Grafana alert push notifications

Before you start

Grab two keys from PushPiper. Sign in at pushpiper.com/app (free, no credit card), create an app called Grafana for its API token (APP_TOKEN), and copy your user key (USER_KEY) from the dashboard.

Create the webhook contact point

1. Go to Alerts & IRM > Alerting > Notification configuration and open Contact points.
2. Click + Add contact point, name it PushPiper and pick Webhook as the integration.
3. URL: https://api.pushpiper.com/1/messages.json, with HTTP Method left on POST.
4. In the optional settings, open Custom Payload and paste the template below into Payload Template.
5. Add two Payload Variables: token set to your APP_TOKEN and user set to your USER_KEY.
6. Click Test, then Save contact point, and route alerts to it from a notification policy.

{{- $priority := "0" -}}
{{- if eq .Status "firing" }}{{ $priority = "1" }}{{ end -}}
{{ coll.Dict
  "token" .Vars.token
  "user" .Vars.user
  "title" (tmpl.Exec "default.title" .)
  "message" (tmpl.Exec "default.message" . | reReplaceAll "(?s)^(.{1000}).+$" "$1")
  "priority" $priority
  "url" .ExternalURL
  "url_title" "Open Grafana"
  | data.ToJSON }}

Grafana sends the result as JSON with Content-Type: application/json, which PushPiper reads as is. We ran this template through Grafana's own alerting code: firing alerts come out at priority 1, resolved ones at 0, and a group of 30 alerts still makes a valid message.

What the template sends

Want a sound? Add "sound" "siren" to the coll.Dict list. Want quiet recoveries? Change the starting "0" to "-1". Every field is in the API reference.

No Custom Payload? Use email

Custom Payload arrived in Grafana 12.0 and isn't generally available in Grafana Cloud yet. On those setups, add an Email contact point and send it to your personal PushPiper address, <id>@pushpiper.app. The subject becomes the title and the text becomes the message.

Self-hosted Grafana needs a working [smtp] section to send mail. Mail can't trigger emergency priority; priority and sound come from the alias settings in PushPiper.

Limits and caveats

• The Pushover integration is out. It's hardwired to api.pushover.net.
• Payload Variables aren't secret. Unlike the password fields, Grafana stores them in plain text, so anyone who can edit contact points can read the token. Give Grafana its own PushPiper app.
• Version. Custom Payload needs Grafana 12.0 or later and isn't generally available in Grafana Cloud yet.
• No screenshots. Alert images aren't attached.
• Big groups get trimmed. Long alert groups are cut at 1,000 characters. Group by more labels, or set Max Alerts, to keep messages readable.

Related guides

• Uptime Kuma: Down alerts at high priority with a siren, recoveries at normal priority, through the Webhook notification.
• n8n: One HTTP Request node, keys in a Custom Auth credential, any field from your workflow.
• Apprise: One forms:// URL for the CLI, Python and apps that embed Apprise, attachments included.

Sources

• Grafana docs: Configure webhook notifications
• Grafana docs: Notification template reference
• grafana/alerting source: Pushover receiver
• grafana/alerting source: webhook settings