Use Incident Workflows to build an automated response for every incident. For example, you can configure one Workflow that automatically triggers for all P1 and P2 incidents, and a separate Workflow that orchestrates a security incident response. Through highly-configurable Triggers and Actions, you can apply 'if-this-then-that' logic to orchestrate the right response for your teams, processes, and business.

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Availability
Incident Workflows are included with our Business and Digital Operations pricing plans. Please contact our Sales team to upgrade to a plan with Incident Workflows.

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Upgrade to Incident Workflows

Because Incident Workflows are a more robust and powerful version of Response Plays, we will be working to upgrade accounts from Response Plays to Incident Workflows, ultimately culminating in a Response Plays end-of-life in late 2023.

Please read Upgrade Response Plays to Incident Workflows for details and frequently asked questions about the upgrade process.

Incident Workflow Components

Incident Workflows are comprised of two main components: triggers and actions. By customizing the right set of triggers and actions, you can adjust Workflows for your particular use case.

Triggers

Triggers determine when Incident Workflows should be run, and you can add multiple triggers to each Workflow to customize your preferred response. For example, you can use triggers to create a Workflow that only runs for high-priority incidents. There are three types of triggers: Conditional, Manual and API.

Conditional Triggers

Conditional triggers can start Incident Workflows whenever an incident is created, or only when specific conditions are met.

If you select When an incident is created, you are not required to add a condition. If you do add a condition, though, the condition will be evaluated when the incident is created.

If you select When conditions are met, the condition is evaluated any time there is a change to the incident. This means that workflow could potentially run multiples times. For example, if the condition is priority matches P-1 and a user toggles the priority back and forth between P-1 and P-2, the workflow will trigger each time the incident's priority changes to P-1.

Conditional triggers support the following incident fields:

Priority
Status
Urgency

Manual Triggers

Manual triggers let responders start the Incident Workflow directly from an incident. When a manual trigger is added, Incident Workflows can be triggered from the PagerDuty web app, mobile app, Slack, or Microsoft Teams.

API Triggers

You can trigger workflows using the Incident Workflows REST API endpoint. One of the following user roles is required to trigger workflows via the API:

Manager base role
Admin
Account Owner

Applying Triggers to Services

The last step of creating a trigger is applying it to the right services. There are two ways to apply a trigger to services:

Apply a trigger to all services on the account.
Apply a trigger to specific services.

Once a trigger has been applied to a service and the Workflow has been published, it can then be used for incidents on those services.

Actions

Every Incident Workflow is made up of a set of actions that define what the Workflow will do. Incident Workflows support the following actions:

Add a conference bridge dial-in number and/or URL.
Add responders to the PagerDuty incident.
Add stakeholders to the incident.
Create a dedicated chat in Microsoft Teams.
Add Conference Bridge in Microsoft Teams.
Google Meeting: Create a Meeting
Create a per-incident Slack channel.
Link an existing Slack channel and /invite all responders tied to that incident to the channel.
Create a new dynamic Zoom meeting.
Reassign the Incident.
Run an Automation Action.
Send status updates to stakeholders.

Create an Incident Workflow

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Required User Permissions
Account Owners and Global Admins can create and edit all Incident Workflows. Other users can edit workflows and triggers for services where they have Manager access.

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Maximum Workflow Amount
Each account can create a maximum of 2,000 Incident Workflows.

Create an Incident Workflow from a Template

Incident Workflow templates provide a helpful starting point so you don’t have to create a Workflow from scratch. With templates, you can see best practices and review common examples of Incident Workflow use cases.

In the web app's top navigation bar, go to Automation Incident Workflows.
Select the template you would like to use:

Major Incident
Collaboration
Update Stakeholders

You will be directed to a preview of the template.

Click Use Template to create a workflow based on the template you selected.
In the builder view, you can optionally select the Settings tab to modify the workflow Name, Description, and Who can edit this Workflow?. Click Save.
With the Builder tab selected, triggers and actions that require updates are marked Needs attention.

Click a trigger or action to review its configuration:
1. For any triggers or actions you wish to remove from the workflow, click Remove.
2. Click to add additional triggers or actions to the workflow.
3. To left of a trigger or action, click and drag to reorder items as needed.
When you are satisfied with the workflow's configuration, click Publish in the upper right and then Publish again in the confirmation modal.

Create an Incident Workflow from Scratch

Select Automation Incident Workflows from the top navigation bar.
Click Create Workflow.
Enter a workflow Name and Description. Under Who can edit this Workflow? select one of the following:

All admins
Team managers on a specific team: Select the preferred Team from the dropdown.

Click Create.

