Create an on-call schedule

Say who is on call, on which days and hours, with an optional backup for after-hours, so a destination can reach whoever is covering right now.

In the sidebar, open Critical Alerts, then Setup, then On-Call Schedules. The page address is /critical-alerts/schedules.

A schedule does not send anything itself. A destination whose kind is Schedule asks it "who is on right now?" and sends to that person, team or branch.

Before you start

• Your admin has to give your role permission to manage critical alert schedules.
• People need a phone number on their profile to receive calls or texts.

Steps

1. Press New schedule. The Create schedule drawer opens.
2. Type a Name. The Key fills in from it and cannot change later.
3. Choose the Timezone the days and hours are read in. Leave it blank to use your organization's.
4. Under Primary on-call coverage, choose the Target type (User, Team or Branch) and pick the On-call targets.
5. The Default window is all day, every day. To limit it, press Customize window and set Days, Start and End. All the time puts it back.
6. If someone else should cover the remaining hours, under Backup coverage press Add backup, then choose its Target type, Targets, Days, Start and End. The backup window starts at 19:00 and ends at 07:00 unless you change it. Remove backup takes it away.
7. Press Create schedule. The schedule is saved as a draft.
8. On its row, press Publish so destinations start using it.

What you see

• Each row shows the timezone, how many coverage windows it has and who is in them, and a version line.
• The Filters button narrows by Status and Publish state.
• Advanced at the bottom of the drawer hides Show policy JSON for unusual rotations; most schedules never need it.
• Version history lists earlier live versions with Make live on each.

If something looks different

• "No secondary coverage": there is no backup, and primary coverage handles everything.
• A destination still reaches the old person after you changed the schedule: publish the schedule. Destinations follow the live version, not the draft.
• You need a window that crosses midnight: a Start later than the End is allowed. The default backup window, 19:00 to 07:00, already does this.

Open Schedules