@cryptotaxi247 / netdata-1 / commits / 905c06847

Improve discoverability of Alerts Automation docs (#21932)

Improve discoverability of Alerts Automation documentation Rewrite the Alerts Automation page to accurately describe the suggest, generate, and test-on-historical-data workflow, and add cross-references across all alert-related docs so that any entry point leads to the automation page within one hop. Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Shyam Sreevalsan committed Mar 10, 2026 at 19:46 UTC 905c06847b8bfdfd40b76376e3b635d77fc0c442
6 files changed +107 -51
docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md
+8 -1
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
1 # Creating Alerts with Netdata Alerts Configuration Manager
2
3 -The **Netdata Alerts Configuration Manager** lets you create and fine-tune alerts directly from the Netdata Cloud Dashboard.
3 +The **Netdata Alerts Configuration Manager** lets you create and fine-tune alerts directly from the Netdata Cloud Dashboard using a visual UI wizard.
4 +
5 +:::tip
6 +
7 +**Want AI to handle the configuration for you?** [Alerts Automation](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md) uses AI to suggest alerts, generate the configuration, and test it against historical data — so you can validate thresholds before deployment without writing any configuration manually.
8 +
9 +:::
10
11 :::info
12
@@ -102,3 +108,4 @@ You control how and when alerts are triggered, escalated, or resolved:
108
109 - You can apply alert definitions to **Parent Agents** or **Standalone Child Agents**
110 - If you need help writing custom alerts, check the [full alert reference](/src/health/REFERENCE.md)
111 +- To create alerts using natural language instead of this manual wizard, see [Alerts Automation](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md)
docs/alerts-and-notifications/notifications/README.md
+9 -6
@@ -109,13 +109,16 @@ Choose the option that fits your needs:
109 | Fine-tuned control per system/service | Netdata Agent |
110 | Want both simplicity and flexibility | Use **both** |
111
112 -## Next Steps
112 +## Creating and configuring alerts
113
114 -- 🔧 [Set up Cloud Notifications](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications-reference.md)
115 -- ⚙️ [Set up Agent Notifications](/src/health/notifications/README.md)
114 +Netdata ships with hundreds of pre-configured alerts. You can also create your own or tune existing ones:
115
117 -:::info
116 +- **[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
117 +- **[Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md)** — Visual UI wizard for creating and editing alerts
118 +- **[Manual configuration](/src/health/REFERENCE.md)** — Edit `health.d/*.conf` files directly for full control over alert syntax
119
119 -For additional alert customization options including threshold adjustments, custom conditions, and notification routing, check out our [alert configuration reference](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/alerts-&-notifications/alert-configuration-reference).
120 +## Next Steps
121
121 -:::
122 +- [Set up Cloud Notifications](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications-reference.md)
123 +- [Set up Agent Notifications](/src/health/notifications/README.md)
124 +- [Create alerts with AI](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md)
docs/category-overview-pages/machine-learning-and-assisted-troubleshooting.md
+1 -1
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ See the [Troubleshooting overview](/docs/netdata-ai/troubleshooting/index.md).
42
43 ### 5) Alerts Automation
44
45 -[Alerts Automation](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md) lets you describe alert conditions in plain English while AI handles the syntax. Create production-ready alerts, get intelligent suggestions based on your infrastructure, and explain existing alert definitions.
45 +[Alerts Automation](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md) uses AI to suggest, generate, and test alert configurations. Describe what you want to monitor in plain English, and the AI generates the complete alert definition, tests it against historical data to show how it would have triggered, and lets you deploy it to your nodes — no need to learn alert configuration syntax or manually tune thresholds.
46
47 ### 6) Anomaly Detection
48
docs/dashboards-and-charts/alerts-tab.md
+8
@@ -67,6 +67,14 @@ In the **Raised Alerts** tab:
67 - Create a new [silencing rule](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications/centralized-cloud-notifications-reference.md#alert-notification-silencing-rules).
