On-Call Scheduling

On-call schedules ensure someone is always responsible for responding to incidents — without burning out your team.

How it works

Monitor fails
    ↓
Alert rule triggered
    ↓
Escalation policy → "Who is on-call right now?"
    ↓
Current on-call engineer notified
    ↓
If unacknowledged → next escalation step

On-call schedules are referenced by escalation policies. An escalation policy says "notify the on-call person" — the schedule determines who that is.

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Creating a schedule

1. Go to On-Call → Schedules → New Schedule
2. Give it a name (e.g. Engineering Primary)
3. Add rotation layers

Rotation layers

Setting	Options	Default
Rotation type	Daily, Weekly, Custom	Weekly
Handoff time	Any time	Monday 00:00 UTC
Members	Any team members	—
Timezone	Per-user or schedule-wide	UTC

Example: Weekly rotation

schedule:
  name: "Engineering Primary"
  timezone: "America/New_York"
  
  layers:
    - name: "Primary On-Call"
      rotation_type: weekly
      handoff_day: Monday
      handoff_time: "09:00"
      users:
        - [email protected]
        - [email protected]
        - [email protected]
        - [email protected]

    - name: "Secondary (Backup)"
      rotation_type: weekly
      handoff_day: Monday
      handoff_time: "09:00"
      users:
        - [email protected]
        - [email protected]
        - [email protected]
        - [email protected]

This creates a 4-week rotation where Alice is primary in week 1, Bob in week 2, etc. — with the list offset for the secondary layer.

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Overrides

When someone can't be on-call (holiday, sick day), create an override:

1. Open the schedule → "Add Override"
2. Select the date/time range
3. Select the replacement person

override:
  from: "2026-03-15T00:00:00Z"
  to:   "2026-03-22T00:00:00Z"
  user: [email protected]   # Covering for alice

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Follow-the-sun scheduling

Automatically hand off to engineers in the appropriate timezone as the day progresses:

schedule:
  name: "Follow-the-sun"
  layers:
    - name: "APAC"
      restriction:
        type: time_of_day
        start_time: "00:00"  # UTC
        end_time:   "08:00"
      users: [singapore-[email protected]]

    - name: "EMEA"
      restriction:
        type: time_of_day
        start_time: "08:00"
        end_time:   "16:00"
      users: [london-[email protected]]

    - name: "Americas"
      restriction:
        type: time_of_day
        start_time: "16:00"
        end_time:   "24:00"
      users: [nyc-[email protected]]

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Notifications

When someone comes on-call, they automatically receive:

• 📧 Email: "You are now on-call for Engineering Primary"
• 💬 Slack DM: "Your on-call shift starts now"

When someone's shift is ending:

• Email/Slack 30 minutes before handoff (configurable)

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Calendar sync

Export your on-call schedule to Google Calendar, Outlook, or Apple Calendar via iCal:

1. Go to your schedule → "Export"
2. Copy the .ics URL
3. Subscribe to it in your calendar app

The calendar auto-updates whenever the schedule changes.

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Mobile app

The AlertifyPro mobile app (iOS / Android) shows:

• Who is currently on-call
• Your upcoming shifts
• A one-tap acknowledge button for alerts