Features · alerts
Web analytics alerts: in plain words, from figures you can trust
Web analytics alerts that tell you something is wrong now, not tomorrow morning. Site, AI and crawler rules, each switched on or off per site, on the dashboard, by mail or in Slack.
Web analytics alerts are messages a tool sends when a figure crosses a rule: the site goes down, errors spike, traffic falls. Each Skald alert states its rule and its figures, in visits or in requests, never both, and fires only on figures it has checked. Part of Skald features.
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- 09:12 Site down: 2 heartbeats in a row missedresolved 09:21
- 11:40 Server errors: 14 answers 5xx in 10 minutesopen · requests
- 13:05 New crawler: ExampleAIBot, 3 requestsopen · requests
- 07:30 First AI citation: chatgpt.com sent a visitor to /docs/setup/open · visits
- 07:30 Crawler gone silent: PerplexityBot, 7 daysopen · requests
Sample alerts. Each names its rule and its figures, in visits or in requests.
[01] site alerts
Website alerts: something is wrong now
Seven site rules are checked on every live run, every 2 minutes, from what that run already has. The numbers below are the defaults; whoever runs your Skald server can change them. Pick a rule.
pick a rule
Site down
Skald's own heartbeat asks your site for a page every 5 minutes. When 2 beats in a row are missed or fail, the alert opens. When the site answers again, one resolved line follows.
Site down: 2 heartbeats in a row missed, last good answer 09:07 → open
Logging stopped
No log line at all for 15 minutes. The site may be fine, but Skald is reading nothing, so every figure after it would be short. One resolved line follows when lines arrive again.
Logging stopped: no log line for 15 minutes → open
Server errors
10 or more answers with a 5xx status in 10 minutes. Site › Health shows which pages and which groups met them.
Server errors: 14 answers 5xx in 10 minutes, in requests → open
404 surge
People, not bots, met 10 or more pages not found in the last hour, and 3 times their usual hour (the median of the last 14 whole days). Often a broken link after a release.
404 surge: people met 38 pages not found this hour, usual 9 → open
Crawler burst
One crawler or bot made half or more of the last 30 minutes' requests, and at least 500 of them. Crawler cost and the requests log show what it fetched.
Crawler burst: Bytespider made 62% of 30 minutes, 1,840 requests → open
New crawler
An assistant, a search crawler or an AI-looking agent never seen before on this site, with at least 3 requests.
New crawler: ExampleAIBot, 3 requests, first at 13:02 → open
Traffic drop
Yesterday's readers below half the median of the same weekday over the 4 weeks before. Whole days only, at least 3 of them, and a usual of at least 20 readers.
Traffic drop: 31 readers on Tuesday, the usual Tuesday 88 → open
[02] AI alerts
AI alerts: the first citation, and when AI changes
You should not have to watch a table to learn that ChatGPT sent its first visitor, or that a crawler stopped coming. These alerts use whole days, once a day, from figures already counted twice.
First AI citation
The first visit ever that followed a link in an assistant's answer, with the time, the page and that day's visits from it. A page's first gets its own alert.
Visits from AI answers
Yesterday against the median of the same weekday over the 6 weeks before. It fires at twice the usual and at least 10 visits, or at half a usual of at least 10.
Crawler gone silent
An AI or search crawler that came on at least 7 of 28 days has made no request for 7 days. Check robots.txt and your CDN rules.
AI started or stopped reading
An assistant fetched a page it had not fetched in the 28 days before, or has not fetched for 7 days a page it read in 3 of the 4 weeks before. Visits likely sent by AI that jump or vanish alert too.
[03] security alerts
Security alerts, for each person on the team
Three security alerts go the same way as the site's others: the dashboard, the alert mail and your webhooks. On top of that, each person picks their own.
Possible exposure
Opens at once when a probe is answered with a page unlike the host's fallback page, one alert per host and path.
Advisory matches your stack
After the daily check, one alert per advisory, host and product that needs something done.
New scan wave
The last day's probes at three times the usual day and at least 200. Off until you switch it on.
