Article

    PagerDuty

    5 min read
    Last updated 12 hours ago

    Unthread’s PagerDuty integration lets your team create PagerDuty incidents directly from Unthread conversations in Slack, route pages to the right PagerDuty service, and keep on-call workflows connected to your support process.

    What the PagerDuty Integration Does

    With PagerDuty connected, you can:

    • Create PagerDuty pages from Slack conversations
    • Choose or automatically route to the right PagerDuty service
    • Add business context from the support thread to the PagerDuty incident
    • Link the PagerDuty incident back to the Slack conversation
    • Use PagerDuty services in Unthread automations
    • Sync PagerDuty escalation policies into Unthread user groups for on-call routing

    Installation

    To connect PagerDuty:

    1. Go to Settings → Apps & Integrations in Unthread.
    2. Select PagerDuty.
    3. Paste your PagerDuty REST API Key.

    You can create this key in PagerDuty under Integrations → API Access Keys. Make sure the key has access to read services, read on-call information, and create incidents.

    During setup, you’ll also configure:

    • Default email for pages: Used as the PagerDuty requester when Unthread cannot match the paging user to a PagerDuty user by email.
    • Allow requesters to trigger PagerDuty pages from Slack: Allows customer-facing users to page on-call directly from Slack.
    • Require guidance confirmation: Shows paging instructions that must be acknowledged before a page is created.
    • Enable ticket type routing: Routes pages to PagerDuty services based on ticket type and ticket fields.
    • Notification icon: Customizes the icon used in Slack page confirmation messages.

    Paging from Slack

    Once enabled, Unthread adds a Page On-call button to supported conversation messages in Slack.

    When a user clicks Page On-call, they’ll fill out a PagerDuty modal with:

    • The impacted service or ticket type
    • A title
    • A description with business context

    Unthread creates the PagerDuty incident and includes a link back to the Slack thread. After the incident is created, Unthread posts a confirmation message in the Slack thread with a link to view the incident in PagerDuty.

    If guidance text is configured, the user must acknowledge it before creating the page.

    Ticket Type Service Routing

    You can configure PagerDuty behavior per ticket type from the ticket type settings page.

    If ticket type routing is disabled, each ticket type can define:

    • Allowed PagerDuty Services: Limits which services can be selected when paging.
    • Default PagerDuty Service: Preselects the service for that ticket type.
    • PagerDuty Guidance Text: Shows custom instructions when that ticket type is paged.

    If ticket type routing is enabled, each ticket type can define conditional routing rules. Rules are evaluated from top to bottom, then fall back to the ticket type’s default PagerDuty service.

    For example, you could route:

    • Login issues to the Authentication PagerDuty service
    • Billing-impacting issues to the Payments PagerDuty service
    • Enterprise customer incidents to a dedicated escalation service

    Routing rules can use ticket type custom fields, including select fields, date fields, user fields, and user group fields.

    Project-level Overrides

    PagerDuty settings can be inherited from the workspace-level integration settings or overridden per project.

    To configure this:

    1. Go to Settings.
    2. Select a project.
    3. Open the project’s PagerDuty Settings section.
    4. Choose whether the project should inherit workspace settings or use custom settings.

    Project overrides are useful when different support teams have different paging policies, guidance text, requester permissions, or ticket type routing rules.

    Using PagerDuty in Automations

    When PagerDuty is enabled, Unthread automations include a Create PagerDuty Page action.

    The automation action supports:

    • Impacted PagerDuty service
    • Incident title
    • Issue details
    • Requested-by user

    You can use conversation variables in the title and details, such as the conversation title, submitter, assignee, or ticket fields.

    Syncing On-call Users

    Unthread can also use PagerDuty escalation policies in dynamic user groups.

    When PagerDuty is connected, you can create a user group filtered by PagerDuty Escalation Policy. Unthread syncs the current level-one on-call users from PagerDuty by matching PagerDuty user emails to Unthread users.

    This is useful for:

    • Assigning conversations to the current on-call user
    • Building escalation paths around PagerDuty rotations
    • Mentioning on-call users in Slack when a page is created

    Current Limitations

    • PagerDuty users must have matching email addresses in Unthread for requester matching and on-call mentions.
    • Incidents created outside Unthread are not automatically linked to Unthread conversations.
    • Resolving a PagerDuty incident does not automatically close the Unthread conversation.
    • On-call user group membership updates on the next scheduled sync.