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Notification Preferences

Take control of how and when you receive alerts by configuring your notification preferences. Upstat allows each team member to customize their notification settings while ensuring critical alerts always get through.

Setting Your Preferences

Access Notification Settings

Navigate to your notification preferences:

  1. Click your profile icon in the top right
  2. Select Settings from the dropdown
  3. Click Notifications in the sidebar
  4. Configure your preferences

![Placeholder: User Settings Menu with Notifications Option Highlighted]

Global Settings

Start with these account-wide settings:

Default Notification Channel

  • Primary channel for all alerts
  • Fallback when specific rules don’t apply
  • Options: Email, Slack, SMS, or None

Notification Batching

  • Immediate: Get alerts as they happen
  • 5 minutes: Bundle alerts together
  • Hourly: Receive hourly summaries
  • Daily: Get a daily digest

Quiet Hours

  • Set do-not-disturb periods
  • Specify timezone
  • Override for critical alerts
  • Different settings for weekdays/weekends

![Placeholder: Global Notification Settings Form with Channel Selection and Quiet Hours]

Channel Configuration

Email Preferences

Configure how email notifications work:

Email Address

  • Primary email for notifications
  • Add alternate email addresses
  • Verify email delivery

Email Format

  • HTML (recommended): Rich formatting
  • Plain text: Simple, compatible
  • Include attachments: For reports

Delivery Options

  • Individual emails per alert
  • Bundled summaries
  • Daily/weekly digests

Slack Configuration

Set up Slack notifications:

Connection

  • Connect your Slack account
  • Authorize Upstat bot
  • Select default channel

Message Routing

  • Direct messages for personal alerts
  • Channel for team alerts
  • Thread replies for updates

Message Format

  • Detailed: Full incident information
  • Summary: Key details only
  • Custom: Use message templates

SMS Settings

Configure SMS/text alerts:

Phone Number

  • Add mobile number
  • Verify with code
  • Set country code

SMS Triggers

  • Critical alerts only
  • On-call notifications
  • Escalations
  • Test messages

Cost Control

  • Monthly SMS limit
  • Alert on usage
  • Fallback to email

Severity-Based Routing

Route alerts based on incident severity:

![Placeholder: Severity Routing Configuration Table with Channels per Severity Level]

P1 - Critical

Recommended settings for critical incidents:

  • Channels: SMS + Slack DM + Email
  • Timing: Immediate, ignore quiet hours
  • Escalation: If not acknowledged in 5 min

P2 - High

Suggested configuration:

  • Channels: Slack DM + Email
  • Timing: Immediate during business hours
  • Quiet Hours: Send to Slack only

P3 - Medium

Typical settings:

  • Channels: Slack channel or Email
  • Timing: Can be bundled (5-15 min)
  • Quiet Hours: Hold until morning

P4 - Low

Common configuration:

  • Channels: Email digest
  • Timing: Daily summary
  • Quiet Hours: Always respect

Advanced Preferences

Conditional Routing

Create rules for specific scenarios:

By Service Type

  • Production services → Immediate SMS
  • Staging → Slack channel
  • Development → Email only

By Time

  • Business hours → Email
  • After hours → SMS if on-call
  • Weekends → Slack only

By Team

  • Your team’s services → All channels
  • Other teams → Email digest
  • Cross-team → Slack channel

On-Call Preferences

Special settings when you’re on-call:

Override Normal Preferences

  • Escalate all alerts one level
  • Ignore quiet hours
  • Add SMS for all P2+

On-Call Channels

  • Primary: SMS for immediate response
  • Secondary: Phone call for escalations
  • Backup: Multiple contact methods

Handoff Settings

  • Auto-notify next on-call
  • Send shift reminders
  • Update routing automatically

Escalation Preferences

Control how escalations reach you:

Acknowledgment Timeout

  • Time before escalation (5-30 min)
  • Different by severity
  • Skip if already working

Escalation Channels

  • Start with Slack
  • Then SMS
  • Finally phone call

Manager Escalation

  • When to involve manager
  • Which incidents qualify
  • Contact preferences

Testing Your Configuration

Send Test Notifications

Verify your settings work:

  1. Click Test Notifications
  2. Select channels to test
  3. Choose test severity
  4. Verify receipt
  5. Adjust if needed

Notification Preview

See how notifications will look:

  • Preview each channel format
  • Test with real incident data
  • Verify information included
  • Check mobile rendering

Best Practices

Start Conservative

  • Begin with fewer notifications
  • Add more as needed
  • Avoid notification fatigue
  • Focus on actionable alerts

Use Quiet Hours

  • Protect your off-hours
  • Different settings for weekends
  • Override only for critical
  • Respect work-life balance

Regular Reviews

  • Monthly preference review
  • Adjust based on patterns
  • Remove unused channels
  • Update contact info

Team Coordination

  • Align with team standards
  • Document routing logic
  • Share on-call preferences
  • Coordinate quiet hours

Common Configurations

DevOps Engineer

Business Hours:
- P1: SMS + Slack + Email
- P2: Slack + Email
- P3-P4: Email digest

After Hours:
- P1: SMS + Phone (if on-call)
- P2: Slack only
- P3-P4: Next business day

Engineering Manager

All Hours:
- P1: Immediate SMS + Email
- P2: Email within 15 min
- P3: Daily summary
- P4: Weekly report

Escalations:
- Team P1 after 15 min
- Any P1 after 30 min

SRE On-Call

On-Call Shift:
- All alerts: SMS + Slack
- Ignore quiet hours
- Phone for escalations

Off Shift:
- Only team escalations
- Email summaries
- Respect quiet hours

Troubleshooting

Not Receiving Notifications

Check these common issues:

  1. Verify channel connected
  2. Check spam/junk folders
  3. Confirm phone number
  4. Test notification delivery
  5. Review routing rules

Too Many Notifications

Reduce alert fatigue:

  1. Enable bundling
  2. Increase severity thresholds
  3. Use quiet hours
  4. Review subscriptions
  5. Adjust anti-fatigue settings

Wrong Channel

Fix routing issues:

  1. Check severity mappings
  2. Verify time-based rules
  3. Review on-call status
  4. Test with different scenarios

Privacy & Security

Data Protection

  • Notifications contain sensitive data
  • Use secure channels
  • Avoid public Slack channels for P1
  • Enable 2FA on all accounts

Access Control

  • Notifications follow permissions
  • Can’t receive alerts for restricted services
  • Audit trail of all notifications
  • Regular security reviews

Learn more