Slack Integration

Post alerts to Slack channels using incoming webhooks.

Setup

1. Create a Slack App (Recommended)

1. Go to Slack API Apps
2. Click Create New App → From scratch
3. Name it "Pingward" and select your workspace
4. Go to Incoming Webhooks in the sidebar
5. Toggle Activate Incoming Webhooks on
6. Click Add New Webhook to Workspace
7. Select the channel for alerts
8. Copy the webhook URL

2. Configure in Pingward

Field	Description
Name	Descriptive name (e.g., "Slack #incidents")
Webhook URL	The URL from step 1
Channel	Override channel (optional)
Username	Bot display name (optional)
Icon Emoji	Bot icon emoji (optional)

Message Format

Slack alerts include:

• Severity indicator (color-coded)
• Issue title and status
• Test name and endpoint
• Error details
• Quick links to Pingward

Multiple Channels

Create separate integrations for different channels:

• #incidents - Critical issues
• #monitoring - All issues
• #team-specific - Team-filtered issues

Use routing rules to direct issues to the appropriate integration.

Channel Override

If you want to post to a different channel than the webhook default:

1. Enter the channel name (with #) in the Channel field
2. Ensure the Slack app has permission to post there

Customization

Username

Change the bot's display name:

Pingward Alerts
API Monitor

Icon Emoji

Use any Slack emoji:

:rotating_light:
:warning:
:chart_with_upwards_trend:

Troubleshooting

Webhook URL Invalid

• Ensure you copied the complete URL
• URL should start with https://hooks.slack.com/
• Try generating a new webhook

Messages Not Appearing

• Verify the channel exists
• Check the app has channel permissions
• Look for the message in the correct workspace

Permission Errors

• Reinstall the app to the workspace
• Add the app to the target channel
• Generate a new webhook URL

Best Practices

Dedicated Channel

Create a dedicated channel for alerts:

• Keeps alerts organized
• Easy to mute during incidents
• Clear history for review

Severity-Based Routing

Route by severity to different channels:

Critical → #incidents (high visibility)
High → #monitoring (standard)
Medium/Low → #monitoring-low (review daily)

Combine with Other Integrations

Use Slack for visibility, but add:

• PagerDuty for on-call paging
• Email for records
• SMS for critical backup