> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.certgovernance.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Alerts

> Get notified when certificates are expiring or approvals are stuck.

CertForge alerts notify your team when conditions that need attention occur — expiring certificates, pending approvals that have gone stale, or policy violations.

## Alert types

| Alert type              | Triggers when                                                           |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `cert_expiring`         | One or more certificates expire within N days                           |
| `approval_pending`      | A certificate request has been waiting for approval longer than N hours |
| `cert_issuance_failing` | Cert issuance has been failing continuously for > N minutes             |

## Configuring rules

Go to **Admin → Alerts → Rules** to create and manage rules.

| Setting                  | Description                                                       |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Label**                | Human-readable name (e.g. "30-day expiry warning")                |
| **Type**                 | `cert_expiring` or `approval_pending`                             |
| **Threshold**            | Days until expiry, or hours pending                               |
| **Cooldown**             | Minimum hours between repeat notifications for the same condition |
| **Trust Profile filter** | Restrict rule to a specific DTP (optional)                        |
| **Enabled**              | Toggle on/off                                                     |

### Example rules

```
30-day expiry warning:
  Type: cert_expiring | Threshold: 30 | Cooldown: 24h

7-day critical:
  Type: cert_expiring | Threshold: 7 | Cooldown: 12h

Overdue approval:
  Type: approval_pending | Threshold: 24 | Cooldown: 24h
```

## How alerts fire

The evaluator runs every 5 minutes. When a rule's condition is met:

1. Alert state changes to **firing**
2. All subscribed channels and users are notified
3. Alert stays firing until the condition clears
4. Cooldown prevents repeat notifications within the configured window

## Notification channels

Configure destinations in **Admin → Settings → Notifications**:

| Channel             | Notes                              |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **Webhook**         | POST JSON payload to any HTTPS URL |
| **Slack**           | Incoming Webhook URL               |
| **Microsoft Teams** | Incoming Webhook URL               |
| **Webex**           | Bot Token and Room ID              |

<Note>
  Use the **Send Test** button after configuring a channel to confirm delivery before relying on it for real alerts.
</Note>

## Personal alert subscriptions

Users can subscribe to specific rules to receive personal notifications. Go to **Profile → Alert Subscriptions** and check the rules you want to follow.

Requires an email address on your account and SMTP configured by your admin.

## Application owner notifications

When a `cert_expiring` rule fires, CertForge also sends a targeted email to each application's owners listing only the certificates belonging to that application. Unlike org-wide alert channels, this email is scoped to the recipient's applications — owners see only what they are responsible for.

This is opt-in: go to **Profile → Alert Subscriptions** and check **Service cert expiry (notify me as service owner)**.

For more on applications and ownership, see [Applications](/concepts/applications).

## Alert dashboard

**Alerts → Overview** shows firing alerts, recent history (last 7 days), and all configured rules. Unacknowledged firing alerts show a badge in the navigation.

Click **Acknowledge** on a firing alert to suppress the badge until the condition changes. Acknowledgement is logged with the actor's identity.