Quickstart
A concise checklist for creating a monitor and verifying the real alert-delivery path.
Before you begin
You need a HowlOps workspace, a target you are allowed to check, and an email address or
another notification destination. Create a workspace at /register if needed.
The four steps
Create and verify a monitor
Open Monitors → New monitor, choose a check type, enter its target and name, then use Run test before saving. The First monitor guide owns the field-by-field instructions and plan-dependent options.
Connect a notification channel
Open Integrations → Channels, select Add channel, and connect one destination. Email is the smallest setup; chat, webhook, SMS, voice, and other providers are available when you need them.
Put the channel in an escalation policy
Open On-call → Escalation policies. Edit the workspace default policy or create one, add the channel as its first target with no delay, then set that policy as the workspace default.
Test the real path
On Escalation policies, select Send test alert. HowlOps creates a synthetic alert, runs it through routing and escalation, and resolves it automatically after 60 seconds. The action is limited to once every five minutes.
You are done when the destination receives both the alert and its recovery. If it does not, use Missing notifications instead of changing several settings at once.
Understand what you just built
See what happens after a signal arrives.
Choose a source. The first checks change, but routing, paging, response, and recovery stay connected.
Signal
A probe reports that the configured target failed.
Confirm
Retries, thresholds, and optional regional rules confirm the condition before opening an alert.
Route
Routing rules select a policy; without one, enabled channels receive the alert.
Reach
The policy pages its current target and continues only while the alert is unacknowledged.
Respond
Acknowledge, coordinate, and publish updates. Recovery resolves the alert and sends the all-clear.
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