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Quick start

This is the shortest path to an AlertKick workspace that can actually wake someone. Do the steps in order; each one takes a minute or two.

1. Create the workspace

Section titled “1. Create the workspace”

Sign up at app.alertkick.com/register with an email address, or with Google or GitHub. Pick a subdomain - your workspace lives at <subdomain>.alertkick.com and the same name identifies it in the mobile app - and a data region (EU, US, or Asia-Pacific), which cannot be changed later. Verify your email from the message you receive.

A new workspace starts on a 30-day trial of every Business feature with no card. See Account setup for the choices in detail.

2. Make sure a page can reach you

Section titled “2. Make sure a page can reach you”

Settings, then Notifications. Turn on the channels you want and verify the personal ones: Telegram through @AlertKickerBot, WhatsApp or SMS with a code to your phone. Install the mobile app and sign in by scanning the QR code under Sign in on mobile so critical pushes reach your phone. Set your Timezone on the Profile tab. Details: Profile and notification settings.

3. Invite the team

Section titled “3. Invite the team”

Admin, then Users, then Invite. Name, email, and whether they are an admin. They can be put on a roster before they have signed in. Details: Users, roles, and invitations.

4. Build a roster

Section titled “4. Build a roster”

On-Call, then Rosters, then Add Roster. Choose the members, the order, the hand-off day and time, and how long a turn lasts. The preview shows who is on call for the coming weeks before you save. Teams across timezones can choose the Follow the Sun schedule type. Details: Roster management.

5. Build an escalation policy

Section titled “5. Build an escalation policy”

On-Call, then Escalations, then Add. A good first policy:

  1. Notify the person on call in the roster by mobile push; wait 5 minutes.
  2. Escalate to the same roster by SMS or WhatsApp; wait 10 minutes.
  3. Escalate to a Slack channel or a manager as the catch-all.

Set it as the workspace default. Then press Send Test Alert on the policy and do not acknowledge: watch it climb every level and land on every channel. Fix anything that did not arrive before you rely on it. Details: Escalation policies.

6. Give it something to alert on

Section titled “6. Give it something to alert on”

Pick whichever fits:

  • A website or API: Monitors, then Add Monitor with a URL. Checks run from several regions; HTTPS certificates are watched too. Monitor a website.
  • A cron job or backup: Heartbeats, then Add and put the ping URL at the end of the job. Heartbeats.
  • Alerts you already have: Admin, then Integrations, pick Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, CloudWatch, or any of the 28 sources, and point it at the key you are given. Inbound alert sources.
  • A server: Servers, then Add Server, run the one-line install command as root. Metrics, containers, and eBPF security from one agent. Install the agent.
  • A PagerDuty or Opsgenie setup: Admin, then Import brings schedules and policies across with a read-only key. Import from Opsgenie or PagerDuty.

Every new monitor, heartbeat, integration, and host routes to the default escalation policy unless you choose another.

7. Connect Slack, and optionally an AI assistant

Section titled “7. Connect Slack, and optionally an AI assistant”

Admin, then Integrations, then Add to Slack gives every alert a thread in the channel your team already watches. Slack.

If you use Claude, connect AlertKick from the Claude connector directory and set the rest up by asking for it. Claude & MCP connector.

Section titled “What to read next”