the long term variability of X‐ray sources like XRBs, AGN, or stellar X‐ray flares. © 2004 American Institute of Physics