Add Triggers

Click Add Trigger and select from the following:

Conditional Trigger: Starts an Incident Workflow when an incident in an associated service is created or updated

a. In the section When should this Workflow start? , select When an incident is created or When conditions are met (default) from the dropdown. This selection determines if a Workflow should start on incident creation, or only when the conditions are met.

b. Select the icon to use the Visual Condition Editor, or the icon to use the Advanced PagerDuty Condition Language (PCL) Editor. Note: If you would like to reference fields in your condition, you must select the PCL Editor.

c. Enter the condition that must be met for the trigger to run. Supported condition fields are Priority, Status and Urgency, though more fields may be added in the future. To add more OR conditions, click New Condition (OR) and repeat this step.

d. In the This trigger applies to dropdown, select whether you would like your condition(s) to apply to All services or Specific services. If you select Specific services, then select your preferred service(s).

e. Click Save.

Manual Trigger: Starts an Incident Workflow when manually updated

a. In the Who can run this workflow? dropdown, select whether you would like to grant permissions to All incident responders or Incident responders on a specific team. If you selected Incident responders on a specific team, then select your preferred Team.

b. In the This trigger applies to dropdown, select whether you would like your condition(s) to apply to All services or Specific services. If you select Specific services, then select your preferred service(s).

c. Click Save.

Add Actions

Click Add Action and select from the actions listed below. Note: Actions will trigger in the sequential order that they are added to the Workflow.

Add Conference Bridge

Description: Add a phone number and/or URL to an incident.

Instructions:

a. Enter the following:

Conference Number: The phone number of the conference call for the conference bridge. Phone numbers should be formatted like +1 415-555-1212,,,,1234#, where a comma (,) represents a one-second wait and pound (#) completes access code input.
Conference URL: A URL for the conference bridge. This could be a link to a web conference or Slack channel.
- You may optionally add field references in either the Conference Number or URL above by clicking {+}, or entering {{, and selecting your preferred field.

b. Click Save.

Add Responders

Description: Add users or escalation policies as responders to an incident.

Instructions:

a. Perform the following:

Responders dropdown: Select the escalation policy (or policies) and/or user(s) you'd like to add as responders.
Message (optional): Enter the message to be sent with the request. You may optionally add field references in the message by clicking {+}, or entering {{, and selecting your preferred field.

b. Click Save.

Add Stakeholders

Description: Subscribe Teams or users to status updates for an incident.

Instructions:

a. Perform the following:

Stakeholders dropdown: Select the Team(s) and/or user(s) you'd like to add as stakeholders.

b. Click Save.

Create a Dedicated Chat in Microsoft Teams

Description: Add a Microsoft Teams dedicated chat to an incident. The chat will include an incident notification card with real-time updates and incident action buttons. It will also automatically add responders that have been added to the incident.

Instructions:

a. Perform the following:

Microsoft Teams Organization: Select the name of the Microsoft Teams Organization the meeting is in.
Chat Name: Enter your preferred chat name. You may optionally add field references to the channel name by clicking {+}, or entering {{, and selecting your preferred field. If you do not enter a meeting name, it will default to incident_{incident-number}.

b. Click Save.

Create Conference Bridge in Microsoft Teams

Description: Add a Microsoft Teams conference bridge to an incident.

Instructions:

a. Perform the following:

Microsoft Teams Organization: Select the name of the Microsoft Teams Organization the meeting is in.
Meeting Name: Enter your preferred meeting name. You may optionally add field references to the channel name by clicking {+}, or entering {{, and selecting your preferred field. If you do not enter a meeting name, it will default to incident_{incident-number}.

b. Click Save.

Google Meeting: Create a Meeting

Description: Create a new meeting that anyone in your Google Workspace can join.

Instructions:

a. Click Add Action and perform the following:

Meeting title: Enter the name of the Google Meet. You may optionally add field references to the channel name by clicking {+}, or entering {{, and selecting your preferred field. If you do not enter a meeting title, it will default to incident_{{incident.incident_number}}.
- Note: Google Meet names must be 60 characters or less, and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores. When the Incident Workflow runs, PagerDuty will reformat any uppercase letters to lowercase, and replace invalid characters with a hyphen. PagerDuty will truncate meeting names that are longer than 60 characters.

b. Click Save.

Create a Slack Channel for an Incident

Description: Create a new Slack channel for an incident.

Instructions:

a. Perform the following:

Slack Workspace Name: Select the name of the Slack workspace the channel is in.
Desired Channel Name (optional): Enter the name of the channel to create in Slack. You may optionally add field references to the channel name by clicking {+}, or entering {{, and selecting your preferred field. If you do not enter a channel name, it will default to incident_{incident-number}.

b. Click Save.

