# Channels

A **channel** is a destination for alert notifications, for example an email address, a Slack channel or a phone number. Each **Notify channel** step of an [escalation path](/alerting/escalation-paths) sends the alert to one channel. A channel does nothing until an escalation path uses it.

## Add a channel

1. In the dashboard, select **Alerting**.
2. Select **New channel**.
3. Under **Integration**, select the channel type.
4. Enter a **Name**, for example `Primary on-call`.
5. Fill in the fields for the type. The table below lists them.
6. Select **Create channel**.

Then add the channel to an escalation path with a **Notify channel** step. Owners, managers and admins can add, change and delete channels. Members can see them.

## Channel types

| Type | `type` | What you enter | What the alert looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email | `email` | **Email address** | An email with the subject `[CRITICAL] Title`. It explains what failed, shows a chart when there is data, and has a **View alert** button. |
| Slack | `slack` | **Slack channel**, after you connect your Slack workspace | A message with the colour of the severity and the buttons **Acknowledge**, **Declare incident** and **View in Spectate**. See [Slack](/alerting/slack). |
| Discord | `discord` | **Discord webhook URL** | An embed in the colour of the severity, with a link to the alert, the cause and what to check, the facts, a chart and the times in the reader's own time zone. A resolved alert posts a green message with the duration. The message never mentions people or roles. |
| Microsoft Teams | `microsoft_teams` | **Microsoft Teams connector URL** | An adaptive card with the alert fields, a chart and an **Open alert** button. |
| Telegram | `telegram` | Select **Connect Telegram** and open the link | A message with an **Acknowledge** button. See [Telegram and phone](/alerting/telegram-and-phone). |
| Webhook | `webhook` | **Webhook URL** and optional headers | A JSON `POST` to your URL. See [webhooks](/alerting/webhooks). |
| Pushover | `pushover` | **User key**, **Application token** and **Priority** | A push notification with the chart attached. |
| SMS | `sms` | **Phone number** in international format, for example `+31612345678` | A text message: `Title (source: Uptime)`. Uses 1 credit. |
| Voice call | `voice` | **Phone number** in international format | A phone call that reads the alert. Press 1 to acknowledge. Uses 2 credits. See [Telegram and phone](/alerting/telegram-and-phone). |

Discord, Microsoft Teams and webhook URLs must resolve to a public address. Spectate checks this when you save the channel and again each time it sends. See [webhooks](/alerting/webhooks) for the rules.

### Pushover priority

**Priority** is a Pushover priority from `-2` to `2`:

| Option | Value |
|---|---|
| **Lowest** | `-2` |
| **Low** | `-1` |
| **Normal** (default) | `0` |
| **High** | `1` |
| **Emergency** | `2` |

With **Emergency**, Pushover repeats the notification every 30 seconds for up to 1 hour, until you acknowledge it in Pushover. This does not acknowledge the alert in Spectate.

## What an alert notification contains

Every notification about a firing alert has the alert title and these fields:

- Severity, source and resource.
- The time the alert fired.
- Fields for the source type, for example the monitor URL and the region for an uptime alert.

Uptime, performance and host metric alerts also get a chart of the data around the alert. Spectate leaves the chart out when there is no data.

When the alert resolves, Spectate sends a resolved notification to every enabled channel that got the alert. In Slack and Telegram, it is a reply to the alert message. A voice channel gets the resolved notification as an SMS, which uses 1 credit.

## Test a channel

Send a test to make sure that the channel delivers:

1. Select **Alerting**.
2. In the channel's row, select **Send test**.

On the channel's own page, the **Test delivery** panel has the same action and shows the result of each test. Each member can send 10 tests a minute.

A test to an SMS channel sends a test SMS and uses 1 credit. A test to a voice channel places a short test call and uses 2 credits. The test call has nothing to acknowledge.

A failed test does not count towards disabling the channel. A successful test resets the failure counter.

## When Spectate disables a channel

Spectate tries each delivery 3 times: at once, after 30 seconds and after 2 more minutes. If all tries fail, the delivery counts as one failure for the channel. Spectate disables the channel in these cases:

- 5 failed deliveries in a row.
- 2 failed deliveries in a row, where the last one is a permanent error. Permanent errors are HTTP `401`, `403`, `404` and `410`, a revoked token, or an unknown chat. Spectate does not retry permanent errors.
- At least 2 failed deliveries in a row over more than 24 hours.

A successful delivery resets the count. When Spectate disables a channel, it sends an email to the team's owners, managers and admins. Escalation steps for a disabled channel are skipped, and the next step runs at once. The escalation path shows a [warning](/alerting/escalation-paths#warnings).

To turn the channel on again:

1. Fix the destination, for example a new webhook URL.
2. Select **Test & re-enable** on the **Alerting** page.

If the test arrives, Spectate turns the channel on again. You can also open the channel, select **Edit**, and select **Enabled**.

## Turn a channel off

1. Open the channel.
2. Select **Edit**.
3. Clear **Enabled**.
4. Select **Save changes**.

Escalation paths skip a disabled channel. In the dashboard, you can change the name of a channel, but not its delivery details. To send to another address or URL, add a new channel, or change the channel with the [API](/api-reference/channels). A Slack channel can move to another Slack channel, and a Telegram channel to another chat.

## SMS and call credits

SMS, voice calls and on-call pages by phone use notification credits:

| What | Credits |
|---|---|
| One SMS | 1 per recipient |
| One voice call | 2 per number |

Spectate takes credits only after the SMS or the call went out. A retry does not use credits again.

Each paid plan includes credits every month. Unused monthly credits do not carry over. The trial includes no monthly credits.

| Plan | Credits a month |
|---|---|
| Starter | 10 |
| Team | 50 |
| Business | 200 |

You can buy more in packs of 100 under **Billing → SMS and call credits**. Bought credits never expire, and Spectate uses them after the monthly credits. Owners and billing members can buy credits. Owners, admins and billing members get an email when the balance drops to 20% of the monthly credits, and when it reaches zero.

:::caution
Without credits, SMS and voice channels send nothing, and on-call pages go out by email only. Other channel types do not use credits.
:::

See [plans and billing](/account/plans-and-billing) and [pricing](https://spectate.net/pricing).

## Related

- [Channels API](/api-reference/channels): add, change, test and delete channels.
- [Escalation paths](/alerting/escalation-paths): send alerts to channels.