---
title: Synthetic Monitoring Notifications
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
breadcrumbs: Docs > Synthetic Testing and Monitoring > Synthetic Monitoring Notifications
---

# Synthetic Monitoring Notifications

## Overview{% #overview %}

Customize your alerts in [Synthetic Monitoring](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/types/synthetic_monitoring/) to give on-call responders meaningful context. Synthetic Monitoring's message templating system lets you enrich alerts with test details, extract data from test results, and route notifications conditionally based on the failure.

{% alert level="info" %}
Synthetic Monitoring notifications are not supported in your [Continuous Testing CI/CD pipelines.](https://docs.datadoghq.com/continuous_testing/)
{% /alert %}

## Pre-filled monitor messages{% #pre-filled-monitor-messages %}

Synthetic Monitoring provides pre-filled messages with no setup required; each alert includes the test name, failing locations, a link to the result, and metadata such as:

- Test name
- Monitor ID
- Failing locations
- Last failed test run information
- Time the test started failing

These values appear automatically in most notification channels without any configuration.

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/synthetics/browser_tests/browser_tests_pre-filled.eef403be90ebd068c86ad195e8e71d10.png?auto=format"
   alt="Synthetic Monitoring monitor section, highlighting the pre-filled monitor messages" /%}

To include additional test result data beyond the defaults, use handlebar formatting in your monitor message.

{% collapsible-section %}
#### Pre-filled examples by test type

{% tab title="API request response" %}
Display the HTTP request and response details from an API test, including the method, URL, headers, body, status code, and any redirects.

**Request:**

```shell
{{#with synthetics.attributes.result.request}}
We made a {{method}} request to `{{{url}}}`{{#if headers}} with the following headers:

{{#each headers}}
{{@key}}={{this}}
{{/each}}

{{/if}}
{{#if body}}And the body:

{{{body}}}

{{/if}}
{{/with}}
```

**Response:**

```shell
{{#with synthetics.attributes.result.response}}
We received an HTTP {{httpVersion}} response with a {{statusCode}} status code{{#if headers}} with the following headers:

{{#each headers}}
{{@key}}={{this}}
{{/each}}

{{/if}}
{{#if redirects}}
Redirections:
{{#each redirects}}
* {{statusCode}} redirect to `{{{location}}}`
{{/each}}
{{/if}}
The body's size was {{eval "humanize_bytes(bodySize)"}}{{#if body}} and contained:

{{{body}}}

{{/if}}
{{/with}}
```

{% /tab %}

{% tab title="WebSocket tests" %}
Display WebSocket test details including the handshake status, request message, and response close status with reason.

```shell
{{! Websocket request and response details }}
{{#with synthetics.attributes.result}}
{{#if handshake }}
The handshake received a response with the {{handshake.response.statusCode}} status code.
{{/if}}
{{#if request}}
A WebSocket request was made with the message:

{{{request.message}}}

{{/if}}
{{#if response}}
and the response closed with status code {{response.close.statusCode}} and reason `{{response.close.reason}}`
{{#if response.message}}, containing the message:

{{{response.message}}}

{{else}}.{{/if}}
{{/if}}
{{/with}}
```

{% /tab %}

{% tab title="API tests variables" %}
List all config and extracted variables from an API test, showing their names, types, and values. Obfuscated values are hidden for security.

**Config variables:**

```shell
{{#each synthetics.attributes.result.variables.config}}
* **Name:** {{name}}
  Type: {{type}}
  Value: {{#if secure}}*Obfuscated (value hidden)*{{else}}{{value}}{{/if}}
{{/each}}
```

**Extracted Variables (Only visible for recovery notifications):**

```shell
{{#each synthetics.attributes.result.variables.extracted}}
* **Name:** {{name}}
  Global Variable ID: {{id}}
  Value: {{#if secure}}*Obfuscated (value hidden)*{{else}}{{val}}{{/if}}
{{/each}}
```

{% /tab %}

{% tab title="Multistep API variables" %}
Loop through all steps in a multistep API test and display variables extracted by each successful step.

```shell
{{! List extracted variables across all successful steps }}
# Extracted Variables
{{#each synthetics.attributes.result.steps}}
  {{#each variables.extracted}}
  * **Name**: `{{name}}`
    Value: {{#if secure}}*Obfuscated (value hidden)*{{else}}`{{{val}}}`{{/if}}
  {{/each}}
{{/each}}
```

