Signals
What are Signals
Signals are incoming alerts from your monitoring systems. Every alert that arrives at OpsWorker via webhook is recorded as a signal, whether or not it triggers an investigation.
Signals provide a unified view of all alert activity across your connected monitoring sources.
Types of Signals
OpsWorker accepts signals from the following sources:
| Source | Format | Integration |
|---|---|---|
| Prometheus AlertManager | AlertManager webhook payload | Webhook receiver in alertmanager.yml |
| Grafana Alerting | AlertManager-compatible webhook payload | Contact Point (Webhook type) |
| Datadog | Datadog webhook payload | Webhook integration plus monitor notification |
| Other sources | AlertManager-compatible payload | Any system that can post the AlertManager webhook format |
Each signal is normalized into a common format regardless of its source. OpsWorker parses two payload shapes natively (AlertManager and Datadog) and handles the differences between them automatically. Grafana Alerting uses the AlertManager-compatible format. CloudWatch is not a supported alert source.
Signal Contents
Every signal includes:
- Alert name: the name of the alert that fired.
- Severity: mapped from the source-specific severity.
- Labels: key-value pairs from the alert (namespace, pod, service, and so on).
- Annotations: additional context (description, summary, runbook URL).
- Source: which monitoring system sent the alert.
- Timestamp: when the alert fired.
Processing
When a signal arrives:
- Received: OpsWorker captures the raw webhook payload.
- Normalized: the alert is converted to OpsWorker's common format.
- Evaluated: alert rules are checked to determine whether this signal should trigger an investigation.
- Stored: the signal is recorded for visibility and trend analysis.
Signals that match an alert rule on their cluster automatically start an investigation. Signals that do not match any rule are still recorded and visible in the portal.
Signal Visibility
All signals, whether or not they triggered an investigation, are visible in the OpsWorker portal:
- Alert Timelines: chronological view of all signals with filtering by severity, namespace, and cluster.
- Daily Digest: an automated daily summary comparing signal volumes day over day.
This visibility helps you understand your alert landscape and identify opportunities to tune your monitoring thresholds.
Next Steps
- Alert Rules - Control which signals trigger investigations
- Alert Visibility - Explore signal data in the portal
- Daily Digest - Automated daily summaries