68 - Ask AI to troubleshoot the alert.
69
70 +## Creating and Tuning Alerts
71 +
72 +From the Alerts tab, you can create new alerts or tune existing ones:
73 +
74 +- **[Alerts Automation](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md)** — Describe what you want in plain English and let AI generate the alert configuration, including thresholds and tuning parameters
75 +- **[Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md)** — Visual UI wizard for manual alert creation and fine-tuning
76 +- **[Manual configuration](/src/health/REFERENCE.md)** — Edit `health.d/*.conf` files directly for full control
77 +
78 ## Alert Configurations Tab
79
80 The **Alert Configurations** tab shows the configuration of all running alerts in your Room.
docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md
+66 -43
@@ -1,89 +1,112 @@
1 # Alerts Automation
2
3 -## Overview
3 +Alerts Automation uses AI to suggest, generate, and test alert configurations for you — no need to learn Netdata's alert syntax or manually tune thresholds. Describe what you want to monitor in plain English, review the generated configuration against historical data, and deploy it to your nodes.
4
5 -Netdata has an incredibly powerful alerting engine that offers immense flexibility to build specific, intelligent alerts. However, mastering its syntax can feel like learning a new language.
5 +## When to use it
6
7 -To ensure accessibility for every member on your engineering team, we created Alerts Automation. A bridge between your intent and Netdata's syntax, letting you describe conditions in plain English while the AI handles the rest.
7 +- You want to set up alerts without learning Netdata's alert configuration syntax
8 +- You need suggestions for what to alert on for a given service or use case
9 +- You want to validate an alert configuration against historical data before deploying it
10 +- You want to tune alert thresholds and reduce alert fatigue without trial and error
11
9 -## Capabilities
12 +## How it works
13
11 -### Creating production-ready alerts
14 +Alerts Automation provides three AI-powered capabilities that work together as a single workflow:
15
13 -All you have to do to create production-ready alerts is to simply describe your goal in plain English. For example, if you want to get ahead of a disk filling up:
16 +### Suggest
17
15 -**"Create an alert that warns me when a disk will be more than 85% full in the next 24 hours, and goes critical if it is more than 95% full."**
18 +Ask Netdata AI what alerts would be appropriate for your infrastructure, and it responds with suggestions described in plain English. Because suggestions are in natural language, anyone on the team can understand, discuss, and refine them before they become configurations.
19
17 -Netdata AI translates your request into a perfectly formatted, syntactically correct alert definition and presents it for your review.
20 +### Generate
21
19 -### Suggest what to alert on
22 +Once you decide what to alert on, Netdata AI generates the complete alert configuration automatically. It translates your intent into Netdata's alert syntax — handling lookups, thresholds, hysteresis, dimensions, and all other parameters — so you don't have to write or understand the configuration format.
23
21 -You can ask Netdata AI for intelligent suggestions based on the context of your infrastructure.
24 +### Test on historical data
25
23 -Netdata AI will suggest what would be a suitable alert for a specific use-case or context.
26 +Before deploying, Netdata AI tests the generated alert configuration against the historical metric data of any node you select. The test shows:
27
25 -### Explain what every alert does
28 +- How many times the alert **would have triggered**
29 +- How long each alert **would have lasted**
30 +- What **alert states** (warning, critical) would have been reached
31
27 -Netdata ships with hundreds of pre-configured alerts. To get masterfull insights of their underlying logic:
32 +This lets you evaluate whether the alert is too sensitive, too quiet, or just right — before it reaches production. You can then adjust the configuration and re-test until you are satisfied with the results.
33
29 -Click on any alert definition and ask Netdata AI to **Explain** this alert. It will break down the entire definition line by line.
34 +### Edit and deploy
35 +
36 +After testing, you can edit the alert definition through the UI and submit it to a single node or multiple nodes, depending on your needs.