Your own security alerts: on or off, right away or in the daily mail. Owners and admins get them right away by default, viewers none until they turn them on. A reminder comes every 3 days while an item stays open, and you can send yourself a test alert.
- All alertson
- Mail alertson
- Site down · Server errors · 404 surgeon
- Crawler burstoff
- New scan waveoff until switched on
[04] switches and history
Switch each alert rule on or off, per site
Owners and admins switch all alerts, mail alerts and each rule on Site › Alerts. Viewers see the switches but cannot change them.
A change applies from the next live run, within 2 minutes. A switch the server's config locks shows its reason. A bell in the top bar shows what is open, and Site › Alerts lists open and closed alerts of the last 30 days; press AI to see only the AI ones.
[05] where alerts go
Alerts in Slack, by mail, or to any tool
Alerts always show on Site › Alerts and the bell. Mail goes to confirmed recipients only. Any tool can get them as a signed webhook; nothing leaves Skald until an admin adds one.
Add Slack's webhook
In Slack, add an Incoming Webhook to the channel and copy its address. It starts with
hooks.slack.com.Tick alert.opened
In Skald, add it as an outgoing webhook, tick
alert.opened, and press Add webhook. Skald sends Slack's own shape.Send a test
A line appears in the channel. Each new alert then posts one message: the site, the title, the detail with its numbers.
Any other address gets the full message, signed, with the figures and their unit. A failed delivery is tried again after 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours and 12 hours. AI reading changes also go out as ai.reading_changed.
[06] no alert fatigue
One mail per alert, and never on a bad day
An alert you learn to ignore is worse than none. So Skald mails each alert once, and keeps quiet when it cannot trust the figures.
Mailed once
An alert is mailed when it opens. Repeats within 6 hours are counted and listed in one daily digest.
Checked figures only
Rules on figures run only when today's count reconciled. AI alerts wait when a day in their window is withheld or missing.
Plain words, one unit
Each alert states its rule and its figures, in visits (a person who clicked) or requests (a crawler), never both.
What it does not do
- Thresholds are set in the server's config by whoever runs Skald. The dashboard switches rules on or off.
- The first-citation alerts start once Skald has 28 days of history, so a new install does not call every citation a first.
- Below 10 visits, the AI visit alerts say too few to judge and stay quiet.
- An alert says what the log showed. Skald does not fix the site or block anything itself.
- Your own security alerts need sign-in with accounts; the site's alert mail works without them.
questions
Web analytics alerts FAQ
Straight answers, including what Skald does not do.
Which alerts does Skald send?
Site alerts: site down, logging stopped, a burst of server errors, a surge of 404s, a crawler burst, a new crawler, and a traffic drop. AI alerts: the first visit ever from an AI answer, a page's first, visits from AI answers against the usual for that weekday, a crawler gone silent, and an assistant starting or stopping reading a page. Security alerts: a possible exposure, an advisory that matches your stack, and a new scan wave.
How often does Skald check for alerts?
Site alerts are checked on every live run, every 2 minutes. The AI and crawler alerts use whole days, once a day, and only days Skald has already counted twice.
Can Skald send alerts to Slack?
Yes. Add a Slack incoming webhook as an outgoing webhook in Skald, tick the alert.opened event, and press Send a test. Each new alert then posts one message with the site, the title and the detail with its numbers. Any other address gets the full message, signed.
Will I get the same alert again and again?
No. An alert is mailed once, when it opens. While it stays open, or if it reopens within 6 hours of its last mail, the checks that find it again are counted and listed in one daily digest. Site down and logging stopped send one resolved line when they clear.
Can I turn off an alert I do not need?
Yes. On Site › Alerts, owners and admins switch all alerts, mail alerts, and each rule on or off for the site. A change applies from the next live run, within 2 minutes. How much makes an alert is set in the server's config.
Why did Skald not alert on a quiet day?
Because small numbers mislead. The AI alerts need at least 10 visits, and below that say too few to judge. An alert also waits when a day in its window is withheld or missing: it never fires on a day it cannot trust.
$ tail -f access.log | skald
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