Notifications & Alerts

The Alerts feature ensures your team is immediately notified when services experience issues. With support for six notification channels, intelligent routing, and configurable policies, you can eliminate alert fatigue while ensuring critical issues never go unnoticed.

Overview

Effective alerting is the bridge between monitoring and incident response. Pulsimo's alerting system automatically sends notifications when endpoints fail, routing them through your preferred communication channels with smart controls to prevent notification spam while ensuring visibility into critical issues.

Multi-Channel Support

Six platforms out-of-the-box: Email, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, and Webhooks

Repeat Control

Prevent alert spam with configurable intervals - recommended 15-30 minutes

Testing & Validation

Test channels before relying on them with one-click test notifications

First-Failure Warnings

Option for immediate notification on first failure for critical services

Supported Channels

Pulsimo supports six notification platforms out-of-the-box:

📧 Email

SMTP-based email notifications with customizable templates

💬 Slack

Incoming webhook integration with rich message formatting

🎮 Discord

Channel webhook notifications with embed support

👥 Microsoft Teams

Incoming webhook connector for Teams channels

📱 Google Chat

Space webhook integration for Google Chat rooms

🔗 Custom Webhook

POST/GET to any URL for custom integrations

Creating a Notification Channel

Configure your first notification channel in a few simple steps:

  1. 1

    Navigate to "Notifications" or "Alerts" in sidebar

  2. 2

    Click "Add Channel" button (top-right, blue gradient)

  3. 3

    Choose your platform

    (Slack, Discord, Email, Teams, Google Chat, or Webhook)

  4. 4

    Enter webhook URL or email address

    See platform-specific setup instructions below

  5. 5

    Set repeat interval

    Recommended: 15-30 minutes to prevent alert spam

  6. 6

    Click "Create" and test the channel

    Use the "Test" button to verify notifications work

Slack Setup Example

Getting Slack Webhook URL

  1. 1. Go to your Slack workspace settings
  2. 2. Navigate to "Apps" → "Incoming Webhooks"
  3. 3. Click "Add to Slack"
  4. 4. Select channel (e.g., #production-alerts)
  5. 5. Copy webhook URL
  6. 6. Paste into Pulsimo notification channel configuration

Example Webhook URL: https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00000000/B00000000/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alert Policies

Configure when and how alerts are sent:

PolicyDescriptionRecommended
Failure ThresholdConsecutive failures before alerting3-5 failures
First Failure WarningAlert immediately on first failureCritical services only
Recovery NotificationAlert when service comes back upEnabled
Repeat IntervalHow often to repeat alerts15-30 minutes

Incident Severities

Understand severity levels to route alerts appropriately:

SeverityDescriptionResponse TimeExample
CriticalComplete service outageImmediateAPI completely down
HighMajor functionality broken< 15 minutesDatabase connection errors
MediumDegraded performance< 1 hourSlow response times
LowMinor issues< 4 hoursNon-critical feature broken

Smart Alerting Features

Pulsimo includes intelligent features to prevent alert fatigue:

🔕 Alert Silencing

Temporarily mute notifications during planned maintenance windows without disabling health checks. System keeps monitoring but won't send alerts.

⏰ Cooldown Periods

Prevent duplicate alerts with configurable cooldown periods. Once an alert is sent, it won't repeat for the specified duration.

✅ Auto-Resolution

Incidents automatically resolve when service health checks succeed. Recovery notifications sent to keep your team informed.

🎯 Condition-Based Alerts

Create custom alert conditions based on consecutive failures, response times, status codes, and more sophisticated rules.

Best Practices

🎯 Start Conservative: Begin with failure thresholds of 3-5 consecutive failures to avoid false positives from transient network issues.

📢 Use Different Channels: Send critical alerts to PagerDuty/phone, warnings to Slack, and summaries to email for appropriate urgency levels.

✅ Test Everything: Always test notification channels after configuration. The "Test" button sends a sample alert to verify it works.

⏰ Respect Repeat Intervals: Set appropriate repeat intervals (15-30 min minimum) to prevent alert fatigue while keeping incidents visible.