37 +
38 +## How alert configuration works in Netdata
39 +
40 +Netdata provides multiple ways to configure alerts. All methods produce the same underlying alert definitions — they differ in how you author them.
41 +
42 +| Method | How it works | Best for |
43 +|--------|-------------|----------|
44 +| **AI Alerts Automation** (this page) | Describe what you want in plain English; AI suggests, generates, and tests the configuration | Getting started quickly, avoiding syntax errors, validating before deployment |
45 +| **[Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md)** | Visual UI wizard for creating and editing alerts | Manual control over every parameter via a guided interface |
46 +| **[Manual config files](/src/health/REFERENCE.md)** | Edit `health.d/*.conf` files directly | Advanced users, automation pipelines, version-controlled configurations |
47 +
48 +## How to access
49 +
50 +Alerts Automation is available directly within the alert configuration workflow in Netdata Cloud.
51 +
52 +### From any chart
53 +
54 +1. Click the **alert bell icon** on any chart
55 +2. Click **+ Add alert**
56 +3. Describe the alert you want to create, or ask for suggestions
57 +
58 +### From the Alerts tab
59 +
60 +Click **"New Alert"** from the Alerts tab to access the AI-powered alert creation workflow.
61
62 ## AI credits consumption
63
33 -Just like other Netdata AI functionality, usage is based on AI credits. You get 10 monthly complementary credits with a Business subscription, and you can top up credits yourself based on your needs. You also get 10 free credits on the free trial to experiment with.
64 +Usage is based on AI credits. You get 10 monthly complementary credits with a Business subscription, and you can top up credits based on your needs. You also get 10 free credits on the free trial.
65
66 - **Alert creation**: 0.2 credits per run (create up to 5 alerts per AI credit)
67 - **Alert suggestion**: 0.2 credits per run (up to 5 suggestions per AI credit)
68 - **Alert explanation**: Free to use
69
70 :::info
40 -
71 Track your AI credit usage from `Settings → Usage & Billing → AI Credits`.
42 -
72 :::
73
45 -## How to access
74 +## Availability
75
47 -You'll find these new AI capabilities directly within the alert configuration workflow in Netdata Cloud.
76 +Available for all users on a Business plan or free trial.
77
49 -### From any chart
50 -
51 -**Step 1:** Click on the **alert bell icon** (locate it by navigating your cursor on any chart)
52 -**Step 2:** Click on **+ Add alert**
53 -**Step 3:** Describe the alert you want to create
78 +- **Subscription:** Business plan or Free Trial
79 +- **Access:** Netdata Cloud account with appropriate permissions
80
55 -You can now seamlessly:
81 +## FAQ
82
57 -- Create alerts using natural language
58 -- Get AI suggestions for what to monitor
59 -- Explain existing alerts
83 +### Is alert configuration in Netdata manual or automated?
84
61 -### From the Alerts tab
85 +Both. Alerts Automation provides a fully automated, AI-powered path where you describe what you want in plain English and the AI generates, tests, and helps you deploy the alert configuration. You can also configure alerts manually using the [Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md) UI or by [editing config files directly](/src/health/REFERENCE.md).
86
63 -Click on **"New Alert"** from the alerts tab to access the AI-powered alert creation workflow.
87 +### Can I automatically tune alert thresholds?
88
65 -### Alternative: Manual configuration
89 +Yes. Describe your goal (e.g., "warn me when CPU is consistently high but ignore short spikes") and the AI generates appropriate thresholds. You can then test the configuration against historical data to see how it would have behaved, adjust, and re-test until the thresholds are right.
90
67 -You can always use the manual dynamic configuration alert wizard, which gives you full control over every parameter.
91 +### Does Netdata use machine learning for alerts?
