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Section 2 · Name and query

The sections that make up an alert rule, and why a descriptive rule name is the first thing a responder sees.

Estimated time: 1 min

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:

SectionWhat you set up
Alert rule nameA descriptive name so your team knows what fired
Query and conditionWhich data to watch and what “too high” or “too low” means
Folder and labelsWhere to store the rule and how to tag it
Evaluation behaviorHow often Grafana checks and how long to wait before alerting
NotificationsWhere 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

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”