> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developer.harness.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://developer.harness.io/ai-sre/3.0/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-alert-management/alert-rules/create-alert-rule.md).
# Create an Alert Rule
This guide walks you through creating alert rules that define how incoming alerts are processed and when incidents should be created.
### Configuration steps
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#### Step 1: Access alert rules
Open the alert rules list to start a new rule:
1. From the main menu, select **Alerts**.
2. Click **Alert Rules**.
3. Click **New Alert Rule**.
#### Step 2: Configure integration and conditions
Select the source integration and define when the rule triggers:
1. Under **Integration & Conditions**, select the source integration from your connected monitoring tools.
2. Select your condition mode:
* **Field-based conditions** (default): Visual builder with field comparisons.
* **CEL expressions:** Advanced boolean expressions for complex logic.
3. **For field-based conditions:**
* Click **New Condition** to define when alerts should trigger incidents.
* Select the conditions on which you want alerts to be triggered:
* Alert severity or priority
* Service or application name
* Environment
* Alert message content
* Custom alert fields
* For each condition:
* Select the **field** from your alert payload.
* Select the **operator** (equals, contains, greater than, and others).
* Enter the **value** to match against.
* Click **Add Condition** to configure multiple conditions for the alert rule.
* Use AND/OR operators to combine multiple conditions as needed.
4. **For CEL expressions:**
* Toggle to **CEL mode** in the conditions section.
* Go to [Use CEL to Route Alerts](/ai-sre/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-alert-management/alert-rules/use-cel-alert-rules.md) for detailed examples and configuration instructions.
#### Step 3: Configure incident creation (optional)
Map matching alerts to incidents and their fields:
1. Click **Create Incident** to automatically create incidents from matching alerts.
2. Select the **Incident Type** that should be created.
3. Map alert fields to incident fields using the field mapper:
* **Title:** Map the alert summary or message.
* **Description:** Map detailed alert information.
* **Severity:** Map alert severity levels.
* **Priority:** Set incident priority based on alert data. Go to [Configure priority labels](/ai-sre/3.0/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-incident-management/severities-priorities.md#configure-priority-labels) to configure priority levels.
* **Service:** Map affected service information.
* **Environment:** Map environment details.
* **Custom fields:** Map any additional alert data.
#### Step 4: Configure on-call notifications
Page the on-call team when alerts match your conditions:
1. Click **Page Team** to automatically page the on-call team when alerts match your conditions.
2. Select the checkbox to **activate** on-call paging.
3. Select the **Impacted Services** from your service directory.
4. Select the specific **service** that will be impacted from the dropdown list.
5. Configure notification settings:
* Which teams should be notified
* Escalation policies to use
* Response time expectations
* Notification channels (email, SMS, phone, Slack, mobile app)
#### Step 5: Associate runbooks (optional)
Attach automated response procedures to the rule:
1. Select the **Runbooks** tab to attach automated response procedures.
2. Click **Attach Runbook** to connect relevant runbooks to your alert rule.
3. Select the **runbook** that should be triggered when an alert or incident occurs.
4. Click **Attach Runbook** to confirm the selection.
5. These runbooks can be:
* Automatically triggered when an incident is created
* Suggested to responders during incident resolution
* Used as reference documentation for AI SRE
#### Step 6: Save and activate
Save the rule so it begins processing incoming alerts:
1. Review all your configurations.
2. Click **Save** from the top right corner.
3. The alert rule is created and available in your alert rules list.
4. The rule begins processing incoming alerts based on your configured conditions.
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{% tab title="Interactive Guide" %}
{% embed url="" %}
Route Alerts in Harness AI SRE
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Follow this interactive guide to configure alert rules that automatically create incidents and page on-call teams.
{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}
***
### Best practices
Keep these guidelines in mind when you create and maintain alert rules:
* Create specific rules for different types of alerts
* Use clear, descriptive names for your rules
* Test rules with sample alerts before activating
* Review and update rules as your services evolve
* Document your rule configurations for team reference
***
### Next steps
* [Use CEL to Route Alerts](/ai-sre/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-alert-management/alert-rules/use-cel-alert-rules.md): Apply advanced conditional logic.
* [Ingest Alerts](/ai-sre/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-alert-management/webhooks/overview.md): Receive alerts from any monitoring system.
* [Create Runbooks](/ai-sre/3.0/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-runbook-management/create-runbook.md): Automate alert responses.