92
69 -## Requirements
93 +Yes, in two ways:
94
71 -- **Subscription:** Business plan or Free Trial
72 -- **Access:** Netdata Cloud account with appropriate permissions
95 +1. **ML-based anomaly detection** — Every Netdata Agent runs unsupervised machine learning models that learn normal metric behavior and score anomalies in real time. You can create alerts based on anomaly rates. See [ML Anomaly Detection](/docs/ml-ai/ml-anomaly-detection/ml-anomaly-detection.md).
96 +2. **AI-powered alert configuration** (this page) — Use natural language to suggest, generate, test, and deploy alert definitions.
97
74 -## Availability
98 +### How is this different from the Alerts Configuration Manager?
99
76 -This feature is available today for all users on a Business plan or a free trial.
100 +The [Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md) is a visual UI wizard where you manually select metrics, set thresholds, and configure parameters field by field. Alerts Automation uses AI to generate the entire configuration from a natural language description and lets you validate it against historical data before deployment. Both produce the same alert definitions.
101
102 ## See also
103
80 -- [Alert Troubleshooting](/docs/troubleshooting/troubleshoot.md) - AI-powered alert investigation
81 -- [Netdata AI Overview](/docs/category-overview-pages/machine-learning-and-assisted-troubleshooting.md) - Complete AI capabilities guide
82 -
83 -By letting Netdata AI handle the syntactic complexity, we're lowering the barrier to entry for effective alerting and freeing up your team to focus on what matters: building reliable, high-performance systems.
104 +- [Alert Configuration Reference](/src/health/REFERENCE.md) — full manual configuration syntax
105 +- [Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md) — visual UI wizard for alert configuration
106 +- [ML Anomaly Detection](/docs/ml-ai/ml-anomaly-detection/ml-anomaly-detection.md) — machine learning based anomaly scoring
107 +- [Alert Troubleshooting](/docs/troubleshooting/troubleshoot.md) — AI-powered alert investigation
108 +- [Netdata AI Overview](/docs/category-overview-pages/machine-learning-and-assisted-troubleshooting.md) — complete AI capabilities guide
109
110 :::note
86 -
111 Despite our best efforts to reduce inaccuracies, AI responses may sometimes be incorrect. Please review generated configurations before deploying to production systems.
88 -
112 :::
src/health/REFERENCE.md
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1 # Configure Health Alerts
2
3 +:::tip
4 +
5 +**Don't want to write alert configs manually?** [Alerts Automation](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md) uses AI to suggest alerts, generate the configuration, and test it against historical data — so you can validate thresholds before deployment without learning the syntax. You can also use the visual [Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md).
6 +
7 +:::
8 +
9 +This page covers **manual alert configuration** — editing config files directly. For a comparison of all configuration methods, see [How alert configuration works in Netdata](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md#how-alert-configuration-works-in-netdata).
10 +
11 ## Quick Start Guide
12
13 :::tip
@@ -1569,4 +1577,11 @@ When seeking help, include:
1577 - [Netdata Community Forum](https://community.netdata.cloud)
1578 - [Netdata Discord](https://discord.gg/mPZ6WZKKG2)
1579
1580 +## Related Pages
1581 +
1582 +- [Alerts Automation](/docs/netdata-ai/alerts-automation/alerts-automation.md) - Create and tune alerts using natural language with AI assistance (no manual configuration needed)
1583 +- [Alerts Configuration Manager](/docs/alerts-and-notifications/creating-alerts-with-netdata-alerts-configuration-manager.md) - Visual UI wizard for creating alerts
1584 +- [ML Anomaly Detection](/docs/ml-ai/ml-anomaly-detection/ml-anomaly-detection.md) - Machine learning based anomaly detection for all metrics
1585 +- [Alert Troubleshooting](/docs/troubleshooting/troubleshoot.md) - AI-powered alert investigation and root-cause analysis
1586 +
1587 **Next Steps:** You now have comprehensive knowledge of Netdata health configuration. Start with the [Quick Start Guide](#quick-start-guide) for immediate needs or dive into [Common Tasks](#common-tasks) for specific workflows.