> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.ilert.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.ilert.com/chatops/slack/post-alerts-to-a-slack-channel.md). # Post alerts to a Slack channel Publish ilert alerts into a Slack channel and accept, reroute, and resolve them there, without opening ilert. {% hint style="info" %} **Connect your Slack workspace first** An **Admin** or **Account owner** connects the workspace once, as described in the [Slack integration guide](/chatops/slack.md). Creating the alert action below needs no admin role. {% endhint %} Alerts reach Slack through an **alert action**: a rule that publishes the alerts of one or more alert sources to one channel. Create one alert action per channel. ## Create a Slack alert action {% stepper %} {% step %} ## Start a new alert action In the sidebar, go to **Alerting** → **Alert actions** and click **Create new alert action**. You can also start from the alert source: open it, go to its **Alert actions** tab, and click **Create new alert action** there. The source is filled in for you. {% endstep %} {% step %} ## Choose Slack Select the **Slack** tile and leave **Use webhook** unticked — [the webhook variant](/chatops/slack/incoming-webhook.md) posts plain messages without the buttons. Click **Next**.
The Type step of the alert action wizard. The first row of tiles is Slack, Teams, and Google Chat, each with a Use webhook checkbox; the Slack tile is selected.

Pick Slack, and leave Use webhook unticked to get interactive alert messages.

{% endstep %} {% step %} ## Choose the alert sources and the events to publish Select the alert sources whose alerts should reach the channel. Leave **Trigger mode** on **Automatic**; Slack alert actions cannot be triggered by hand. Under **Trigger events**, only **Alert created** is ticked. Add at least **Alert accepted** and **Alert resolved** — see [which events to pick](#choose-which-events-reach-slack). Click **Next**.
The Trigger step, with an Alert sources field, a Trigger mode toggle set to Automatic, and the list of trigger events with only Alert created ticked.

A new alert action publishes Alert created and nothing else until you add more events.

{% endstep %} {% step %} ## Skip the conditions **Conditional execution** narrows an alert action to alerts that meet conditions you set, for example a priority or a label. Click **Next** to publish every alert of the chosen sources. {% endstep %} {% step %} ## Name it and choose the channel Give the alert action a name and pick the **Channel**. The list holds the channels you are a member of; if it is empty, see the [FAQ](#why-am-i-not-seeing-my-slack-channels-in-the-ilert-ui). **Assign the alert action to teams** decides which teams manage it, and appears only when your account has teams. Click **Save**.
The Action step, with the fields Name your alert action, Channel, and Assign the alert action to teams, and a note under Channel about channels you are a member of.

The channel field is a typeahead over the channels you have joined.

{% endstep %} {% step %} ## Save again **Save** opens the alert action's edit page, where you can change anything you just entered. Click **Save** there to reach its detail page. {% endstep %} {% step %} ## Test it Click **Test** in the top right. A test alert appears in the channel within a few seconds, and ilert shows **Test successful!**
An alert action detail page titled Post in Slack Demo Channel, listing teams, alert sources, connector, connector type, trigger mode Automatic, the trigger events, and the channel, with Test and Edit buttons at the top right.

The detail page summarizes what is published, and where.

{% endstep %} {% endstepper %} {% hint style="info" %} The test message is a stand-alone message with no buttons: it carries the summary "Test Alert", the escalation policy "Default", and a low priority, whichever alert sources and events you chose. Each test posts a new message. Real alerts arrive with buttons. {% endhint %}
A Slack channel showing a message from the ilert app headed PENDING Test Alert, with escalation policy Default, priority Low, and a link to the alert.

The test message confirms the connection.

