Notifications - StatusStack Documentation

What are Notifications?

Notifications alert your team when component or Stack status changes. StatusStack’s notification system supports multiple channels and flexible rules to ensure the right people get alerted at the right time through their preferred communication method.

Why Use Notifications?

Stay Informed

Get instant alerts when services experience issues

Multi-Channel Delivery

16+ channels including Slack, Teams, Discord, PagerDuty, Opsgenie, and more

Flexible Rules

Configure what triggers alerts and where they’re sent

Reduce Noise

Filter by severity level to avoid alert fatigue

Notification Channels

StatusStack supports 16+ notification channels across multiple categories:

Discord

Send notifications to Discord channels via webhooks. Setup:

Create a webhook in your Discord server settings
Copy the webhook URL
Paste into StatusStack notification rule configuration

Example Webhook URL:

https://discord.com/api/webhooks/123456789/abcdefghijklmnop

What You’ll Receive:

Embedded message with Stack name
Component status and description
Color-coded by severity (red = outage, yellow = degraded, etc.)
Timestamp of status change

Slack

Post notifications to Slack channels via incoming webhooks. Setup:

Create an incoming webhook in your Slack workspace
Select the channel to post to
Copy the webhook URL
Add to StatusStack notification rule

Example Webhook URL:

https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00000000/B00000000/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

What You’ll Receive:

Formatted message with Stack and component details
Status emoji (🟢 🟡 🔴 🔵)
Link to Stack status page
Timestamp

Microsoft Teams

Send alerts to Teams channels via webhooks. Setup:

In Teams, go to channel settings → Connectors
Add “Incoming Webhook” connector
Copy the webhook URL
Configure in StatusStack

Example Webhook URL:

https://outlook.office.com/webhook/abc123.../IncomingWebhook/xyz789...

What You’ll Receive:

Adaptive card with Stack information
Status indicators
Component details
Action buttons (view Stack, view component)

Email

Send notification emails to specified addresses. Setup:

Enter email addresses (comma-separated for multiple)
Configure which alert levels to send
Save notification rule

Email Format:

Subject: [StatusStack] {Stack Name} - {Status Change}
Body: Formatted HTML with Stack details, component information, and status history
Attachments: None
Frequency: Instant (on status change)

Enriched Incident Context: Status change emails now include detailed incident information when available:

Incident severity and title
Permalink to the incident detail page
Start time and current duration
Affected components — all components impacted by the incident

This enrichment gives recipients immediate context about what’s happening without needing to open the dashboard. Example Recipients:

team@company.com, alerts@company.com, ops@company.com

SMS (via Twilio)

Send text message alerts for critical issues. Setup:

Connect your Twilio account in StatusStack settings
Verify phone numbers to receive alerts
Add phone numbers to notification rule

Requirements:

Active Twilio account with credits
Verified Twilio phone number
Recipient numbers verified (Twilio trial) or any number (paid account)

SMS Format:

[StatusStack Alert]
Stack: Production Infrastructure
Status: OUTAGE
Component: Production API
Time: 2025-01-19 10:30 UTC

Important: SMS notifications are sent only for alert level (outages). Use email/chat for lower severity.

Webhooks

Send HTTP POST requests to custom endpoints for integration with other systems. Setup:

Provide your webhook endpoint URL
Optionally configure custom headers
Select alert levels to trigger webhook

Payload Format:

{
  "event": "component.status_changed",
  "timestamp": "2025-01-19T10:30:00Z",
  "stack": {
    "id": "uuid",
    "name": "Production Infrastructure",
    "slug": "production-infra",
    "status": "degraded"
  },
  "component": {
    "id": "uuid",
    "name": "Production API",
    "status": "degraded",
    "previous_status": "operational",
    "description": "Increased response times detected"
  },
  "organization": {
    "id": "uuid",
    "name": "Your Company"
  }
}

Use Cases:

Trigger PagerDuty incidents
Update status in other monitoring tools
Log to SIEM systems
Trigger automated remediation workflows

Incident Management Platforms

StatusStack integrates with popular incident management and alerting platforms:

PagerDuty

Automatically create PagerDuty incidents when outages occur. Setup:

Create an Events API v2 integration in PagerDuty
Copy your Integration Key
Add PagerDuty as a notification channel in StatusStack

Opsgenie

Route alerts to Opsgenie for on-call scheduling and escalation. Setup:

Create an API integration in Opsgenie
Copy the API Key
Configure in StatusStack notification rules

BetterStack (formerly Better Uptime)

Forward incidents to BetterStack for unified incident management.

Datadog

Send status events to Datadog for correlation with your metrics and logs.

Additional Chat Platforms

Send alerts to Telegram channels or groups via bot. Setup:

Create a Telegram bot via @BotFather
Get your bot token
Add the bot to your channel/group
Configure in StatusStack

Google Chat

Post notifications to Google Chat spaces. Setup:

Create a webhook in your Google Chat space
Copy the webhook URL
Add to StatusStack notification rules

Pushover

Send push notifications to mobile devices via Pushover.

Ticketing & Helpdesk

Automatically create tickets when incidents occur:

Jira

Create Jira issues for incident tracking and post-mortem workflows.

Zendesk

Create Zendesk tickets to track customer-impacting incidents.

Freshdesk

Integrate with Freshdesk for customer support ticket creation.

Freshservice

Connect with Freshservice for IT service management workflows.

Notification Rules

What is a Notification Rule?

A notification rule defines:

When to send notifications (alert levels)
What to monitor (Stacks, components, or all)
Where to send alerts (channels and destinations)
Who receives them (email addresses, phone numbers)

Creating a Notification Rule

Navigate to Notifications

Go to Settings → Notifications in the customer dashboard

Create Rule

Click “Create Notification Rule” button

Configure Basics

Name: Descriptive rule name (e.g., “Production Outage Alerts”)
Enabled: Toggle to activate/deactivate rule

Select Alert Levels

Choose which severity levels trigger this rule:

Info: Status improvements (degraded → operational)
Warning: Degraded performance detected
Alert: Outages and critical failures

Choose Scope

Select what to monitor:

All Stacks: Monitor all Stacks in your organization
Specific Stacks: Select individual Stacks
Specific Components: Target individual components (advanced)

Configure Channels

Add notification channels:

Discord webhook URL
Slack webhook URL
Microsoft Teams webhook URL
Email addresses
Phone numbers (for SMS)
Custom webhook endpoint

Save Rule

Click Create to activate the notification rule

Alert Levels

Notifications are triggered based on three alert levels:

🔵 Info

When Triggered:

Component status improves (degraded → operational, maintenance → operational)
Outage resolved
Service restored

Recommended Channels:

Email (for record keeping)
Slack/Discord (for team awareness)

Example Use Case: “Notify the team when production services return to operational status”

🟡 Warning

When Triggered:

Component status degrades (operational → degraded)
Performance issues detected
Partial outage

Recommended Channels:

Slack/Discord (immediate awareness)
Email (for on-call team)

Example Use Case: “Alert DevOps team when any production component shows degraded performance”

🔴 Alert

When Triggered:

Complete outage (operational → outage, degraded → outage)
Critical failure detected
Service completely unavailable

Recommended Channels:

SMS (critical alerts)
Slack/Discord (immediate team notification)
Email (for documentation)
Webhooks (for PagerDuty integration)

Example Use Case: “Send SMS to on-call engineer when production API goes down”

Notification Rule Examples

Example 1: Production Outage Alerts

{
  "name": "Production Critical Alerts",
  "enabled": true,
  "alert_levels": ["alert"], // Only outages
  "scope": {
    "type": "stacks",
    "stack_ids": ["prod-stack-uuid"]
  },
  "channels": {
    "slack": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/...",
    "email": "oncall@company.com",
    "sms": ["+1234567890"]
  }
}

