Notifications

Use Notifications to control how Canary sends updates about workflow activity, QA work, crawls, and release testing. Admins can configure shared organization alerts, and each user can manage personal Slack and email notifications for the events that matter to them.

01When to use notifications

Use notifications when you want the right people to hear about important activity without checking Canary manually. Notifications help you keep shared channels informed about team-wide work and deliver personal alerts directly to the people who need to act.

Common use cases include:

• Post workflow test suite results to a team Slack channel
• Alert QA stakeholders when QA runs start, finish, or need attention
• Share crawl activity in a channel used for monitoring site health
• Receive personal Slack or email updates for release QA progress
• Verify notification delivery before relying on alerts in production workflows

02Notification types

Canary separates shared team alerts from individual user notifications. This lets admins manage organization-wide destinations while giving each user control over their own delivery preferences.

All notification types now deliver richer run context so you can understand what happened without leaving Slack or your inbox immediately. Depending on the alert, messages can include clearer status formatting, more complete run details, and context when a failure is part of a repeated streak.

Organization alerts

Organization alerts send updates to shared destinations that the whole team can monitor. These alerts are managed by admins and are best for events that should be visible in a Slack channel or other shared workflow.

Use organization alerts for:

• Workflow test suites
• QA runs
• Crawls
• Release QA

Admins define where these alerts are delivered and which conditions trigger them. Delivered alerts are designed to make status easier to scan and to provide enough detail for shared triage in the destination channel.

Personal alerts

Personal alerts send updates directly to you instead of a shared team destination. These alerts are user-managed, so you can decide which events you want to follow and whether you receive them by Slack or email.

Use personal alerts when you want direct visibility into the work you own or monitor closely. For example, you might enable personal notifications for release QA or QA runs that require quick follow-up.

Personal alerts use the same improved message structure as shared alerts, so you receive clearer status information and more useful run context in both Slack and email.

03Configuration

Open Settings and select Notifications to manage both shared and personal notification behavior.

Set up organization Slack destinations

Admins configure organization alerts for shared Slack delivery. Set up these destinations when your team needs a central place to monitor test activity, QA work, crawls, or release readiness.

To configure an organization Slack destination:

1. Open Settings > Notifications.
2. In the organization alerts area, choose the notification type you want to configure.
3. Select the Slack destination for that alert.
4. Choose the conditions that should trigger the alert.
5. Click Save.

Use separate channels when different teams own different types of work. For example, send workflow test suite alerts to an engineering channel and release QA updates to a launch or quality channel.

Configure personal email and Slack delivery

Each user can configure their own personal notifications. This is useful when you want direct updates without posting every event to a shared channel.

To configure personal delivery:

1. Open Settings > Notifications.
2. Go to your personal notifications settings.
3. Enable the notification types you want to receive.
4. Choose one or both delivery methods:
   • Slack for direct Slack notifications
   • Email for inbox delivery
5. Click Save.

Choose Slack when you need quick, in-context updates during active work. Choose email when you want a persistent record outside Slack or when you review updates less frequently.

Filter alert conditions

Notification filters help you reduce noise and focus on events that require attention. Configure conditions separately for each notification type so your channels and inbox stay relevant.

Typical filters include whether a notification is sent for a specific event or status change, such as a run starting, completing, or needing review. Use narrower filters for high-traffic workflows and broader filters for critical release or QA events.

The available notification types are:

Notification type	What it covers
Workflow test suites	Updates about test suite activity and outcomes
QA runs	Updates about QA execution and progress
Crawls	Updates about crawl activity and results
Release QA	Updates about release-focused QA coordination and results

Test notification delivery

Use the built-in test option before you rely on a new notification setup. Testing helps you confirm that Slack channels, Slack personal delivery, and email notifications reach the expected destination.

To test delivery:

1. Open Settings > Notifications.
2. Find the alert or personal notification you want to verify.
3. Click the built-in test action for that notification.
4. Confirm that the test message appears in the selected Slack destination or email inbox.
5. Adjust the configuration and test again if needed.

Run a test whenever you create a new destination, change Slack routing, or enable personal notifications for the first time.

04Delivery behavior

Delivery behavior depends on the notification type and destination you configure. Shared organization alerts are designed for visibility across the team, while personal notifications are designed for direct follow-up.

Slack channel posts

Organization alerts post to the Slack channel selected by an admin. Use channel posts when the whole team should see updates as they happen.

Channel delivery works best for shared operational visibility, such as test suite outcomes, QA run progress, or crawl activity. Slack notifications now use clearer formatting and richer run details so your team can scan status faster and understand failures with less back-and-forth.

Expect Slack alerts to include more useful context about the run or event that triggered the message. When failures repeat across runs, Slack alerts can also call out that repeated-failure context to help your team prioritize investigation.

Threaded release QA updates

Release QA notifications in Slack are structured to keep related updates together. This helps your team follow planning details, testing progress, and results in one place instead of across separate messages.

Use threaded release QA updates when multiple stakeholders need to track the same release over time. This format makes it easier to review the full conversation and status history in a single Slack thread.

Release QA Slack updates now provide clearer visual status treatment and more informative failure detail. They can also include better context from prior runs, which helps you understand whether an issue is new or part of an existing pattern.

Personal Slack DMs and email

Personal notifications are delivered directly to you instead of a shared channel. Depending on your settings, Canary sends them by Slack or email.

Use personal Slack notifications when you want fast visibility while you work in Slack. Use email when you want a message that is easier to search, forward, or revisit later.

Slack and email notifications use improved formatting and include richer run details so you can assess status quickly from the delivered message. For failed activity, personal notifications may also include repeated-failure context to make ongoing issues easier to spot.

Email notifications

Email notifications are best when you want a durable record outside Slack or when you review updates asynchronously. They mirror the same alert intent as Slack notifications while presenting the details in an inbox-friendly format.

Expect email alerts to include clearer formatting and more useful run context than before. Use email delivery when you want to preserve detailed notification content for later review, forwarding, or follow-up.

05Permissions

Permissions depend on the type of notification you are configuring:

Setting area	Who can manage it
Organization alerts	Admins
Personal alerts	Each individual user

If you do not see organization-level notification controls, ask an admin to configure shared alerts for your team. If you need direct delivery for yourself, update your personal notifications in Settings > Notifications.

06Best practices

• Send organization alerts only for events your team actively monitors
• Use separate Slack destinations for different audiences when test, QA, and release traffic serve different teams
• Enable personal notifications for work you own directly or need to respond to quickly
• Test every new Slack or email configuration before depending on it
• Review filters regularly to keep alert volume useful and actionable
• Use release QA notifications in a dedicated channel when multiple stakeholders need a shared view of progress

07Related

• Settings
• Jira settings
• Flow Designer
• Run Flow