Documentation Grafana Cloud Security and account management Connect your Slack workspace

Connect your Slack workspace to Grafana Cloud

Grafana Cloud gives engineers one place to understand what’s happening across their systems and resolve issues faster. Connect your metrics, logs, traces, alert management, and incident response process in Grafana, then connect your Slack workspace to leverage the power of Grafana Cloud without leaving Slack.

What is the Grafana Cloud app for Slack?

The Grafana Cloud app for Slack is a Slack workspace application that integrates with your Grafana Cloud account to provide capabilities from across Grafana Cloud, including incident response and management (IRM), Grafana Assistant, and more.

The app is available on all Grafana Cloud plans, including the free tier. More information on pricing can be found on our pricing page.

Key features and benefits

Integrating your Slack workspace brings observability and incident response directly into your team’s collaboration hub. Instead of switching between tools and contexts, your team can monitor systems, respond to alerts, manage incidents, and troubleshoot issues, all from the same Slack channels where you already communicate.

The Grafana Cloud app for Slack transforms how your team interacts with observability data and incident workflows:

• Stay informed in real time: Receive critical alerts and notifications directly in Slack channels, ensuring your team sees important events as they happen
• Ask questions naturally: Use @Grafana to ask the Grafana Assistant to query system health, investigate issues, and get insights using natural language
• Respond faster with slash commands and reactions: Use /grafana commands and emoji reactions to interact with Grafana IRM to manage incidents, escalate issues, and take actions
• Streamline on-call operations: Automatically receive shift change notifications and updates about on-call responsibilities
• Automate incident workflows: Automatically create dedicated Slack channels for each incident, so responders can focus and maintain a clear record of response activities
• Collaborate on incidents: Declare incidents, assign roles, track timelines, coordinate response efforts, and keep stakeholders informed in one place

Before you begin

Before installing the Grafana Cloud app for Slack, ensure you meet the following requirements:

• You must have an Admin role in your Grafana Cloud organization
• You must be a Slack workspace Admin or Owner
• You must have a Grafana Cloud account with appropriate permissions to install integrations

For more information on roles and permissions, refer to the Grafana Cloud user roles and permissions documentation.

Install the Grafana Cloud app for Slack

The Grafana Cloud app for Slack is installed and managed from Grafana Cloud. Installing the app enables Slack notifications and collaboration features across your Grafana Cloud workflows.

For detailed information about required permissions, refer to the Permissions and scope section in this document.

Follow these steps to install the app:

1. Sign in to Grafana Cloud.
2. In Grafana Cloud, open the main menu and navigate to Alerts & IRM > IRM > Integrations.
3. Click the Apps tab and select Slack.
4. Click Install integration.
5. After being redirected to the Slack connection page, verify the Slack workspace is correct or Add another workspace.
6. If needed, provide your Slack workspace URL and sign in with your Slack credentials.
7. Follow the Slack prompts to review permissions and specify a default channel.
8. Click Allow to give Grafana Cloud permission to access your Slack workspace.
9. After the installation is successful, you are redirected back to the Grafana configuration screen where you can review available settings, select a Slack channel for incident announcements, and specify a default channel for notifications.

The Grafana Cloud app for Slack is now available in your workspace. You can explore available /grafana slash commands or start interacting with Grafana Assistant by mentioning @Grafana in your Slack messages.

Interact with Grafana Cloud from Slack

You can use natural language to interact with the Grafana Assistant directly within Slack. The Assistant uses AI to understand your questions, synthesize telemetry data, and provide quick, actionable insights.

To communicate with the Assistant, mention @Grafana in any channel or direct message where the integration is present.

The Assistant can handle a wide variety of queries, ranging from simple status checks to complex investigations.

Example:

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@Grafana Do we have any dashboards related to X?

This query searches and links to relevant Grafana dashboards, making it easier to discover and access the dashboards you need.

Manage on-call and incident response from Slack

The Grafana Cloud app for Slack provides comprehensive on-call management and incident response capabilities that keep your team coordinated and responsive.

After you’ve connected your Slack workspace and linked your Slack user profile to your Grafana Cloud account, you can configure and use these features to streamline your operations.