Behavior:

Monitors only the Production Stack
Sends notifications ONLY for outages (not degraded)
Alerts via Slack, email, AND SMS
Critical issues get maximum visibility

Example 2: Team Awareness for All Changes

{
  "name": "Team Status Updates",
  "enabled": true,
  "alert_levels": ["info", "warning", "alert"], // All changes
  "scope": {
    "type": "all_stacks"
  },
  "channels": {
    "slack": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/...",
    "email": "team@company.com"
  }
}

Behavior:

Monitors ALL Stacks in organization
Sends notifications for all status changes
Alerts via Slack and email
Keeps team informed of everything

Example 3: Client-Specific Alerts (MSP Mode)

{
  "name": "Client ABC Production Alerts",
  "enabled": true,
  "alert_levels": ["warning", "alert"],
  "scope": {
    "type": "stacks",
    "stack_ids": ["client-abc-prod-uuid"]
  },
  "channels": {
    "email": "support@clientabc.com",
    "webhook": "https://clientabc.com/api/status-webhook"
  }
}

Behavior:

Monitors only Client ABC’s production Stack
Alerts on degraded and outage status
Sends to client’s email and custom webhook
Client gets notifications about their services

Example 4: Custom Webhook Integration

{
  "name": "PagerDuty Integration",
  "enabled": true,
  "alert_levels": ["alert"], // Critical only
  "scope": {
    "type": "stacks",
    "stack_ids": ["prod-stack-uuid", "staging-stack-uuid"]
  },
  "channels": {
    "webhook": {
      "url": "https://events.pagerduty.com/v2/enqueue",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Token token=your-pd-integration-key",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Behavior:

Monitors production and staging Stacks
Triggers PagerDuty incidents for outages
Custom headers for authentication
Automates incident escalation

Best Practices

Rule Organization

Reducing Alert Fatigue

DO:

✅ Use different channels for different severity levels
✅ Send SMS only for critical outages
✅ Group related components in Stacks to reduce duplicate alerts
✅ Set appropriate alert thresholds for custom monitors
✅ Use “info” level sparingly (only for important resolutions)

DON’T:

❌ Send all alerts to SMS (expensive and annoying)
❌ Alert on every status change (causes alert fatigue)
❌ Use generic rule names like “Rule 1”
❌ Send production alerts to personal emails
❌ Forget to test rules after creation

Channel Selection Guide

Severity	Recommended Channels	Why
Info	Email, Slack	Non-urgent, informational
Warning	Slack, Discord, Email	Requires awareness, not immediate action
Alert	SMS, Slack, Email, Webhook	Critical - requires immediate action

Notification Delivery

Timing

Instant: Notifications sent within 30 seconds of status change
No Batching: Each status change triggers immediately
No Delays: Real-time alerting for all channels

Retry Logic

If notification delivery fails:

Immediate Retry: 30 seconds after initial failure
Second Retry: 2 minutes after first retry
Third Retry: 5 minutes after second retry
Final Attempt: 15 minutes after third retry

After 4 failed attempts, notification is marked as failed and logged.

Delivery Confirmation

Check notification delivery status in the dashboard:

Go to Settings → Notifications
View notification history
See delivery status for each alert:
- ✅ Delivered: Successfully sent
- ⏳ Pending: Queued for delivery
- ❌ Failed: Delivery failed after retries

Troubleshooting

Notifications Not Received

Check Webhook URLs

Discord/Slack/Teams:

Verify webhook URL is correct
Check webhook hasn’t been deleted in channel settings
Test webhook manually using curl or Postman
Ensure webhook has permission to post to channel

Email Issues

Email not arriving:

Check spam/junk folders
Verify email addresses are correct
Ensure email domain isn’t blocking statusstack.com
Check notification delivery status in dashboard

SMS Problems

SMS not received:

Verify Twilio account is active and funded
Check phone numbers are in E.164 format (+1234567890)
Verify numbers in Twilio trial account (if applicable)
Check Twilio console for delivery errors

Webhook Failures

Custom webhooks failing:

Verify endpoint URL is accessible
Check for SSL certificate issues
Ensure endpoint accepts POST requests
Review endpoint logs for errors
Test with curl: curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{}' https://your-endpoint.com

Rule Not Triggering

Check:

Rule is enabled (toggle switched on)
Alert level matches status change (e.g., rule set to “alert” but status changed to “degraded”)
Scope includes the affected Stack/component
Stack belongs to your organization/team

Too Many Notifications

Solutions:

Adjust alert levels (remove “info” if too noisy)
Narrow scope to specific Stacks instead of “all”
Increase alert threshold for custom monitors
Consolidate similar components into groups
Disable rules temporarily during maintenance windows

Notification Limits

Current limits per organization tier:

Plan	Notification Rules	Channels per Rule	Monthly Notifications
Free	3	2	500
Starter	10	5	5,000
Professional	50	10	50,000
Enterprise	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited

Note: SMS notifications have separate limits based on Twilio account funding.

Stacks

Understanding Stack organization

Components

Component types and monitoring

Customer Dashboard

Managing notification rules

MSP Setup

Client-specific notifications

Notifications ensure your team stays informed about service status changes. Configure multi-channel rules with appropriate severity levels to balance awareness with alert fatigue, keeping your team responsive without overwhelming them.

​What are Notifications?

​Why Use Notifications?

Stay Informed

Multi-Channel Delivery

Flexible Rules

Reduce Noise

​Notification Channels

​Discord

​Slack

​Microsoft Teams

​Email

​SMS (via Twilio)

​Webhooks

​Incident Management Platforms

​PagerDuty

​Opsgenie

​BetterStack (formerly Better Uptime)

​Datadog

​Additional Chat Platforms

​Telegram

​Google Chat

​Pushover

​Ticketing & Helpdesk

​Jira

​Zendesk

​Freshdesk

​Freshservice

​Notification Rules

​What is a Notification Rule?

​Creating a Notification Rule

​Alert Levels

​🔵 Info

​🟡 Warning

​🔴 Alert

​Notification Rule Examples

​Example 1: Production Outage Alerts

​Example 2: Team Awareness for All Changes

​Example 3: Client-Specific Alerts (MSP Mode)

​Example 4: Custom Webhook Integration

​Best Practices

​Rule Organization

​Reducing Alert Fatigue

​Channel Selection Guide

​Notification Delivery

​Timing

​Retry Logic

​Delivery Confirmation

​Troubleshooting

​Notifications Not Received

​Rule Not Triggering

​Too Many Notifications

​Notification Limits

​Related Documentation

Stacks

Components

Customer Dashboard

MSP Setup

What are Notifications?

Why Use Notifications?

Notification Channels

Discord

Slack

Microsoft Teams

Email

SMS (via Twilio)

Webhooks

Incident Management Platforms

PagerDuty

Opsgenie

BetterStack (formerly Better Uptime)

Datadog

Additional Chat Platforms

Telegram

Google Chat

Pushover

Ticketing & Helpdesk

Jira

Zendesk

Freshdesk

Freshservice

Notification Rules

What is a Notification Rule?

Creating a Notification Rule

Alert Levels

🔵 Info

🟡 Warning

🔴 Alert

Notification Rule Examples

Example 1: Production Outage Alerts

Example 2: Team Awareness for All Changes

Example 3: Client-Specific Alerts (MSP Mode)

Example 4: Custom Webhook Integration

Best Practices

Rule Organization

Reducing Alert Fatigue

Channel Selection Guide

Notification Delivery

Timing

Retry Logic

Delivery Confirmation

Troubleshooting

Notifications Not Received

Rule Not Triggering

Too Many Notifications

Notification Limits

Related Documentation