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Channel Name Formatting
Slack channel names must be 80 characters or less, and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores. When the Incident Workflow runs, PagerDuty will reformat any uppercase letters to lowercase, and replace invalid characters with a hyphen.
PagerDuty can truncate channel names that are longer than 80 characters. If the channel name already exists, PagerDuty will truncate the name to 75 characters and append a unique digit, (e.g., channel-name-1, channel-name-2, etc. ).

Create a Zoom Meeting

Description: Add a Zoom Meeting to an incident.

Instructions:

a. Once selected, click Save.

Link a Slack Channel to an Incident

Description: Link an existing Slack channel to an incident.

Instructions:

a. Perform the following:

Slack Workspace Name: Select the name of the Slack workspace the channel is in.
Channel Name: Enter the name of the channel to link in Slack.

b. Click Save.

Reassign the Incident

Description: Reassign the incident to a different escalation policy or user.

Instructions:

a. In the Reassign to dropdown, select the Escalation Policy or User tab, and then search or select who you'd like to reassign the incident to.

b. Click Save.

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Resolved Incidents
Please note that it is not possible to reassign resolved incidents. Running this action on a resolved incident will generate an error in the incident's timeline: Failed to reassign the incident because it is already resolved.

Run an Automation Action

Description: Run a PagerDuty Automation Action.

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License Requirement
A PD Automation Actions user license is required for the following:

Create a workflow that includes an Automation Action.

Manually run a workflow that includes an Automation Action.

Please read Flexible Licensing for more information about assigning users a specific license type.

Instructions:

a. In the Automation Action dropdown, select an action.

b. Click Save.

Send Status Update

Description: Post an update to the internal status page and notify subscribers.

Instructions:

a. Perform the following:

In the Status Update Template dropdown, select Custom Message or a pre-configured Status Update Template. You will see a preview in the Message and Email sections below.

Select Custom Message or Status Update Template

Note: If you select Custom Message, enter a Message to be sent with the request. You may optionally add field references to the message by clicking {+}, or entering {{, and selecting your preferred field.

c. Click Save.

Repeat steps 4-5 until all of the appropriate triggers and actions have been added to the Incident Workflow.
Click Publish in the upper right-hand corner of the page, and then click Publish again in the modal to confirm that the Incident Workflow should be published.

Incident Workflow Drafts

Until an Incident Workflow is published, it exists as a draft. Draft Incident Workflows will not run, even when they have fully configured triggers. If you leave the workflow builder before an Incident Workflow has been published, it will remain in a draft state.

When you edit a published Workflow it creates a draft version, where changes can be safely made without affecting the published version. You can only have one draft at a time. When you publish a draft, it will replace the previous live version.

Edit an Incident Workflow

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Required User Permissions
Account Owners and Global Admins can edit all Incident Workflows. Other users can edit workflows and triggers for services where they have Manager access.

To edit an Incident Workflow as a draft, navigate to Automation Incident Workflows.
Click to the right of the Incident Workflow you would like to edit and select Open in Builder.
- If the Incident Workflow being edited has already been published, your edits will be applied to a draft Incident Workflow. This allows you to make changes to published Incident Workflows without impacting the Workflow currently being used. When you’re ready to apply those changes, you can re-publish the Workflow to make those changes live.
Make your edits to Triggers, Actions and/or Settings and then click Save.

Edit Workflow Permissions

Workflow permissions are set per-Workflow, and you can grant users access by their role or Team. A Team must be given explicit permission to view or edit a Workflow, and only one Team can have access at a time.

Users with edit access will also be able to run the Workflow via API. Because of how permissions are handled, when using the Team managers on a specific team setting, users on that Team with an Observer or Responder role can also run the Workflow via API, though they cannot edit it. Additionally, when an incident triggers a Workflow, any user added to that incident as a responder can also run the Workflow via API.

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Required User Permissions
Account Owners and Global Admins can edit Workflow permissions for all users. Other users can edit Workflow permissions for services where they have Manager access.

Navigate to Automation Workflows.
Select to the right of the Workflow you wish to edit and then select Open in Builder.
Select the Settings tab. Under Who can edit this Workflow?, select one of the following options:

All admins
Team managers on a specific team: Under the Select team dropdown, select your preferred Team.

Click Save.

Edit Manual Workflow Permissions

To run a Workflow manually, the Workflow must have a manual trigger, from which you can configure permissions. Manual Workflow permissions are set per-trigger.

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Required User Permissions
Account Owners and Global Admins can edit manual Workflow permissions for all users. Other users can edit manual Workflow permissions for services where they have Manager access.