Alert management and on-call notifications

Keep your team informed and responsive with automated alert notifications and on-call management:

• Alert notifications: Receive alerts in designated Slack channels, allowing your team to see what’s happening and take immediate action
• Escalation chains: Configure automated escalation workflows that route alerts to the right people or channels in Slack based on severity and timing
• User notification preferences: Set up personal notification rules so team members receive alerts via Slack mentions according to their preferences
• On-call shift management: Automatically receive notifications about shift changes, upcoming on-call responsibilities, and schedule updates

To configure these features:

• Configure escalation chains with Slack notifications
• Configure user notification rules with Slack mentions
• Configure on-call shift notifications

Incident collaboration and management

When incidents occur, the Grafana Cloud app for Slack helps your team coordinate response efforts without leaving Slack:

• Declare incidents: Create new incidents from Slack using slash commands
• Incident channels: Automatically create dedicated Slack channels for each incident, keeping all communication and context in one place
• Timeline tracking: Use emoji reactions to add messages to incident timelines, creating a clear record of response activities
• Role assignment: Assign incident roles (commander, lead, responder) and track who’s responsible for what
• Status updates: Post status updates and announcements to keep stakeholders informed throughout the incident lifecycle
• Incident announcements: Configure automatic announcements to specific channels when incidents are declared, filtered by type, severity, or labels

To configure incident management features:

• Configure incident Slack channels
• Configure incident announcements
• Interact with incidents from Slack via slash commands

Take action using slash commands

The /grafana commands for Slack allow users and teams to take actions such as responding to alert groups and collaborating on incidents directly from Slack.

To use the /grafana command, you must be an IRM user with a linked Slack account and necessary permissions. To learn more, refer to Connect your Slack user to Grafana IRM.

The following commands can be used in any Slack channel:

For a detailed list of slash commands, refer to the Available commands for Slack section of the Grafana IRM documentation.

Permissions and scopes

The Grafana Cloud app for Slack only requests permissions that are essential to its proper function and integration with Slack. Refer to the Slack documentation for more information on permission scopes.

By granting access to the app, you are authorizing Grafana Cloud the following permissions in your Slack workspace:

Workspace and user access

Public channel access

Private channel access

Message and conversation access

Direct message access

Rate limiting

Slack enforces rate limits per channel and per organization. Grafana Cloud can be rate limited by Slack when posting a high volume of messages. This typically happens during periods of high alert activity.

When rate limits are encountered:

• The affected integration is blocked from posting or updating messages for 5 minutes
• A message is posted to Slack to notify users of the block
• During the block, Grafana Cloud skips any message updates for that integration
• After 5 minutes, the integration is unblocked and can resume posting to Slack

Each alert source is tracked and rate-limited independently. Other alert sources, such as any system or service connected to IRM that sends notifications to Slack, can continue posting messages until they are also rate-limited. If a particular alert source exceeds Slack’s rate limits, it enters its own 5-minute blocked period.

After 5 minutes, the affected alert source is unblocked and can resume posting to Slack. If it continues to exceed Slack’s limits, it is blocked again, up to once every 5 minutes.

For example, if updates to alert groups are rate-limited, you’ll see a message similar to the following:

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Update Alert Groups in Slack, for integration xxxx, is temporarily rate-limited (due to a Slack rate-limit). Meanwhile, you can still find new Alert Groups in the Alert Groups UI.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues with the Grafana Cloud app for Slack, try the following troubleshooting steps:

App not responding or commands not working

• Verify that the app is installed in your Slack workspace and that you have granted all required permissions
• Ensure your Slack user account is connected to your Grafana Cloud account
• Check that you have the necessary permissions in Grafana Cloud to use the features you’re trying to access
• Try disconnecting and reconnecting your Slack account from your Grafana Cloud profile

For more information about connecting your Slack profile, refer to the Grafana IRM integration for Slack documentation.

Not receiving notifications

• Verify that notification channels are properly configured in your Grafana Cloud settings
• Check that the Slack app has been added to the channels where you expect to receive notifications
• Ensure your Slack user account is linked to your Grafana Cloud account
• Review your notification preferences in Grafana Cloud

Installation issues

If you’re unable to install the app:

• Verify that you have Admin permissions in both Grafana Cloud and your Slack workspace
• Ensure you’re using a supported browser and that pop-up blockers are disabled
• Try clearing your browser cache and cookies, then attempt the installation again
• Contact Grafana Cloud Support if issues persist