Slack Notifications

Overview

Slack integration enables real-time monitoring alerts in your Slack workspace. Alerts appear as rich, color-coded messages with full incident context, all organized in threads for easy tracking.

Setting Up Slack Integration

1. Go to Settings → Notification Channels
2. Click Create Channel
3. Select Slack
4. Click Connect to Slack
5. Authorize StatusApp in your Slack workspace
6. Select the Slack channel where alerts should be posted
7. Click Save

Message Features

Color Coding

• 🔴 Red - Monitor DOWN or critical issue
• 🟢 Green - Monitor recovered (UP)
• 🟠 Orange - Monitor DEGRADED
• 🟣 Purple - Performance regression
• 🔵 Blue - Regression resolved

Message Content

• Monitor name and status
• Response time metrics
• Incident duration
• Error messages
• Direct links to dashboard
• Action buttons

Threading

• Initial alert creates a thread
• All subsequent updates posted as replies
• Keeps channel clean and organized
• Easy to follow incident progression from start to resolution

Channel Setup

Create Dedicated Channels

Rather than mixing alerts with team chat, create dedicated monitoring channels:

Examples:

• #monitoring - General monitor status
• #production-incidents - Production outages only
• #staging-alerts - Staging environment
• #performance - Performance degradation alerts
• #ssl-certificates - Certificate expiration warnings

Channel Routing Strategy

By Environment:

• Production monitors → #production-incidents
• Staging monitors → #staging-monitoring
• Development monitors → #dev-monitoring

By Severity:

• Critical services → #critical-alerts (with @oncall mentions)
• Standard services → #alerts (no mentions)
• Informational → #monitoring-info (no urgent messages)

By Team:

• Frontend monitors → #frontend-alerts
• Backend monitors → #backend-alerts
• Database monitors → #database-alerts

Mentions and Escalation

Configuring Mentions

When creating or editing a Slack channel, you can configure automatic mentions:

• @channel - Mentions all channel members
• @here - Mentions only active/online members
• @oncall - Custom group or user name
• Specific users - Direct mentions (if enabled)

When to Use Mentions

Critical/Production Issues:

• DOWN status
• Security-related issues
• Revenue-impacting services
• Use mentions sparingly

Non-Urgent Alerts:

• DEGRADED status
• Non-critical services
• Performance regressions
• No mentions needed

Assigning to Monitors

Per-Monitor Assignment

1. Create or edit a monitor
2. Go to Notifications section
3. Select your Slack channel
4. Can choose multiple channels
5. Save the monitor

Bulk Assignment

1. Go to Monitors list
2. Select multiple monitors
3. Click Bulk Actions → Assign Notification Channels
4. Choose your Slack channel
5. Apply changes

Best Practices

Organization

• Create dedicated channels for monitoring (don't mix with team chat)
• Name channels clearly (#prod-alerts, not #random)
• Use channel topics/descriptions to document what they monitor
• Pin a message explaining alert meanings

Handling Alerts

• Use threads for incident discussion
• Don't clutter main channel with side conversations
• Resolve thread when incident resolves
• React with emoji (✓, ⚠️) instead of commenting "got it"

Testing

• Test the integration when first setting up
• Test after configuration changes
• Periodically verify the Slack app hasn't been removed
• Include Slack in on-call rotation tests

Scalability

• Start with one alert channel, split as volume grows
• Use filters/rules to reduce noise
• Archive old channels when services sunset
• Document what each channel monitors

Troubleshooting

Not Receiving Alerts

Check Slack Authorization:

• Verify Slack workspace is authorized
• Check if StatusApp app was removed from workspace
• Reconnect the integration
• Send a test alert

Check Channel Permissions:

• Confirm Slack channel still exists
• Verify StatusApp bot has access to channel
• Check if channel is archived
• Try assigning to different channel

Check Monitor Assignment:

• Verify monitor has Slack channel assigned
• Confirm monitor is active
• Check if monitor is actually failing

Alerts Not Appearing in Threads

Causes:

• Thread might have expired (Slack keeps recent messages)
• Initial message was deleted
• Channel settings preventing threads

Solutions:

• New incidents will create new threads
• Don't delete initial alert messages
• Check Slack workspace settings

Duplicate Alerts

Causes:

• Monitor assigned to same channel multiple times
• Multiple monitors for same service

Fix:

• Review monitor channel assignments
• Remove duplicate assignments
• Consolidate similar monitors

Slow/Delayed Messages

Causes:

• Slack workspace outage
• High alert volume
• Network issues

Solutions:

• Check Slack status page
• Check StatusApp status page
• Reduce alert frequency if overwhelming
• Contact support if persistent

Integration with Other Notifications

Slack works well combined with:

• Email: Slack for urgency + email for detailed records
• SMS: Slack for awareness + SMS for on-call critical alerts
• PagerDuty: Slack for team notifications + PagerDuty for escalation

Next Steps

• Learn about Discord notifications
• Set up SMS alerts for critical escalation
• Explore PagerDuty integration for on-call
• Return to Notification Channels Overview