Respond to incidents on a status page
Post a human explanation and attach a postmortem to an incident directly from the status-page editor, so visitors see what's happening instead of a raw label.
When a monitor on your status page goes down, an incident is opened automatically and shown to visitors. By default it carries a generic label (e.g. "Investigating a service disruption"). You can replace that with a human explanation — and attach a postmortem once it's resolved — without leaving the status-page editor.
Where to find it
- Open Status pages → Configure for the page.
- Scroll to the Incidents section (step 7).
It lists recent incidents affecting that page's monitors. An incident that still shows the generic label is flagged Needs explanation — that's your cue to add one.
Post a public update
- Click Post public update on the incident.
- Pick a phase — Investigating, Identified, Monitoring, or Resolved — and write a short, plain-language message.
- Submit. The update appears on the public status page immediately and is emailed to subscribers.
Post as many updates as you need over the life of the incident; they form a timeline.
Attach a postmortem
Once an incident is resolved, click Write postmortem. HowlOps drafts a starting structure (impact, timeline, root cause, remediation) that you edit. Set its visibility to Public to link it from the status page, or keep it internal.
- Public — a Postmortem published link shows on the status page and this panel.
- Draft / Internal — visible only to your team via the incident page.
The friendlier default label means an un-explained incident never looks alarming — but a real, human update always reads better. The Needs explanation flag helps you catch the ones still on autopilot.
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