> 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/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-alert-management/alert-rules/create-alert-rule.md).
# Create an Alert Rule
Route, filter, and enrich incoming alerts with rules.
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/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
{% endembed %}
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/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-runbook-management/create-runbook.md): Automate alert responses.
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