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Setting up Notifications

Kairos can send you an alert when a resource goes down and another when it recovers. This guide walks you through the complete setup using Email (SMTP) as the example, then shows how to extend it to other channels.

The full reference for every provider option is in Notification Providers. Scope and routing rules are explained in Notification Policies.

Step 1 — Create a Notification Provider

A provider defines how Kairos delivers messages. Here we configure an Email provider using Gmail's SMTP relay.

  1. Go to Admin → Notification Providers.
  2. Click New Provider.

  3. Fill in the form:

    Field Example value
    Name Gmail SMTP
    Type EMAIL
    SMTP Host smtp.gmail.com
    SMTP Port 587
    Use STARTTLS ✔ (enabled)
    SMTP Username alerts@example.com
    SMTP Password (your Gmail app password)
    Sender Email alerts@example.com
    Recipient Email team@example.com

  4. Click Save.

Tip

Gmail requires an App Password if 2-Step Verification is enabled on the account. Create one at Google Account → Security → App Passwords.

Verify the Provider

On the Notification Providers list, click the send test icon (envelope with arrow) next to your new provider. Kairos will send a test email to the configured recipient. Check your inbox — if it arrives, the provider is working.

Step 2 — Create a Notification Policy

A policy connects your provider to the resources and events that should trigger it.

  1. Go to Admin → Notification Policies.
  2. Click New Policy.

  3. Fill in the form:

    Field Example value
    Name All resources – Email
    Provider Gmail SMTP
    Notify on outage started ✔
    Notify on outage ended ✔
    Scope All Resources

  4. Click Save.

This policy will now send an email every time any resource goes down or recovers.

Step 3 — Trigger a Test

Add a resource that is currently unreachable (or temporarily set an existing resource's target to an invalid address), wait for the next check cycle, and verify that the email arrives. Switch it back to a working target and confirm the recovery email arrives too.

What to Do Next

Now that your first provider and policy are in place, you can extend the setup:

  • Add more providers — set up Discord, a generic webhook, or GitLab incident management in parallel. Each provider type has its own dedicated section in Notification Providers.
  • Narrow the scope — switch a policy from All Resources to Scoped and pick specific resource groups or individual resources. See Notification Policies for examples.
  • Stack policies — create a second policy that also pings Discord only for your most critical resources, while the email policy continues to cover everything.