# Alert subscriptions

Let a team receive events from rules they do not own, with their own channel and severity filter.

Last reviewed 2026-10-10

Where this page ends: a subscription that delivers another business group's alerts to your team, sent through **your** notification rules, without touching their configuration.

Entry point: **Alerts & Notifications → Alert rules**, then the **Subscription rules** tab (`/alert-subscribes`).

![The subscriptions list](https://n9e.github.io/img/docs/events/subscriptions.webp)![The subscriptions list](https://n9e.github.io/img/docs/events/subscriptions.dark.webp)

## 1. Create a subscription[​](#1-create-a-subscription "Direct link to 1. Create a subscription")

Click **Add**. The form opens with the three cases this feature exists for:

* **Subscribe to someone else's alerts**: a downstream service is owned by another team, but its failures hit me, so I want its SLI alerts;
* **Escalation safety net**: alerts unresolved for over an hour also go to the team lead;
* **Global callback**: send every alert event to one webhook for automation.

![The subscription form](https://n9e.github.io/img/docs/events/subscribe-form.webp)![The subscription form](https://n9e.github.io/img/docs/events/subscribe-form.dark.webp)

## 2. Filter settings: which events count[​](#2-filter-settings-which-events-count "Direct link to 2. Filter settings: which events count")

Conditions are AND-ed, and **leaving them all empty matches every alert event** (a yellow banner warns you).

| Field                    | What it does                                                                              |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Source type              | Empty = unrestricted                                                                      |
| Severity                 | Required, tick at least one. None ticked matches nothing                                  |
| Subscribed alert rules   | Click "Select alert rules" to pick specific rules; none selected = no restriction by rule |
| Subscribed groups        | Use `in` / `not in` to name the **source** business groups                                |
| Subscribed event tag key | The same six operators as mute rules: `==` `!=` `=~` `!~` `in` `not in`                   |
| Duration (seconds)       | Empty or 0 = no limit                                                                     |

**Duration** is the escalation lever. Setting 3600 means: the first time an event matches this subscription nothing is sent; on each later match, "current trigger time − time it first matched" is computed, and only past 3600 seconds does it actually notify. A subscription of "over an hour, tell the lead" gives you a safety net.

Subscriptions filter on **labels**, so precise subscribing depends on the source rules carrying useful ones. Add business dimensions such as `app` or `team` in the rule's append-labels — see [Labels, annotations and severity](https://n9e.github.io/docs/alerting/labels-severity.md).

## 3. Notification settings: whose rules send it[​](#3-notification-settings-whose-rules-send-it "Direct link to 3. Notification settings: whose rules send it")

In the **Notification settings** section, click **Select notification rule** and pick at least one — matched events are notified again through the rules you choose. Picking none means a subscription nobody receives, and saving is blocked.

These are **your** notification rules, so media type, message template, applicable severities and time windows are all yours to decide, and the source rule's owner never has to know who subscribed. See [Notification rules](https://n9e.github.io/docs/notifications/rules.md).

Finish with **Name** (auto-generated from the settings above, editable) and the **Enabled** switch.

## 4. Save and verify[​](#4-save-and-verify "Direct link to 4. Save and verify")

Beside **Create** there is **Test**: it runs this subscription's match conditions against events that already happened, so you can confirm the hits before it goes live.

After saving, check the list shows **Enabled**. Real verification waits for a matching event — open that event in [Active events](https://n9e.github.io/docs/events/active-historical.md) and look at its **notification records**; the send through your notification rule should be there.

## A subscription is not a forward[​](#a-subscription-is-not-a-forward "Direct link to A subscription is not a forward")

The semantics are "**I also want to receive events matching this**":

* The source rule's own recipients still get their copy, and the subscriber gets **another** one. Somebody on both sides receives two identical notifications;
* The subscribed copy **does not trigger self-healing a second time** — self-healing hangs off the source rule and runs once;
* The subscription belongs to your business group but subscribes to **another** group's events. For how the two relate, see [Business groups](https://n9e.github.io/docs/concepts/business-groups.md).

## What catches people out[​](#what-catches-people-out "Direct link to What catches people out")

* **When nothing matches, look at the source event's real labels.** Tag conditions are AND-ed; one mismatch and it is out. Open the event in the active list and compare row by row.
* **Do not skip "Subscribed groups".** Label conditions alone easily pull in events from every business group that happens to use the same label name.
* **Subscriptions amplify storms.** Several hundred events on the source side become several hundred on yours. Address a team rather than a person, and use Duration to keep brief flapping out.
* **Disabling beats deleting.** While working out "who keeps sending me these", turn the subscription off for a cycle first, then decide.

## Next[​](#next "Direct link to Next")

* The opposite need, keeping something quiet: [Mute rules](https://n9e.github.io/docs/events/mute-rules.md)
* Which path a subscribed event takes: [Conditional routing](https://n9e.github.io/docs/events/routing.md)
* The order all of this happens in: [Noise reduction and routing model](https://n9e.github.io/docs/concepts/noise-routing.md)
* Subscribed but nothing arrives: [Why is there an alert event but no notification?](https://n9e.github.io/docs/troubleshooting/no-notification.md)