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Overview

Send alerts to a channel in your Slack workspace. Each message carries the incident state, severity, primary cause, a summary, and a link to the monitoring page.
Slack is available on the Team and Stack plans. It is not available on Free or Solo. Connecting a workspace requires permission to add apps in Slack.

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Setup

Setting up Slack notifications is simple and done per-monitor:

Select Your Monitor

Navigate to the monitor you want to configure

Open Notifications Section

Find the “Notifications” section in your monitor settings

Enable Slack Channel

Turn on “Slack” under the channels of the alert type you want

Configure Slack Channel

Click the settings icon (⚙️) next to Slack to open channel configuration

Select Channel

Choose which Slack channel should receive alerts (e.g., #watchmantower)

Confirm Selection

Click “Confirm Selection” to save your channel preference
Slack notification settings

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Channel Configuration

When you click the settings icon next to Slack, you’ll see:
  • Your Workspace: The connected Slack workspace name and URL
  • Channel Selection: Dropdown to choose from your available channels
  • Preview: See which channel will receive the alerts
Slack channel selection

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What You’ll Receive

Slack messages are sent when an incident opens, reopens, or resolves, and for condition notices and server alerts where Slack is enabled.

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Incident Opened

example.com Opened

Noema opened a availability bulletin for example.com.

Domain: availability        Severity: critical
Event: incident.opened      Primary contributor: DNS resolution failed

Summary:
Site availability is impacted by DNS resolution failures.

Open monitoring page

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Incident Resolved

example.com Resolved

Noema resolved the active availability bulletin for example.com.

What was happening:
While the incident was open: Site availability is impacted by DNS resolution failures.
Open for: 12m

Open monitoring page
SSL and domain expiry reminders are not sent to Slack. They use email and push.

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Multiple Channels

You can send alerts to different channels for different monitors:
  1. Production Monitoring → #production-alerts
  2. Staging Sites → #staging-alerts
  3. Personal Projects → #my-sites
Each monitor and alert type has its own channel selection. One alert type on one monitor posts to one channel; it cannot post to several. One Slack workspace can be connected per user account. Connecting another workspace replaces the previous one.

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Best Practices

Dedicated Alert Channel

Create a dedicated channel like #watchmantower or #monitoring

Enable Notifications

Configure Slack channel to send notifications for all messages

Pin Important Alerts

Pin critical or recurring alerts for team visibility

Use Threads

Reply in threads to discuss incidents without cluttering the channel

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Connecting Your Workspace

To connect a Slack workspace, you need to be a workspace admin or have permission to add apps.

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First-Time Setup

  1. Navigate to any monitor’s detail page
  2. Click the “Notifications” tab
  3. Check the Slack checkbox in the channels section
  4. Click the settings icon (⚙️) next to Slack
  5. Connect your Slack workspace (first-time only)
  6. Select your desired channel from the dropdown
  7. Click “Confirm Selection”
After the first connection, you can directly select channels for other monitors without reconnecting.

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Required Permissions

Watchman Tower needs these Slack permissions:
  • Read channel information: To list public and private channels
  • Join channels: To join the public channel you select
  • Send messages: To post alerts to selected channels
  • Read workspace and user info: To display the workspace name

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Troubleshooting

Check these:
  1. Verify Slack checkbox is enabled for the monitor
  2. Ensure channel is selected in settings
  3. Confirm the monitor is active and checking
  4. Confirm your plan is Team or Stack
Common causes:
  • Channel is private and Watchman Tower app hasn’t been invited
  • You need to invite @Watchman Tower to private channels
Solution: In Slack, type /invite @Watchman Tower in the private channel
Steps to fix:
  1. Open the monitor’s notification settings
  2. Click the settings icon (⚙️) next to Slack
  3. Select the correct channel
  4. Click “Confirm Selection”
  5. Verify the change in your monitor settings
If your workspace gets disconnected:
  1. Open any monitor’s Notifications tab
  2. Click the settings icon (⚙️) next to Slack
  3. Connect the workspace again and re-select the channel

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Slack vs Other Channels

FeatureSlackEmailPushSMS
PlansTeam, StackAllAllTeam, Stack
Detail LevelHighHighMediumLow
Historical Record✅ Channel history✅ Inbox❌❌
Team Visibility✅ All members see❌ Individual❌ Individual❌ Individual
Expiry Reminders (SSL, domain)❌✅✅❌

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Next Steps

Email Alerts

Configure email notifications

Push Notifications

Get instant mobile alerts

SMS Alerts

Set up text message notifications

Alert Overview

Learn about all notification options