Slack¶

Robusta can report issues and events in your Kubernetes cluster to Slack.

Connecting Slack¶

When installing Robusta, run robusta gen-config and follow the prompts. This will use our official Slack app.

Note: Robusta can only write messages and doesn't require read permissions.

Alternatively, generate a key by running robusta integrations slack and set the following Helm values in your generated_values.yaml:

sinks_config:
# slack integration params
- slack_sink:
    name: main_slack_sink
    api_key: MY SLACK KEY  # to avoid putting your key in Helm values, see below
    slack_channel: MY SLACK CHANNEL
    max_log_file_limit_kb: <Optional> # (Default: 1000) The maximum allowed file size for "snippets" (in kilobytes) uploaded to the Slack channel. Larger files can be sent to Slack, but they may not be viewable directly within the Slack.
    channel_override: DYNAMIC SLACK CHANNEL OVERRIDE (Optional)
    investigate_link: true/false # optional, if false no investigate links/buttons will be included in Slack messages

Then do a Helm Upgrade.

Notification Grouping¶

Slack allows grouping multiple notifications into summary messages and Slack threads. Refer to Notification Grouping.

Dynamic Slack Channels¶

You can set the Slack channel dynamically, based on the cluster name or a value of a specific label or annotation.

This can be done using the optional channel_override sink parameter.

Allowed values for this parameter are:

• cluster_name - The Slack channel will be the Robusta cluster_name

• labels.foo - The Slack channel will be taken from a label value with the key foo. If no such label, the default channel will be used.

• annotations.anno - The Slack channel will be taken from an annotation value with the key anno. If no such annotation, the default channel will be used.

For example:

sinks_config:
# slack integration params
- slack_sink:
    name: main_slack_sink
    api_key: xoxb-112...
    slack_channel: my-fallback-channel
    channel_override: "labels.slack"

A replacement pattern is also allowed, using $ sign, before the variable. For cases where labels or annotations include special characters, such as ${annotations.kubernetes.io/service-name}, you can use the ${} replacement pattern to represent the entire key, including special characters. For example, if you want to dynamically set the Slack channel based on the annotation kubernetes.io/service-name, you can use the following syntax:

• channel_override: "${annotations.kubernetes.io/service-name}"

Example:

sinks_config:
# slack integration params, like slack_channel, api_key etc
- slack_sink:
    name: main_slack_sink
    api_key: xoxb-112...
    slack_channel: my-fallback-channel
    channel_override: "$cluster_name-alerts-$labels.env-${annotations.kubernetes.io/service-name}"

Using Private Channels¶

1. Add Robusta to your workspace using the instructions above.

2. Add the Robusta app to the private channel. See the video below for instructions:

Automatically @mentioning Users¶

It is possible to automatically tag users in Slack.

To do so in custom playbooks mention the @username anywhere in the description:

customPlaybooks:
- triggers:
  - on_kubernetes_warning_event:
      include: ["TooManyPods"]
  actions:
  - create_finding:
      aggregation_key: "too-many-pods-warning"
      severity: HIGH
      title: "Too many pods on $node!"
      description: "@some-user, please take a look." # (1)

If you'd like to automatically tag users on builtin alerts, please let us know. We want to hear requirements.

Creating Custom Slack Apps¶

If you can't use the official Slack app, you can create your own. This is not recommended for most companies due to the added complexity.

1. Create a new Slack app.

2. Enable Socket mode in your Slack App.

3. Under "OAuth and Permissions" add the following scopes: chat:write, chat:write.public, files:write, incoming-webhook, and channels:history.

4. Under "Event Subscriptions" add bot user events for message.channels and press "Save Changes".

5. Click "Install into Workspace".

6. Copy the Bot User OAuth Token from "OAuth and Permissions".

7. Add the token to SinksConfig in your generated_values.yaml file.

sinksConfig:
- slack_sink:
    name: main_slack_sink
    slack_channel: <your-channel>
    api_key: <your Bot User OAuth Token>