Use Telegram for Alerts

This guide explains how to configure OpenObserve alerts to send notifications directly to Telegram. You will create a template, configure an alert destination, and attach it to an alert rule.

Configure OpenObserve alerts

Prerequisites

• A Telegram account
• Telegram bot token: Create a bot in Telegram using BotFather. BotFather provides the token.
• Telegram chat ID: Start a chat with your bot, send a message, and run getUpdates with your bot token to retrieve the chat.id.

Verify the bot token and chat ID with the following commands:

Get updates

curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>/getUpdates"

Get bot details

curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>/getMe"

Send a test message

set TOKEN=<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>
set CHAT=<YOUR_CHAT_ID>

curl.exe -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot%TOKEN%/sendMessage" ^
  --data-urlencode "chat_id=%CHAT%" ^
  --data-urlencode "text=OpenObserve test"

If the message appears in Telegram, your setup is correct.

Step 1: Create Template

1. Go to Management > Templates > Add Template.
2. Enter a name, for example Telegram_alert.
3. Select Web Hook.
4. In the Body, add the following JSON. Replace with your chat ID.
5. Save the template.

Step 2: Create Alert Destination

1. Go to Management > Alert Destinations > Add Destination.
2. Enter a name, for example Telegram_alert.
3. Select the template you created earlier (Telegram_alert).
4. Set URL to: https://api.telegram.org/bot/sendMessage
5. Set Method to POST.
6. Add the header: Content-Type = application/json
7. Save the destination.

Step 3: Create Alert

1. Go to Alerts > Add Alert.

2. Configure the alert:

   • Name: any name
   • Stream Type: logs
   • Stream Name: select your stream. For example, default.
   • Alert Type: Scheduled
   • Condition: for example service_name = ingress-nginx
   • Threshold: >= 1 time
   • Period: 1 minute
   • Frequency: 1 minute
   • Destination: select Telegram_alert
   • In Row Template, define the row format, for example: Alert was active at {_timestamp}

3. Save the alert.

Step 4: Verify alert delivery

After you save the alert, wait until the condition is met. If configured correctly, you will receive a message in Telegram that looks similar to the following:

Troubleshooting

Issue: No message received in Telegram
Solution: Verify that the template body includes a valid chat_id. Without chat_id, Telegram cannot deliver the message.

Example of a valid body:

{ "chat_id": "8237**", "text": "{alert_name} is active \nDetails:\n{rows}" }