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

# Synthetic Monitoring Conditional Alerting

## Overview{% #overview %}

Use conditional templating to change messages, set notification handles, or override alert priority based on test results. This is especially useful when routing alerts to specific teams.

{% alert level="danger" %}
To ensure notifications are delivered properly, always include a notification handle in your conditional logic. Notifications are dropped if no handle is provided. Make sure to:

- Include a catch-all condition using `{{else}}` to handle any unmatched scenarios.
- Provide notification handles for both alert and recovery notifications.

For more detailed information, see the [Monitor documentation.](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/notify/variables/?tab=is_alert#examples)
{% /alert %}



## Examples{% #examples %}

### Send alerts based on status code{% #send-alerts-based-on-status-code %}

```shell
{{!
If a test triggers an alert for an API test and returns a 500 statuscode, notify the backend team.
}}
{{#is_alert}}
  {{#is_exact_match "synthetics.attributes.result.response.statusCode" "500"}}@notify-slack-backend{{/is_exact_match}}
{{/is_alert}}
```

### Send alerts based on an error code{% #send-alerts-based-on-an-error-code %}

```shell
{{!
Use multiple is_exact_match conditions to display specific failure codes in your notification. 
This example checks for DNS and INCORRECT_ASSERTION failure codes
}}

{{#if synthetics.attributes.result.failure}}

{{#is_exact_match "synthetics.attributes.result.failure.code" "DNS"}}
print out failure code: The failure code is DNS
{{/is_exact_match}}

{{#is_exact_match "synthetics.attributes.result.failure.code" "INCORRECT_ASSERTION"}}
print out failure code: The failure code is an INCORRECT ASSERTION
{{/is_exact_match}}

{{/if}}
```

{% alert level="info" %}
For a complete list of API test error codes, see [API Testing Errors](https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/api_tests/errors/).
{% /alert %}

### Send alerts to a specific Slack channel based on failed step{% #send-alerts-to-a-specific-slack-channel-based-on-failed-step %}

```shell
{{!
If a test triggers an alert for browser or mobile tests, loop through each step and find the failed step.
If the failed step's description field matches Checkout, notify the recipient
}}

{{#is_alert}}
  {{#each synthetics.attributes.result.steps}}
    {{#is_match "status" "failed"}}
      {{#is_match "description" "Checkout"}}@notify-slack-payments{{/is_match}}
    {{/is_match}}
  {{/each}}
{{/is_alert}}
```

### Send alerts to a specific Slack channel based on failed step using a variable shortcut{% #send-alerts-to-a-specific-slack-channel-based-on-failed-step-using-a-variable-shortcut %}

```shell
{{!
This alert uses the {{synthetics.failed_step}} object which is a variable shortcut that points to the relevant step data contained in {{synthetics.attributes.result.steps}}.
If the test triggers an alert for browser or mobile tests, and if the failed step's description field matches Checkout, notify the recipient.
}}

{{#is_alert}}
  {{#is_match "synthetics.failed_step.description" "Checkout"}}@notify-slack-payments{{/is_match}}
{{/is_alert}}
```

### Set different alert priorities{% #set-different-alert-priorities %}

```shell
{{!
If a test triggers an alert for a multistep API test, loop through each step and find the failed step.
If the step's name matches the staging domain, set the priority to P2. Otherwise, set it to P4.
}}

{{#is_alert}}send a message to <name> @example@email.com 
  {{#each synthetics.attributes.result.steps}}
    {{#is_match "status" "failed"}}
      {{#is_match "name" "stagedomain"}}Stage domain failed. Overriding priority to P2.
        {{override_priority 'P2'}}
        {{else}}Dev domain failed. Overriding priority to P4{{override_priority 'P4'}}
      {{/is_match}}
    {{/is_match}}
  {{/each}}
{{/is_alert}}
```

### Set different alert priorities using variable shortcut{% #set-different-alert-priorities-using-variable-shortcut %}

```shell
{{!
This alert uses the {{synthetics.failed_step}} object which is a variable shortcut that points to the relevant step data contained in `{{synthetics.attributes.result.steps}}`.
If the test triggers an alert for multistep API test and if the failed step's name field matches the domain, override the priority.
}}
{{#is_alert}}
  {{#is_match "synthetics.failed_step.name" "stagedomain"}}Stage domain failed. Overriding priority to P2{{override_priority 'P2'}}
  {{else}}Dev domain failed. Overriding priority to P4{{override_priority 'P4'}}
  {{/is_match}}
{{/is_alert}}
```

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

- [Use advanced notifications in Synthetic Monitoring](https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/notifications/advanced_notifications)
- [Learn more about monitor variables](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/notify/variables)