How do I send Rius alerts to Slack?

Rius sends alerts to Slack through a Slack channel that you add once on the Alerts page and attach to any alert. You install the Rius Slack app, pick the Slack channel to post into, then attach it from the alert’s Delivers to section. While the alert is enabled, every firing posts to that Slack channel.

How it works

Slack delivery uses the Rius Slack app, which you install into your Slack workspace once per Rius workspace. Channels are defined once per workspace and can then be attached to any alert. This is how routing works:

• The app asks for permission to post messages and to list the Slack channels you can pick from.
• The Slack connection is shared. After the first install, each additional Slack channel in the workspace skips straight to the channel picker.
• Public Slack channels work as they are. For a private channel, invite the app in Slack first. Rius refuses a channel the app cannot post to rather than saving one that will never deliver.
• Delivery is per firing, not batched. Each firing of an attached, enabled alert posts once to each of its attached, enabled channels.
• Channels are admin-only, including viewing them. A member does not see the Distribution channels section or an alert’s Delivers to list.

The Alerts page covers how alerts fire. The Distribution channels page covers every channel type.

Set it up

1. Sign in to the Rius console as a workspace admin and open the Alerts page. In the Distribution channels section, open the new channel dialog.
2. Choose Slack and click Add to Slack. Slack’s authorization page opens. Approve the app.

New channel > Slack > Add to Slack

3. Back in Rius, name the channel and pick the Slack channel to post into. If it is a private channel, invite the Rius app to it in Slack first, then pick it.
4. Save the channel. Rius checks that the app can post to the Slack channel you picked and refuses the save if it cannot.
5. Open the alert you want to route. This can be any alert, including a pre-defined one. In its details page, go to the Delivers to section and attach the new Slack channel.
6. Make sure the alert and the channel are both enabled. A disabled alert or a disabled channel does not deliver.

To test the route, wait for the alert to fire and check Slack. Each firing’s page in Rius shows the outcome of every delivery attempt, so you can confirm the post succeeded or see why it did not. To exercise it sooner, attach the channel to an alert you expect to fire soon, then detach it when you are done.

What you get

• Every firing of an attached alert posts to your chosen Slack channel, one post per firing.
• One Slack connection serves all your Slack channels in the workspace, so routing different alerts to different Slack channels takes one extra channel entry each, with no second install.
• A warning on the channel row when deliveries fail. It shows the number of failures in a row and reads Slack refused the post. Under it, Rius prints the last error Slack returned, word for word, and when it happened.
• A clear signal when the connection itself breaks. If you disconnect the workspace, every Slack channel that uses it is disabled and reads Slack disconnected. Reconnect, then enable it again. If Slack refuses the stored connection, for example because the app was removed, the warning reads reconnect Slack. Click it to open the channel’s dialog and reconnect.
• Automatic stop on a dead destination. After five failed deliveries in a row, Rius disables the channel. The last error stays on the row. Fix the cause, then enable the channel again.

If an alert is noisy in Slack, tune the alert’s thresholds rather than muting the channel.

When something else fits

• If your team reads alerts in another tool, a webhook or email channel on the same Distribution channels page delivers the same firings there, and you can attach several channels to one alert.
• If you need a generic receiver rather than a chat app, the webhook channel posts a JSON body per firing to an HTTPS URL you provide.

Related