Slack

Introduction

The Spike app for Slack keeps your team informed and responsive during incidents.

Key features include:

• Incident alerts and acknowledge / resolve / escalate them

• On-Call shift notifications

• Private channel support

• Create incidents directly from Slack

• View currently on-call responders

How to set up

Visit the Alerts section in settings and click on Add to Slack.

Setting up incident alerts

Setting On-call shift notifications

Connect for DMs

Visit the Alerts section inside your settings and click on Add to Slack. Our Slack app asks for some basic permissions.

Add Slack as a step in your escalation policy to get incident notifications. You can choose between public or private channels for these alerts.

Visit Settings > Alerts to select Slack channels to receive on-call shift alerts.

• Other team members can also link their Slack accounts to receive direct messages for important updates.

• Run the /connect command to connect

Use the /help command on Slack for further help. Spike app cannot read any of your messages on Slack

Slash commands

Here are all the available /slash commands -

1. /create-incident Create a new incident directly from Slack. Anyone in your workspace can use this command.

2. /oncall now or /oncall me Check who is currently on-call or view your on-call schedule.

3. /connect Connects your Slack account in the workspace with Spike.

4. /help Display a help message with guidance on using the Spike app in Slack.

Create incidents from Slack

Using the /create-incident command in Slack opens an intuitive view to create incidents directly from your workspace. Here's how:

Incident Alerts

Spike's incident alerts will mention @here to notify everyone online on the channel. The incident contains some key details like Title, Responders, Links, and Integration.

Available Actions for Each Incident

1. Acknowledge

2. Resolve

3. Escalate

4. Discuss in a New Channel

{% hint style="info" } Visit the Alerts section inside your settings and click on Add to Slack. Our Slack app asks for some basic permissions.

Add Slack as a step in your escalation policy to get incident notifications. You can choose between public or private channels for these alerts.

Discussing in a new channel

Each incident includes the option to discuss in a new channel. When this action is initiated, a dedicated channel is created for collaboration on resolving the incident. Initially, only the user who initiates the action will be added to the new channel.

Spike does not have access to read messages in these channels, maintaining your privacy.

Auto-Updating Slack messages

If a Slack alert has been sent for a new incident and it is resolved—whether automatically, via Phone, SMS, Email, or the Dashboard—the Slack message will automatically update to reflect the resolved status, eliminating any ambiguity about the incident’s state.

What if I try to resolve an incident on Slack that has already been resolved elsewhere?

The Slack app will notify you that the incident has already been resolved, preventing duplicate actions.

Private channels setup

Private channels access can be configured in Settings > Alerts

Adding private channels to escalations

When managing escalations, only users who have connected their Slack account with Spike can view private channels. However, they can only access private channels that:

1. They are a member of.

2. The @Spike.sh app has been added to.

Both the user and the @Spike.sh app must be part of the private channel for it to appear under escalations.

Private channel visibility in escalations

Once a private channel is added to an escalation, its name is visible only to users who:

1. Have connected their Slack account with Spike.

2. Are members of the same private channel.

Users without these permissions will not see the private channel name, ensuring enhanced privacy.

I can’t find a channel in the dropdown. What should I do?

You can find the channel by pasting its ID from Slack. To locate the channel ID, open the channel, go to the About section, and find the unique ID.

On-call alerts

Visit Settings > Alerts to select Slack channels to receive on-call shift alerts.

You can enable notifications for both shift start and shift end.

FAQs