---
title: Acknowledging alerts
description: Stop repeat notifications for an ongoing incident without pausing the monitor or hiding the problem.
sidebar:
  label: Acknowledging
---

{/* Source of truth: packages/shared/src/routes.ts —
    monitors.acknowledge, monitors.acknowledgments, monitors.acknowledgeDns,
    notifications.actions.{acknowledge,pause,resume}.
    packages/api/src/monitors/application/acknowledge-alert.use-case.ts
    (valid only while DOWN or DEGRADED). */}

Acknowledging says "we know, someone is on it". Repeat notifications for that
episode stop; the monitor keeps checking and its status stays honest.

## What it does and does not do

| | Acknowledge | Pause | Maintenance window |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Checks keep running | yes | no | yes |
| Status stays accurate | yes | no | shows `MAINTENANCE` |
| Counts against uptime | yes | excluded | excluded if configured |
| Repeat alerts | suppressed | none | suppressed |
| Right for | an incident you are working | planned work you did not schedule | planned work you did schedule |

Acknowledging never hides a problem. That is the point: the status page and your
uptime figures continue to tell the truth while your phone stops buzzing.

## How to acknowledge

**From the dashboard** — the **Acknowledge** action on the monitor, with an
optional message of up to 1000 characters explaining what is happening.

**From an email or chat alert** — the one-click acknowledge link. It is signed,
scoped to that alert episode, expires, and is safe to click twice.

**Over the API**

```http
POST /monitors/<monitor-id>/acknowledge
```

:::note
A monitor can only be acknowledged while it is `DOWN` or `DEGRADED`. There is
nothing to acknowledge on a healthy monitor, and the request is rejected.
:::

## Leave a message

The optional message is the highest-value habit here. "Known — upstream provider
incident, tracking at status.provider.com" saves the next person from
re-investigating, and it appears in the acknowledgement history.

```http
GET /monitors/<monitor-id>/acknowledgments
```

## Acknowledging a DNS change

[DNS Diff](/monitors/dns-diff) monitors use a separate action, because
acknowledging there means something stronger — accepting the new answer as the
baseline:

```http
POST /monitors/<monitor-id>/dns/acknowledge
```

Read the new value before you accept it. This is the control that would tell you
about a DNS hijack, and acknowledging it blindly is how that alert gets wasted.

## Pause and resume from an alert

Alerts also carry pause and resume links.

The pause link opens a confirmation page before doing anything, and is
single-use. That is deliberate: mail clients and chat apps prefetch links, and a
one-click pause would let a link preview silently stop your monitoring. The
acknowledge link is idempotent, so it is safe to prefetch.