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Contact points

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:40:40 -0500

Contact points

A contact point tells Grafana where to send notifications. Each contact point connects to one or more integrations that deliver the message. In this journey, you select a contact point on the alert rule during creation (the default notification mode).

What notifications contain

The default notification message draws mainly on the alert name, status (firing or resolved), and labels so responders get context in the channel:

Which rule changed
What state it is in
Which dimensions the labels describe

You can add custom notification templates later, but that name, status, and label set still carry most of the first-line explanation. A readable rule name and useful labels still matter.

Notification message

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:40:40 -0500

Notification message

When an alert fires, the notification includes:

Alert name: identifies which rule fired
Status: either Firing or Resolved
Labels: the tags attached to the alert

Add context with annotations

You add summary and description as optional annotations on the alert rule in the rule editor. You do not set them on the contact point or notification template. When the rule fires, Grafana injects that text into the notification your contact point sends to Slack, email, or another integration.

Annotation	Purpose	Example
Summary	One sentence explaining what happened	`Request duration exceeded the threshold on the affected service`
Description	Additional detail about what to check or do next	`Check the affected service for slow responses`

Why this matters

The person receiving the notification needs to understand the problem immediately. A clear summary reduces the time between “alert received” and “investigation started.”

Build your first alert rule

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:48:05 -0400

Build your first alert rule

This Path walks you through building a complete alert rule from start to finish, including installing the QuickPizza demo app, writing a query for 5xx responses, setting the condition, organizing with a folder and labels, configuring evaluation and handling, choosing a contact point, and saving.

Learning path

First alert rule

Build a complete Grafana alert rule from scratch — write a query, set a condition, add labels, configure evaluation and notifications, and save.

12 min

Beginner

Docs & blog posts

Open in Grafana Cloud

Complete this learning path directly in your Grafana Cloud stack with an interactive learning experience.

Open in Grafana Cloud

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