{% /tab %}

{% tab title="Browser and mobile test variables" %}
Loop through all steps in a browser or mobile test and display variables extracted by steps that use the "Extract variable" action.

```shell
{{#each synthetics.attributes.result.steps}}
  {{#if extractedValue}}
  * **Name**: {{extractedValue.name}}
    **Value:** {{#if extractedValue.secure}}*Obfuscated (value hidden)*{{else}}{{extractedValue.value}}{{/if}}
  {{/if}}
{{/each}}
```

{% /tab %}

{% /collapsible-section %}

## Display custom notifications message{% #display-custom-notifications-message %}

Synthetic Monitoring notifications support the ability to display **only the custom notification message** in alert notifications, hiding all default enriched content such as query details, tags, screenshots, and footers.

By default, all monitors include enriched details in the alert message. This may include:

- Test metadata
- Failing step information
- Screenshots
- Tags
- Links to Datadog resources

### Notification presets{% #notification-presets %}

Use presets to control which content appears:

| Preset         | What it shows                                                                        | When to use it                                                                   |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `show_all`     | All enriched data, metadata, and handles                                             | Default; best for email and ticketing channels                                   |
| `hide_handles` | All enriched data, but hides `@notification` handles (for example, `@slack-channel`) | Prevents duplicate pages when a channel is already notified at the monitor level |
| `hide_all`     | Custom message and event link only                                                   | Chat channels where you control the full message format                          |

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/monitors/monitor_types/synthetic_monitoring/content_in_notification.8756003d8a51405dc1cb10ed55135363.png?auto=format"
   alt="Synthetic Monitoring monitor page, highlighting the content displayed in notification drop-down" /%}

See [Monitor Notifications](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/notifications) for more information.

## Simulate notifications{% #simulate-notifications %}

You can test your notification messages by sending simulated notifications. To do this:

1. Add a notification handle to your monitor message
1. Click the **Simulate Notifications** button:

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/synthetics/notifications/simulate_notifications.3cc8705ddcc4fa643638abac5793a47b.png?auto=format"
   alt="Synthetics Monitor screen, highlighting the Simulate Notifications button" /%}

Select the notification type you want to test and click **Send**:

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/synthetics/notifications/simulate_notifications_type.9686e6352d15d02fdff9c4214e1e077d.png?auto=format"
   alt="Send a notification simulating a test failure or recovery." /%}

Simulated notifications include **[TEST]** in their subject lines and use a default monitor name when needed.

**Examples:**

| {% image
     source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/synthetics/notifications/simulated_notifications_email.13164cea0a708c4933e449221e26ec63.png?auto=format"
     alt="Email notification simulating a test failure." /%} | {% image
     source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/synthetics/notifications/simulated_notifications_email_recovered.586f3efe8a3536028f2b18c201ecc32c.png?auto=format"
     alt="Email notification simulating a test recovery." /%} |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

**Important notes about simulated notifications:**

- The test results used in simulations are standardized sample data, not actual results from your specific test configuration.
- Results vary based on test type, subtype (for API tests), and notification type:
  - **Alert notifications**: Simulated failure data
  - **Recovery notifications**: Simulated success data
- All users receive the same simulated data regardless of their test setup.

## Next steps{% #next-steps %}

- [Template variables](https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/notifications/template_variables): Include HTTP status codes, extracted variables, or step details in your messages.
- [Conditional alerting](https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/notifications/conditional_alerting): Change the message by test type, failure reason, or recovery state.
- [Advanced notifications](https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/notifications/advanced_notifications): Use Handlebars helpers to loop over steps or build structured messages.
- [Understanding Synthetic Monitor Alerting](https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/guide/how-synthetics-monitors-trigger-alerts/): How notifications evaluate test results and trigger alerts.

## Further Reading{% #further-reading %}

- [Integrate Synthetic monitors with Statuspage](https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/notifications/statuspage/)
- [Understand how Synthetic monitors evaluate results and trigger alerts](https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/guide/how-synthetics-monitors-trigger-alerts/)
- [Configure monitor notifications](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/notifications/)
- [Suppress notifications with monitor downtimes](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/downtimes/)