> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.fastn.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.fastn.ai/operate/alerts.md).
# Alerts
Get told when something crosses a line you care about. Checked every 15 minutes.
**Activity → Alerts**
Turn on failure alerts creates the two alerts most teams need in one click.
Without an alert, a sync can fail quietly for hours. This is the cheapest insurance in the product. The empty state says as much:
> Without one, a sync can fail quietly for hours. One click turns on the two alerts most teams need…
under the heading **No alerts yet**, with **Turn on failure alerts** and **Custom alert** beside it. It names the address the two alerts would go to: the email you signed in with. **New alert** sits top-right, and the empty state is the whole page until an alert exists.
### The one-click start
**Turn on failure alerts** creates the two alerts most teams need in one click: an email the moment a run fails, and a daily reliability check. If you do nothing else on this page, do that.
### Custom alerts
Firing history at the bottom reads This alert has not fired yet.
**New alert** (or **Custom alert** on the empty state), opens the editor.
{% hint style="danger" %}
**The editor autosaves, and there is no Save button.** **New alert** persists an alert on the server the moment you click it (an `Untitled alert`, **Paused**, with **No recipients**) and every subsequent edit is saved as you make it. There is nothing to confirm and nothing to cancel. If you opened one by accident, delete it from its row; closing the editor leaves it behind.
{% endhint %}
#### Alert when
Two shapes. **a metric crosses a threshold** is the default.
* **a run fails (instant)**: fires on the failure itself.
* **a metric crosses a threshold**: fires when a measured value goes above or below a number, over a window. The default.
#### Metrics
**Error rate** is the default.
| Metric | Measures | Unit |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ----- |
| **Error rate** | Percent of runs that failed in the window. | % |
| **Success rate** | The inverse. | % |
| **Failed runs** | Count of failures. | count |
| **Total runs** | Count of runs: catches a source that went quiet. | count |
| **Records synced** | Volume moved. | count |
| **Records failed** | Records rejected downstream. | count |
| **Avg run time** | Mean duration. | time |
| **p95 run time** | Tail latency. | time |
| **Broken connectors** | Connectors with failing connections. | count |
| **Inactive workflows** | Workflows that have stopped running. | count |
Each takes **is above** or **is below**, a value, and a window of **1 hour**, **24 hours**, **7 days** or **30 days**.
{% hint style="warning" %}
Watch the unit when you type a threshold. The default alert is **Error rate is above 5**: five *percent*. Switch the metric to **Failed runs** and the same 5 means five *runs*, which on a busy workspace is a far tighter trigger than it looks.
{% endhint %}
**Defaults on a new alert:** **a metric crosses a threshold**, metric **Error rate**, comparator **is above**, threshold **5%**, window **24 hours**.
#### Watch
A multi-select: leave it across everything, or pick the specific workflows this alert applies to. Scope noisy metrics narrowly; a global error-rate alarm on a workspace with one flaky test workflow trains you to ignore it.
#### Deliver to
| Channel | Configure |
| ----------- | ------------------------------ |
| **Slack** | An incoming webhook URL. |
| **Email** | One or more addresses. |
| **Webhook** | An HTTPS endpoint of your own. |
An alert with no recipients shows **No recipients** and will not notify anyone.
#### Firing history
Each alert keeps a record of every time it fired: the fastest way to tell a real signal from a threshold set too tight. On a new one it reads `This alert has not fired yet.`
### Evaluation
Threshold alerts are evaluated every 15 minutes. Run-failure alerts are instant.
### A starting set
| Alert | Why |
| ------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| A run fails → email + Slack | The baseline. |
| Error rate above 5% over 1 hour | Catches degradation before it is total. |
| Total runs below 1 over 24 hours, on a daily sync | Catches a schedule that silently stopped. |
| Broken connectors above 0 | Catches expired credentials before the customer does. |
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