---
id: notification-channels
title: Notification channels
sidebar_label: Notification channels
---

A channel is a destination for alerts. [Monitors](./monitors.md) reference
channels by ID, so one destination serves as many monitors as you like.

Manage them at **Settings → Notifications**.

## Types

### Webhook

Posts JSON to a URL you choose.

| Setting |          |
| ------- | -------- |
| `url`   | Required |

```json
{
    "monitor": "API front door",
    "type": "http",
    "old_status": "up",
    "new_status": "down",
    "message": "HTTP 502",
    "time": "2026-07-28T09:14:02Z"
}
```

Any response of 300 or above counts as a delivery failure. The request times out
after 10 seconds.

### Discord

| Setting |                     |
| ------- | ------------------- |
| `url`   | Discord webhook URL |

Posts the alert as message content.

### Slack

| Setting |                            |
| ------- | -------------------------- |
| `url`   | Slack incoming webhook URL |

### Telegram

| Setting   |             |
| --------- | ----------- |
| `token`   | Bot token   |
| `chat_id` | Target chat |

### SMTP

| Setting                |                                                      |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| `host`, `port`         | Required                                             |
| `from`, `to`           | Required                                             |
| `username`, `password` | Optional; auth is skipped when the username is empty |

Port `465` uses implicit TLS; anything else uses STARTTLS.

Alert emails are rendered by the same email system that sends licence and
account mail, so a monitor alert and an account email look like the same
product.

## The message

Non-webhook channels all send the same one-line title:

```
[Vantage] API front door (http) is DOWN: HTTP 502
```

Recoveries read `recovered` in place of `is DOWN`. The webhook payload carries
the same information as fields, which is the one to use if you are routing into
something that needs to branch on status.

## Testing

Every channel has a **Test** button. It dispatches a fabricated down event for a
monitor called "Test monitor", through the real delivery path so a test that
arrives proves the credentials, the network path and the destination, not just
the configuration form.

:::tip Test after every change
Channel settings are only exercised when something breaks, which is the worst
time to discover a stale webhook URL. Re-test after rotating a token.
:::

## Choosing destinations

- Use a **chat channel** for awareness, and make sure someone owns it.
- Use **SMTP** where a durable record matters.
- Use a **webhook** to reach an on-call system that does escalation properly.
  Vantage does not do escalation, rotas or acknowledgement; a webhook into
  something that does is the intended answer.