Notification Channels: Alerts vs Conversations
Set up dedicated notification channels that deliver alerts separately from your regular chat conversations.
What You Will Get
After this guide, your OpenClaw agent will have clearly separated notification and conversation channels. Alerts, warnings, and status updates will flow to dedicated notification channels while interactive conversations remain in their own space.
Mixing alerts with conversations creates noise and causes important notifications to get buried in chat history. By separating them, you ensure critical alerts are immediately visible and conversational messages do not get lost among system notifications.
You will configure alert severity levels, delivery schedules, and routing rules that send the right notifications to the right channels at the right time. This gives you a clean, organized communication system where nothing important gets missed.
Step-by-Step Setup
Configure dedicated notification channels with alert routing and severity levels.
Identify Your Notification Types
List all the types of notifications your agent generates. Common categories include system alerts (errors, downtime), informational updates (task completions, summaries), and time-sensitive notifications (reminders, deadlines). Categorizing your notifications helps you set up appropriate routing and severity levels.
Create Dedicated Notification Channels
Set up separate channels or chat groups specifically for notifications. On Discord, create a dedicated alerts channel. On Slack, create a notifications channel. On Telegram, create a separate group or use a channel (broadcast-only). These channels receive only automated notifications, not conversational messages.
Configure Alert Severity Levels
Define severity levels for your notifications: critical, warning, info, and debug. Map each level to specific formatting and delivery behavior. Critical alerts should use bold formatting and mention relevant users. Info-level updates can be quieter with no mention. Debug messages should only go to a developer channel.
Set Up Routing Rules
In your agent's notification settings, define routing rules that direct each notification type to the appropriate channel. For example, route system errors to the alerts channel, daily summaries to the info channel, and debug logs to a developer-only channel. Each rule specifies the source event, severity level, and destination channel.
Configure Delivery Schedules
Set up delivery schedules for non-urgent notifications. Batch informational updates into a daily digest instead of sending them one by one. Configure quiet hours during which only critical alerts are delivered, with all other notifications held until the next active window. This prevents notification fatigue.
Enable Escalation Rules
Configure escalation for critical alerts that do not receive acknowledgment within a set time. If a critical alert is not acknowledged within 15 minutes, the agent can escalate by sending to additional channels, pinging specific users, or increasing the notification frequency. This ensures urgent issues do not go unnoticed.
Test the Notification Pipeline
Trigger test notifications at each severity level. Verify they arrive in the correct channels with the right formatting. Test the delivery schedule by sending a non-urgent notification during quiet hours and confirming it is held until the active window. Test escalation by letting a critical alert go unacknowledged.
Tips and Best Practices
Use Color Coding
On platforms that support colored embeds or message attachments, use red for critical, yellow for warning, blue for info, and gray for debug. Visual severity indicators make it easy to spot important alerts at a glance.
Avoid Alert Fatigue
Too many notifications desensitize users. Be selective about what warrants an alert and batch lower-priority updates into digests. Review your notification volume weekly and adjust thresholds.
Include Action Links
Every alert should include a clear next step. Add links to relevant dashboards, documentation, or action buttons so the recipient can act immediately without searching for context.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Pages
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