# Notifications

Netdata supports two ways to send alert notifications: **from Netdata Cloud** or **from the Netdata Agent**.

You can use either or both depending on how your infrastructure is set up.

:::tip

Need alerts *fast*?  
Use Cloud for a centralized setup, or Agent for full control on each node.

:::

## Notification Methods

### Netdata Cloud (Centralized)

Netdata Cloud collects alert data from all connected nodes and sends notifications through your configured integrations.

[See supported Cloud integrations](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/alerts-&-notifications/notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications)

**Popular integrations:**

- Amazon SNS
- Slack
- Discord
- Splunk
- Microsoft Teams
- Mattermost

### Netdata Agent (Local)

The Agent sends alerts directly from the node, even if it's offline or not connected to the Cloud.

[See supported Agent integrations](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/alerts-&-notifications/notifications/agent-dispatched-notifications)

**Popular integrations:**

- Email
- Slack
- PagerDuty
- Twilio
- Telegram
- Opsgenie

## Alert Intelligence and Severity Levels

Netdata's alerts are designed to minimize false positives and prevent alarm fatigue.

### Alert Severity Levels

| Level        | Description                                                       | Typical Action                    |
|--------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
| **CLEAR**    | The metric has returned to normal range                           | No action needed                  |
| **WARNING**  | The metric shows concerning behavior that requires attention      | Investigate during business hours |
| **CRITICAL** | The metric indicates a serious problem requiring immediate action | Immediate response required       |

These severity levels help you prioritize your response and can be routed to different notification channels based on urgency.

### Preventing Alert Fatigue

| Feature                   | Benefit                                                               |
|---------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| **Intelligent Defaults**  | Thresholds carefully selected based on real-world experience          |
| **Hysteresis Protection** | Prevents notification floods when metrics fluctuate around thresholds |
| **Notification Delays**   | Configurable delays ensure transient issues don't trigger alerts      |
| **Role-Based Routing**    | Ensures alerts reach only the appropriate stakeholders                |

:::tip

You can configure different notification channels for different severity levels. For example, you can send WARNING alerts to Slack and CRITICAL alerts to PagerDuty.

:::

## Troubleshooting Assistance

When you receive an alert, Netdata provides tools to help you understand and resolve the issue:

### Netdata Assistant

The [Netdata Assistant](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/machine-learning-and-anomaly-detection/ai-powered-troubleshooting-assistant) is an AI-powered feature that guides you through troubleshooting alerts by providing:

- Clear explanations of what the alert means
- Assessment of potential causes
- Recommended troubleshooting steps
- Links to relevant documentation

The Assistant window follows you as you navigate through dashboards, making troubleshooting faster and more efficient.

### Community Resources

For more complex issues, you can access the [Alerts Troubleshooting space](https://community.netdata.cloud/c/alerts/28) in our community forum, where you'll find:

- Detailed information about all built-in alerts
- Recommended troubleshooting actions from experts
- A searchable history of previously solved issues
- Ability to ask questions and share your own solutions

## Which One Should I Use?

Choose the option that fits your needs:

| Use Case                              | Best Option   |
|---------------------------------------|---------------|
| Manage multiple nodes centrally       | Netdata Cloud |
| Fewer configs, alerts from one place  | Netdata Cloud |
| Full control at node level            | Netdata Agent |
| No internet or external dependencies  | Netdata Agent |
| Fine-tuned control per system/service | Netdata Agent |
| Want both simplicity and flexibility  | Use **both**  |

## Creating and configuring alerts

Netdata ships with hundreds of pre-configured alerts. You can also create your own or tune existing ones:

- **[Alerts Automation](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md)** — Describe what you want in plain English; AI suggests alerts, generates the configuration, and tests it against historical data before deployment
- **[Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md)** — Visual UI wizard for creating and editing alerts
- **[Manual configuration](/src/health/REFERENCE.md)** — Edit `health.d/*.conf` files directly for full control over alert syntax

## On-Call Rotations and Escalation

Netdata does not provide a native on-call rotation, escalation, or shift-scheduling engine. These capabilities are handled by the dedicated incident-management integrations that Netdata delivers alerts to.

- **From the Agent:** incident-management and incident-response integrations such as [PagerDuty](/src/health/notifications/pagerduty/README.md), [Opsgenie](/src/health/notifications/opsgenie/README.md), [SIGNL4](/src/health/notifications/signl4/README.md), and [ilert](/src/health/notifications/ilert/README.md), where you define on-call schedules, escalation policies, and shift rotations. See the full list of [supported Agent integrations](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/alerts-&-notifications/notifications/agent-dispatched-notifications).
- **From Cloud:** PagerDuty is available as a [paid-plan notification method](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications-reference.md#service-classification).

To use on-call rotations, configure one of these integrations to receive your Netdata alerts, then set up your rotations, escalation policies, and shift schedules inside that service. To change where alerts are sent, see [Notification Methods](#notification-methods) or the [Cloud notification methods](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications/manage-notification-methods.md) guide.

## Next Steps

- [Set up Cloud Notifications](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications-reference.md)
- [Set up Agent Notifications](/src/health/notifications/README.md)
- [Create alerts with AI](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md)
