---
title: "Introduction to Grafana OnCall OSS | Grafana OnCall documentation"
description: "An introduction to Grafana OnCall OSS including, an overview of key concepts and features, how it works, and what you can do with it."
---

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

# Introduction to Grafana OnCall OSS

> Caution
> 
> **Grafana OnCall OSS is archived** as of March 24, 2026. The [grafana/oncall](https://github.com/grafana/oncall) repository is read-only, and active development continues in Grafana Cloud IRM.
> 
> Refer to the [Grafana OnCall OSS archival notice](/docs/oncall/latest/set-up/open-source/) for details.

Grafana OnCall OSS is an open-source solution for on-call management and incident response. Designed with the on-call engineer in mind, Grafana OnCall OSS enables you to refine on-call operations, expedite issue resolution, and fortify the reliability of your observability stack.

## How it works

Grafana OnCall OSS serves as the nerve center for your observability stack, ingesting, grouping, and routing alerts from anywhere in your systems. Configure rules to dictate how alerts are routed and grouped, ensuring efficient incident management. With predefined escalation policies and on-call schedules, Grafana OnCall OSS automates the escalation process, delivering alerts to the right responder at the right time.

## Key terms and concepts

To navigate Grafana OnCall OSS effectively, familiarize yourself with key terms and concepts:

- **Alert group:** Aggregated sets of related alerts that are grouped by some attribute.
- **Escalation chain:** A set of predefined steps, rules, and time intervals dictating how and when alerts are directed to OnCall schedules or users directly.
- **Routes:** Configurable paths that direct alerts to designated responders or channels. Tailor Routes to send alerts to specific escalation chains based on alert details. Additionally, enhance flexibility by incorporating regular expressions when adding routes to integrations.
- **On-call schedule:** A calendar-based system defining when team members are on-call.
- **Rotation:** The scheduled shift during which a specific team or individual is responsible for incident response.
- **Shift:** The designated time period within a rotation when a team or individual is actively on-call.
- **Notification policy:** Set of rules dictating how, when, and where alerts notifications are sent to a responder.

## Next steps

To get started with Grafana OnCall OSS, refer to [Get started](/docs/oncall/latest/set-up/get-started/) or visit the [Grafana OnCall OSS archival notice](/docs/oncall/next/set-up/open-source/).