Alert levels and reminders

The sender chooses an alert’s level with the level field. The level decides how hard the alert tries to get attention. Recipients decide what each level does on their own devices.

Level	Use it for
urgent	Something needs a person right now. Requires acknowledgement and repeats until handled.
high	Important, but it can wait a few minutes.
normal	Routine notifications. The default.
silent	Records that should appear in the inbox without interrupting anyone.

Default presentation

Every level lands in the inbox. On top of that, by default:

Level	Phone	Desktop
silent	Inbox only	Inbox only
normal	Notification and badge	System notification, in-app toast, and tray badge
high	Adds sound and time-sensitive delivery	Adds sound and a taskbar flash
urgent	Same as high, plus reminders	Adds bringing the window forward and a persistent panel of pending alerts, plus reminders

The operating system can still hold a notification back, for example in a Focus mode. To let urgent alerts through, grant Critical alert access on iOS or Do Not Disturb bypass on Android; see Install the app. Mute policy can silence alerts during set hours.

Urgent reminders

An urgent alert always requires acknowledgement. Until someone acknowledges it, Gregor notifies the recipients again every 60 seconds, for up to one hour. The sender can change the timing with the emergency object:

{
  "alert": { "title": "Database primary unreachable" },
  "level": "urgent",
  "emergency": { "retry_seconds": 120, "expire_seconds": 1800 }
}

Field	Default	Range
retry_seconds	60	At least 30
expire_seconds	3600	From retry_seconds to 10800 (three hours)

Reminders stop as soon as the alert is acknowledged on any device, or when expire_seconds has passed. A reminder updates the same inbox entry; it never creates a second alert.

Change what a level does

Open Settings → Alert levels and choose a level. For that level you can set:

• Require acknowledgement: keep these alerts pending until they are acknowledged on a device, even if the sender did not ask for it. This applies to alerts sent to channels you own.
• Renotify until handled: remind every 5 minutes for up to 1 hour until the alert is acknowledged. It needs Require acknowledgement.
• Delivery methods: which of the methods in the table above this kind of device uses for the level. The list shows the methods available on the device you are using, phone or desktop; set the other kind of device from that device.

Reset restores every level to the defaults above.

When you are signed in, the settings belong to your account and apply to all of your devices. Without an account, they belong to this device.

Per-channel levels

A channel’s own alert settings can raise or lower the level of matching alerts on your devices, for example making any alert whose title contains production urgent. See Alert settings.