---
title: "Add and manage incident participants | Grafana Cloud documentation"
description: "Learn how to add and manage participants during incident response in Grafana IRM."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Add and manage incident participants

You can invite both individuals and teams to participate in an incident. Invitations trigger notifications through configured channels such as email, Slack, SMS, or phone.

## Invite individual users

To invite specific users to an incident:

1. Navigate to the incident details page.
2. Locate the **Participants** section in the right sidebar.
3. Click **+ Invite**.
4. In the invitation dialog, switch to the **Users** tab if not already selected.
5. Search for and select the users you want to invite.
6. In the confirmation window, select the notification priority:
   
   - **Default**: Uses the user’s standard notification settings
   - **Important**: Uses the user’s high-priority notification settings
7. Click **Confirm** to send the invitations.

> Tip
> 
> Use the **Important** priority option when you need an immediate response from the invited participants.

## Invite teams

To invite an entire team to an incident:

1. Navigate to the incident details page.
2. Locate the **Participants** section in the right sidebar.
3. Click **+ Invite**.
4. In the invitation dialog, switch to the **Teams** tab.
5. Search for and select the teams you want to invite.
6. In the confirmation window, select the notification priority:
   
   - **Default**: Uses the team’s Direct Paging Integration’s standard notification settings (the default escalation route)
   - **Important**: Uses the team’s Direct Paging Integration’s “high-priority” escalation route, if configured
7. Click **Confirm** to send the invitations.

> Tip
> 
> Use the **Important** priority option when you need an immediate response from the team.

> Note
> 
> The available notification priority options for teams are determined by the team’s direct paging integration settings. For more details, see [Configure direct paging for a team](/docs/grafana-cloud/alerting-and-irm/irm/integrations/alert-sources/manual/#configure-direct-paging-for-a-team).

## Respond to an invitation

When you receive an incident invitation, you can respond in several ways depending on your availability and role.

### Response options

When you receive an invitation notification (via email, Slack, SMS, or phone call), you can:

1. **Accept**: Join the incident and actively participate in the resolution
2. **Decline**: Indicate you’re unable to participate
3. **Dismiss**: Acknowledge the notification without committing to participate

Your response affects the associated alert group:

- **Accepting/Declining**: Resolves the associated alert group and stops any escalation chains
- **Dismissing**: Leaves the alert group active, allowing potential escalation to continue

### Change your response later

If you initially dismissed an invitation or need to change your response:

1. Navigate to the incident page.
2. Find your name in the **Participants** section.
3. Click the appropriate action icon:
   
   - ✔️ (Checkmark): Accept the invitation
   - 🗑️ (Trash): Decline the invitation

## Manage participants

The incident owner and users with appropriate permissions can manage participants throughout the incident lifecycle.

### Monitor participant status

The **Participants** section displays each invited participant’s current status:

Expand table

| Icon | Status       | Description                                                    |
|------|--------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
| 🔔    | Invited      | User has been invited but hasn’t responded                     |
| 👁️   | Acknowledged | User has seen the invitation but hasn’t formally accepted      |
| ✔️   | Accepted     | User has accepted the invitation and is actively participating |
| ❌    | Declined     | User has declined the invitation                               |

### Remove participants

To remove a participant from an incident:

1. Navigate to the incident details page.
2. In the **Participants** section, find the participant you want to remove.
3. Click the 🗑️ (Trash) icon next to their name.
4. Confirm the removal when prompted.

> Note
> 
> Removing a participant stops any ongoing notifications to that user and resolves the associated alert group.

### View notification details

To see the notification history for a participant:

1. Navigate to the incident details page.
2. In the **Participants** section, find the participant.
3. Click on their profile icon or name.
4. In the popup menu, select **View notification details**.

This shows the alert group associated with the invitation, including notification delivery attempts and status.

## Troubleshoot participant invitations

If you encounter issues with participant invitations, check these common causes:

### Team not appearing in the invitation list

If you don’t see a team in the invitation dialog:

1. Verify the team is properly registered in Grafana Cloud teams.
2. Ensure the team has a [Direct Paging integration](/docs/grafana-cloud/alerting-and-irm/irm/integrations/alert-sources/manual).
3. Check that you have permission to view and modify the team.

### User not receiving invitations

If a user reports not receiving invitations:

1. Verify their [notification rules](/docs/grafana-cloud/alerting-and-irm/irm/notify-responders/personal-notification-rules) are configured in their Grafana Cloud profile.
2. Check that they have the correct contact information (email, phone number) in their profile.
3. Confirm they are a member of your Grafana Cloud organization with appropriate permissions.