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Configure Alert Rules

Alert Rules define how incoming alerts are processed and when incidents should be created.

Overview​

Alert rules help you:

  • Create incidents from incoming alerts
  • Map alert data to incident fields
  • Set up automated responses with conditional logic
  • Configure Harness AI SRE on-call notifications and paging
  • Associate relevant runbooks for automated response

Alert Rule Capabilities​

Field-Based Conditions​

The default mode for alert rules uses a visual builder where you can:

  • Select alert fields from your monitoring integrations
  • Choose comparison operators (equals, contains, greater than, etc.)
  • Combine multiple conditions with AND/OR logic
  • No coding required

CEL Expression Conditions​

Write advanced boolean expressions for complex filtering:

  • Regex pattern matching for service names
  • Complex multi-field logic
  • String operations and numeric comparisons
  • More concise than multiple field-based conditions

Go to Use CEL in Alert Rules to learn about CEL expression mode.

Incident Creation​

Automatically create incidents from matching alerts:

  • Map alert fields to incident properties
  • Set incident severity and priority
  • Associate services and environments
  • Populate custom fields

On-Call Paging​

Page the on-call team when critical alerts arrive:

  • Select impacted services
  • Configure escalation policies
  • Choose notification channels
  • Set response time expectations

Runbook Association​

Attach automated response procedures:

  • Automatically trigger runbooks on incident creation
  • Suggest runbooks to responders
  • Provide reference documentation

Getting Started​

Go to Create an Alert Rule for step-by-step configuration instructions.

Best Practices​

  • 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​