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Datadog SMS alerts from a monitor's email mention

When a P1 monitor fires at 1 AM, a Datadog SMS alert gives the on-call engineer the host and what to check first. Getting there takes one @-mention of your Welco address in the monitor message. There is no paging tool to add and no per-seat price.

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  • One @-mention per monitor
  • No integration tile or API key
  • No per-user fees

Setup guide for

  • Datadog

Published:

A network map watched by Datadog: five hosts answer pings until web-04 goes alert (CPU > 95%, 10 min) and the monitor raises the alert. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: P1 web-04 CPU above 95% for 10 min. Check the batch worker first. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: a long Datadog alert email is trimmed into one short text: "Welco: P1 web-04 CPU above 95% for 10 min. Check the batch worker first. Reply STOP to opt out."

What a Datadog monitor puts on the on-call phone

  • Your first line is the text

    You write the line the engineer reads: priority, host and what to check. Queries and links stay in email.

  • P1 at night, P2 by day

    A Welco rule reads the priority and sends only P1 to the night phone.

  • Alerts only, unless you ask

    The mention sits inside {{#is_alert}}, so warnings and recoveries don't text anyone.

  • No access to your account

    Welco only receives the alert email. You share no API key and install no integration.

What you need before you start

Plan on about 10 minutes for the first monitor, less once you have a pattern to copy. Other @-mentions in the monitor keep working. Any system that can send an email can feed Welco's server monitoring SMS alerts.

  • A Datadog role that can edit monitors.
  • The monitors that should wake someone, such as site down or a full disk. Start with a handful, not every warning.
  • A Welco account with your business verified and your Welco address. Start free to get one.
  • On-call engineers invited to Welco. Each joins with their own mobile and confirms by replying YES. No app is needed.

How to get a Datadog SMS alert in 5 steps

Datadog notifies anyone you mention in a monitor's message. An email address with an @ in front works as a mention.

  1. Find the address Datadog sends from

    Open a recent Datadog alert email and note the From address. Add it to your Welco sender allow list, which refuses alert mail from anyone else.

  2. Write the text as the first line

    Edit the monitor and open its message. Make the first line what you want on the phone: priority, host and what to check. Template variables like {{host.name}} work here.

  3. Mention your Welco address

    Add your Welco address with an @ in front, inside an alert block so it fires only on problems.

    • Wrap it in {{#is_alert}} and {{/is_alert}} to skip warnings and recoveries.
    • Add the same mention inside {{#is_recovery}} only if the team wants all-clear texts.

  4. Check the renotify setting

    Datadog can renotify while a monitor stays in alert, and each renotification is another text. Pick an interval your team can live with, or turn it off.

  5. Test the notification

    Use the monitor's test notifications option and pick the alert state. To check the wording first, Welco lets you test without texting anyone.

Datadog alerts on the on-call phone, without seats

Add one mention to the monitors that matter. Welco handles the phones.

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A Datadog synthetic test alert as a text

Synthetic API and browser tests alert when your site fails from outside. Keep the first line short, and the email can carry the detail. For plain site checks, uptime monitor down texts work the same way.

Alert email from alerts@datadog.example, subject “[Triggered] Checkout API test failing from 3 locations”. Welco trims it to one text of 93 characters: “Welco: Checkout API down from 3 of 4 locations. Last good run 9:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: Checkout API down from 3 of 4 locations. Last good run 9:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

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Animation: the alert email "[Triggered] Checkout API test failing from 3 locations" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: Checkout API down from 3 of 4 locations. Last good run 9:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Graphs and images in Datadog emails don't come through as a text. The words do. See how to trim long alerts to one text by keeping the first line.

Datadog monitor settings that cut text noise

Datadog can alert on thousands of metrics. Texts work best for a short, clear list, and these settings keep it that way. MSPs and hosting teams face the same trade-off, see MSP and data center alerts.

  • Priority picks the phone

    Start the first line with P1 or P2. A keyword rule texts P1 to on-call and holds P2 to daytime with time-of-day routing.

  • Recovery texts are opt-in

    Only a mention inside {{#is_recovery}} sends an all-clear. Leave it out and recoveries stay in email.

  • Recovery thresholds calm flapping

    A recovery threshold makes a metric fall clearly below the line before it recovers. A value hovering at the limit then can't alert again and again.

  • Evaluation delay for late cloud metrics

    Cloud integration metrics can arrive late. An evaluation delay stops the monitor judging half-filled data and texting a false alarm.

  • Downtimes cover maintenance

    Schedule a downtime on the monitor or its scope before a deploy or patch window. Datadog mutes its notifications, so no texts go out.

  • Multi-alert monitors can burst

    A monitor grouped by host emails once per host. If 40 hosts fail together, burst limits per phone cap the texts. A simple alert across the group is quieter.

If a Datadog alert doesn't text

The monitor's event history shows whether it notified. Start there.

The monitor didn't notify

Where to look
The mention may sit in a block for another state, such as {{#is_warning}}.

It notified, but Welco shows nothing

Where to look
Check the spelling of the address after the @.

Welco's feed shows a refused message

Where to look
The Datadog From address isn't approved yet.

A phone stays silent

Where to look
The plain-English delivery status gives the reason, such as a missing YES.

Frequently asked questions

Does Datadog need an integration tile to send alerts to Welco?

No. Datadog emails any address you mention with an @ in a monitor's message, and that email becomes a text. You add no integration, no API key and no access to your Datadog account.

Can P1 alerts go to the on-call engineer and the rest wait for morning?

Yes. Put the priority at the start of the first line. Welco rules send P1 to the night phone and hold lower priorities for daytime, and one alert can reach several phones.

Will renotifications, recoveries, No Data alerts or downtimes send texts?

Only where your Welco mention appears. Each email Datadog sends becomes one text per phone. Lengthen or switch off renotify, keep the mention out of no data blocks, and schedule downtimes for maintenance.

Can the on-call engineer acknowledge a Datadog alert by replying?

No. A reply is emailed back to the alert's last sender, which shows the team someone saw it. Resolve or mute the monitor in Datadog itself. Here is how replies by email work.

Is Welco a replacement for a Datadog paging integration?

For teams that only need a text, often yes. For rotations, escalations and acknowledgement tracking, no. Our PagerDuty comparison sets out the difference.

What does a Datadog alert text cost?

Plans have no per-user fees or seats. A short first line uses one message credit, and longer ones use more. Send test Datadog monitors during the 7-day free trial, which includes 15 credits. See pricing for plans; none bill overage, and the card is charged only after you approve one.

Text yourself the next Datadog P1

One @ mention with your Welco address. Datadog keeps watching.

Text me my Datadog alertsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing