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order: 2 title: First Steps description: Create your first service, escalation policy, on-call schedule, and test incident

First Steps

This guide walks you through setting up OpsKnight from scratch. By the end, you'll have a complete incident management workflow configured and tested.

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What We'll Build

In this guide, you'll create:

1. An Admin User — Your first login account
2. A Team — To organize your responders
3. A Service — Representing a system you monitor
4. An Escalation Policy — Defining who gets notified
5. An On-Call Schedule — Rotating on-call duties
6. A Test Incident — Verifying everything works

Each step builds on the previous, so follow them in order.

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Step 1: Create Admin User (First-Time Setup)

When you first access OpsKnight, you'll be automatically redirected to the setup page at /setup.

On the Setup Page:

1. Enter your Name (e.g., "Jane Admin")
2. Enter your Email (e.g., jane@example.com)
3. Click Create Admin Account

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Important: A secure password will be generated for you and displayed only once. Copy it immediately and store it safely — you won't be able to see it again.

After Setup:

1. You'll be redirected to the login page
2. Log in with your email and the generated password
3. Once logged in, you can change your password in Profile settings

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Note: The /setup page is only accessible when no users exist in the system. After the first admin is created, this page becomes unavailable.

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Step 2: Invite Team Members

Before setting up schedules, you need team members to put on-call.

Navigate to Users

1. Click Settings in the sidebar
2. Select Users

Invite a User

1. Click Invite User
2. Enter their email address
3. Select a role:
   • User — Can view and acknowledge incidents
   • Responder — Can handle incidents and be on-call
   • Admin — Full system access
4. Click Send Invitation

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The user receives an email with a link to set their password and activate their account.

Tip: For testing, invite yourself with a different email to simulate a team member.

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Step 3: Create a Team

Teams organize users and can be targeted by escalation policies.

Navigate to Teams

1. Click Teams in the sidebar

Create Your Team

1. Click Create Team
2. Enter team details:
   • Name: Platform Engineering
   • Description: Responsible for core infrastructure
3. Click Create

Add Members

1. Open your new team
2. Click Add Members
3. Select users and assign roles:
   • Owner — Can manage the team
   • Admin — Can add/remove members
   • Member — Standard team member

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Why Teams Matter:

• Escalation policies can notify entire teams
• Incidents can be assigned to teams
• Dashboards can filter by team

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Step 4: Create a Service

Services represent the systems you monitor — APIs, databases, applications, or infrastructure components.

Navigate to Services

1. Click Services in the sidebar

Create Your Service

1. Click Create Service
2. Fill in the details:
   • Name: Payment API
   • Description: Handles all payment processing
   • Team: Select Platform Engineering
3. Leave Escalation Policy empty for now (we'll create one next)
4. Click Create

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Why Services Matter:

• Alerts route through services to reach the right people
• Services connect to escalation policies
• Analytics track metrics per service
• Status pages display service health

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Step 5: Create an Escalation Policy

Escalation policies define who gets notified when an incident occurs and how notifications escalate if no one responds.

Navigate to Escalation Policies

1. Click Policies in the sidebar

Create Your Policy

1. Click Create Policy
2. Enter basic info:
   • Name: Payment API Escalation
   • Description: Primary → Secondary → Team Lead

Add Escalation Steps

Step 1 — Primary On-Call:

1. Click Add Step
2. Configure:
   • Target Type: Schedule (we'll create this next)
   • Delay: 0 minutes (notify immediately)

Step 2 — Secondary Backup:

1. Click Add Step
2. Configure:
   • Target Type: User
   • Target: Select a backup person
   • Delay: 5 minutes (if no ack after 5 min)

Step 3 — Team Escalation:

1. Click Add Step

2. Configure:

   • Target Type: Team
   • Target: Platform Engineering
   • Delay: 10 minutes

3. Enable Repeat to loop back to Step 1 if no one acknowledges

4. Click Create

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How Escalation Works

Incident Created
    ↓
Step 1: Notify Primary On-Call (from schedule)
    ↓ (wait 5 min if not acknowledged)
Step 2: Notify Backup User
    ↓ (wait 10 min if still not acknowledged)
Step 3: Notify Entire Team
    ↓ (if repeat enabled, go back to Step 1)

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Step 6: Create an On-Call Schedule

On-call schedules define who is responsible for responding during specific time periods.

Navigate to Schedules

1. Click Schedules in the sidebar

Create Your Schedule

1. Click Create Schedule
2. Enter details:
   • Name: Payment API Primary On-Call
   • Timezone: Select your team's timezone (e.g., America/New_York)
3. Click Create

Add a Layer

Layers allow multiple rotation patterns (e.g., weekday vs. weekend coverage).

1. Click Add Layer
2. Configure:
   • Name: Primary Rotation
   • Rotation Length: 168 hours (1 week per person)
   • Start Time: Select when the rotation begins

Add Users to the Layer

1. Click Add User
2. Select team members in rotation order
3. Drag to reorder if needed

<!-- placeholder:schedule-calendar --> <!-- Add: Screenshot of the schedule calendar view showing rotation timeline -->

Schedule Concepts:

• Layers — Different rotation patterns (primary, secondary, holiday)
• Rotation Length — How long each person is on-call (24h, 168h, etc.)
• Overrides — Temporary changes (vacation coverage, swaps)

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Step 7: Connect Policy to Service

Now link everything together.

Update Your Service

1. Go to Services → Payment API
2. Click Edit
3. Set Escalation Policy: Payment API Escalation
4. Click Save

The Chain is Complete:

Payment API (Service)
    ↓
Payment API Escalation (Policy)
    ↓
Step 1: Payment API Primary On-Call (Schedule)
    ↓
Currently: Jane Admin (based on rotation)

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Step 8: Configure Notifications (Optional)

Before testing, set up at least one notification channel.

Email (Simplest)

1. Go to Settings → Notifications
2. Configure SMTP or a provider (SendGrid, Resend, etc.)
3. Test with Send Test Email

Slack (Recommended)

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Slack
2. Click Connect to Slack
3. Authorize OpsKnight in your workspace
4. Select a default channel for notifications

See the Notifications Guide for detailed setup.

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Step 9: Create a Test Incident

Let's verify everything works by creating a manual incident.

Create the Incident

1. Click Incidents in the sidebar
2. Click Create Incident
3. Fill in:
   • Title: Test: Payment API High Latency
   • Description: This is a test incident to verify the workflow
   • Service: Payment API
   • Urgency: High
4. Click Create

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What Should Happen

1. Incident Created — Appears in the incident list with status OPEN
2. Notification Sent — Current on-call person receives alert via configured channels
3. Timeline Updated — Shows "Incident triggered" event

Verify the Flow

1. Open the incident to see the timeline
2. Check that notifications were sent (look for delivery status)
3. Click Acknowledge to stop escalation
4. Click Resolve to close the incident

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Step 10: Test via API (Optional)

For a more realistic test, send an alert via the Events API:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/events \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "routing_key": "payment-api",
    "event_action": "trigger",
    "dedup_key": "test-alert-001",
    "payload": {
      "summary": "High CPU usage on payment-api-prod-1",
      "severity": "critical",
      "source": "monitoring-system",
      "custom_details": {
        "cpu_percent": 95,
        "host": "payment-api-prod-1"
      }
    }
  }'

Note: The routing_key should match an integration key configured for your service.

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Congratulations!

You've successfully set up OpsKnight with:

• A team of responders
• A monitored service
• An escalation policy with multiple steps
• An on-call rotation schedule
• A tested incident workflow

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What's Next?

Now that the basics are working, explore these areas:

Connect Real Monitoring Tools

Route alerts from your actual infrastructure:

• Datadog Integration
• Prometheus Integration
• Generic Webhooks

Set Up More Notification Channels

Reach responders through multiple channels:

• SMS via Twilio
• Push Notifications
• Slack Integration

Configure SLAs

Track response time commitments:

• SLA Configuration

Create a Status Page

Communicate with customers:

• Status Page Setup

Understand Core Concepts

Deepen your knowledge:

• Incident Lifecycle
• Schedule Deep Dive
• Escalation Details

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Quick Reference

What	Where
Create/manage users	Settings → Users
Create/manage teams	Teams
Create/manage services	Services
Create escalation policies	Policies
Create on-call schedules	Schedules
View/manage incidents	Incidents
Configure notifications	Settings → Notifications
Connect integrations	Settings → Integrations