## What the message looks like The card carries the alert's status and summary as a link into ilert, its details, and the fields that matter while you triage: **Escalation policy**, **Priority**, up to five **Labels**, **Responders**, **Links**, and **Affected services**. Images attached to the alert are shown. The colored bar is red while the alert is pending, yellow once accepted, and green when resolved. Times are rendered by Slack in each reader's own time zone. The card is written in German when the channel's locale is German, and in English otherwise. ### The buttons | Button | What it does | | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Accept** | Takes ownership of the alert, which stops the escalation | | **Reroute** | Assigns the alert to a different escalation policy, chosen in a dialog | | **Resolve** | Closes the alert | | **More actions** → **Raise priority** | Raises a low-priority alert to high | | **More actions** → **Add responder** | Adds a user, or the person currently on call in a schedule | | **More actions** → **Escalate** | Moves the alert to a chosen level of its escalation policy | | **More actions** → **Merge into another alert** | Merges this alert into another open alert | | **More actions** → **Add comment** | Writes a comment on the alert | | **More actions** → **Add affected services** | Links services to the alert | | **More actions** → **Create incident** | Publishes a [status update](/incidents-and-status-pages/status-updates.md) about the alert | | **More actions** → *alert action name* | Runs a manual alert action of that alert source | Once an alert is resolved, the buttons that would change it are gone — accept, reroute, resolve, escalate, add responder, raise priority — and **More actions** keeps merge, comment, and the incident-communication items. An alert that was merged into another shows a link to the main alert instead. **Accept** and **Resolve** work for everyone in the channel, including people without an ilert account. Every other button needs an ilert user whose username or email address matches the email address on the Slack account; otherwise the person gets a private message naming the address ilert does not know. ## Choose which events reach Slack The **Trigger events** you tick decide two things: when the card is **updated**, and which short notes are posted as replies in its thread. An event you leave unticked leaves the card alone — including when the change was made from Slack itself: press **Accept** in the channel with **Alert accepted** unticked and ilert accepts the alert, but the card still reads `[PENDING]`. | Trigger event | What happens in the channel | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Alert created** | The card is posted | | **Alert accepted** | The card turns yellow; the thread reads "*Name* accepted the alert" | | **Alert re-routed** | The thread names the new escalation policy, level, or assignee | | **Alert escalated** | The thread reads "Alert assigned to *Name*" | | **Alert priority raised** | The thread reads "Alert priority raised" | | **Alert resolved** | The card turns green and loses its buttons | | **Alert comment added** | The comment is posted in the thread | | **Responder added to alert**, **Responder removed from alert** | The thread names who changed | | **Channel attached to alert**, **Channel detached from alert** | The card gains or loses a link to the alert's own channel | | **… after alert has reached end of escalation policy and is still pending** | The thread reads "Alert reached end of escalation policy and is still pending", immediately or after the delay you choose | | **Alert is not resolved within …** | The thread reads "Alert is still not resolved" | {% hint style="warning" %} With only **Alert created** ticked, the card is not updated as the alert moves on. Somebody presses **Accept** in Slack, the alert is accepted in ilert, and the message still reads `[PENDING]`. Tick at least **Alert accepted** and **Alert resolved**. {% endhint %} Some things reach Slack whatever you tick. Three event types skip the filter entirely: the alert is merged into another alert, another alert is merged into it, and a log is attached to it. Pressing a button in Slack also posts a short reply in the thread naming who pressed it, whether or not the matching event is ticked. And the first event to arrive after an alert action is created posts the card. When more than ten minutes have passed since ilert last updated this card, the next thread note is also shown in the channel, so a long-running alert does not go unnoticed. Replies from people do not reset that clock. To change the events later, open the alert action and click **Edit**. ## Comments from Slack Replying in the card's thread writes the reply to the alert as a comment, where it appears under the alert's **Comments** tab marked as coming from Slack. Mentions are rendered as names, and emoji are kept. For that to work, two things have to be true. The ilert bot has to be **a member of the channel**: Slack delivers message events only for channels an app has been added to, so a public channel the bot posts to without having joined shows cards but syncs no replies. Invite it by mentioning `@ilert` in the channel and sending the message, then clicking **Add Them**. And the person replying needs an ilert user whose username or email address matches their Slack email address; replies from anyone else are dropped without a message. Edits, deletions, reactions, and messages posted outside the thread are never synced. Comments written in ilert reach the thread only if **Alert comment added** is one of the alert action's trigger events. ## FAQ ### Are updates to an alert published in Slack? Yes, for the trigger events you tick. See [Choose which events reach Slack](#choose-which-events-reach-slack). ### Can I publish alerts from several alert sources to one channel? Yes. One alert action can carry up to 49 alert sources. Each alert gets its own card, and each alert action keeps its own card for an alert — two alert actions posting to two channels means two cards. ### Why am I not seeing my Slack channels in the ilert UI? Three things have to be true before a channel appears in the dropdown. **First**, your ilert account email must match your Slack account email. ilert enforces Slack's own channel permissions, and it uses the email address to work out who you are in Slack. If they differ, the dropdown stays empty. {% hint style="info" %} Where the two addresses cannot be kept in sync, an **Admin** or **Account owner** still gets a list: ilert then offers every channel the ilert bot can see. Other roles see an empty list and have to ask an administrator. Keeping the addresses in sync is the better option — then Slack's channel permissions apply to every role, administrators included. {% endhint %} **Second**, you must be a member of the channel at the time you create the alert action. You can leave afterwards. In practice this means the channel has to appear under **Channels** in your Slack sidebar.
The Channels section of a Slack sidebar listing two joined channels.

The channel has to be one you have joined.

**Third**, public channels appear immediately, but private ones do not. Invite the ilert bot to a private channel — after joining it yourself — by mentioning `@ilert` and sending the message.
A private Slack channel with @ilert typed into the message composer, ready to send.

Mention the bot and send the message.

Slack then offers to add the bot.
A Slackbot message visible only to the sender, reading that @ilert was mentioned but is not in this private channel, with Add Them and Do Nothing buttons.

Click Add Them.

A Slack channel message confirming that the ilert app was added to the channel.

Confirmation that the bot has joined.

Back in the alert action, search again or reload the page. The channel now appears. **Still not there?** The list holds 150 channels at a time, and typing filters it by the **beginning** of the channel name — "payments" finds `#payments-alerts`, "alerts" does not. Type the first word of the name. ### Nothing arrives in the channel. Where do I look? Open the alert action and read **Alert action logs** at the bottom of its detail page: recent deliveries are listed with their status, and a failed one carries Slack's error message. A failure is also written to the alert's timeline. The usual causes are a private channel the bot was never invited to, and a channel that was archived or deleted in Slack. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.ilert.com/chatops/slack/post-alerts-to-a-slack-channel.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.