---
title: "What is an alert rule | Grafana Labs"
description: "The sections that make up an alert rule, and why a descriptive rule name is the first thing a responder sees."
---

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

## What is an alert rule

An **alert rule** tells Grafana what data to watch. It defines a threshold for when something becomes a problem, and it defines what to do when something goes wrong and an alert is triggered. You create an alert by completing the **New alert rule** page in the UI, where you fill out the following sections:

| Section             | What you set up                                               |
|---------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
| Alert rule name     | A descriptive name so your team knows what fired              |
| Query and condition | Which data to watch and what “too high” or “too low” means    |
| Folder and labels   | Where to store the rule and how to tag it                     |
| Evaluation behavior | How often Grafana checks and how long to wait before alerting |
| Notifications       | Where to send the notification when something goes wrong      |

[Diagram of an alert rule made of a name plus five sections: query and condition, folder and labels, evaluation behavior, and notifications](alert-rule-anatomy.svg "Diagram of an alert rule made of a name plus five sections: query and condition, folder and labels, evaluation behavior, and notifications")

## Why the name matters

The alert rule name shows up in *every* notification your team receives. A vague name like “Alert 1” tells the responder nothing about what’s wrong. Your alert rule name is the first piece of critical information a responder will see, so a clear naming structure for your alerts helps responders act faster.

Choose names that describe **what** you’re monitoring and **where**, for example:

- “QuickPizza server errors”
- “Payment service error rate above 5%”
- “Database connection pool exhausted”