Navigate to Automation Incident Workflows.
Select to the right of the Workflow you wish to edit and then select Open in Builder.
Select the Manual Trigger. Under Who can run this workflow?, select from one of the following:

All incident responders
Incident responders on a specific team: Under the Select team dropdown, select your preferred Team.

Click Save.

Field References

You can use field references to dynamically insert incident data into your Incident Workflow actions. During configuration, you may add data such as incident.id, incident.status, incident.priority, etc., to an action's input parameters, resulting in the workflow pulling the corresponding incident’s data each time it runs. This feature allows you to customize and standardize the information, settings, and flow of every response. You can browse all available field references by typing {{ in the input field or by clicking the icon on the right side of the input field.

Examples

Add Users as Responders: When you select this action, you have the option to include a message to responders. You may want to include standard incident data in the Message field, such as {{incident.service.name}} and {{incident.priority}}, so that responders see the service name and priority in the responder request.
Send Status Update: When you select this action, you may want to include {{incident.title}} and {{incident.priority}} in the Message field so that stakeholders see the incident’s title and priority in their status updates.
Create a Slack Channel for an Incident: When you select this action, you have the option to set a Slack channel name. You may want to include the {{incident.id}} in the Desired Channel Name field to get a unique channel name every time.

Supported Fields

Incident Workflows support referencing fields in most action configuration fields. Field references use the syntax {{example}}, which are called “double curly braces,” or sometimes "double handlebars".

Field name	`{{field-name}}`
current_date	`{{current_date}}`
time_zone	`{{time_zone}}`
incident.id	`{{incident.id}}`
created_at	`{{incident.created_at}}`
incident.updated_at	`{{incident.updated_at}}`
incident.resolved_at	`{{incident.resolved_at}}`
incident.incident_key	`{{incident.incident_key}}`
incident.incident_number	`{{incident.incident_number}}`
incident.title	`{{incident.title}}`
incident.status	`{{incident.status}}`
incident.url	`{{incident.url}}`
incident.urgency	`{{incident.urgency}}`
incident.priority	`{{incident.priority}}`
incident.service.id	`{{incident.service.id}}`
incident.service.name	`{{incident.service.name}}`

Action-Specific Field References

Some actions can produce their own outputs, which you can use as field references in later steps of the workflow. You can find them in a collapsible row at the bottom of the list of fields. They will be formatted as {{steps[“ACTION_NAME”].fields[“FIELD_NAME”]}}.

A good example would using the Create Slack Channel for an Incident action at the beginning of a workflow, and then referencing its Channel Link in a Send Status Update.

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Reference Action Names
Create Slack Channel for an Incident is the default name for this action, and you can reference it in later steps by entering {{steps[“Create a Slack Channel for an Incident”].fields[“Channel Link”]}}.
If needed, you can rename an action by clicking Rename to the right of an action's title. If you rename an action, please also update the string name in the steps object. For example, if you rename the action to Auto-generate Slack Channel, you can reference its channel link with the following snippet: {{steps[“Auto-generate Slack Channel”].fields[“Channel Link”]}}.

Action-specific fields may vary from action to action, but common ones are listed below:

Field Name	Description
Error	A human readable error message.
Result	“Success” or “Failed”
Result Summary	A human readable summary of the result of the action.

Run a Workflow

There are two ways to run Workflows:

Manually
When a Condition is Met

Manually Run an Incident Workflow

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Required User Permissions
A PD Automation Actions user license is required to manually trigger Incident Workflows that include PagerDuty Automation Actions. Any responder can start all other workflows from an incident.

Manually Run a Workflow via Web or Mobile App

In the web or mobile app, click the incident's Title to view its details page, and then click Run a Workflow in the actions menu.
- In the mobile app you may also tap More and select Run a Workflow.
Select your desired Workflow.
Click Run Workflow.

To configure a manual trigger, follow the instructions in Create an Incident Workflow and select Manual Trigger when you Add Triggers to the Workflow.

Manually Run a Workflow via Slack

Please see our Slack User Guide for instructions.

Manually Run a Workflow via Microsoft Teams

Please see our Microsoft Teams Integration Guide for instructions.

Run an Incident Workflow when a Condition is Met

Incident Workflows with conditional triggers will run automatically when their preconfigured conditions are met. To run a Workflow automatically, the Workflow must have a conditional trigger.

To configure a conditional trigger, follow the instructions in Create an Incident Workflow and select Conditional Trigger when you Add Triggers to the Workflow.

View Incident Workflow Audit Trail Reporting

Please read our Audit Trail Reporting article for more information.

FAQ

Why can't I add a trigger to all services?

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Users can only select services that they have edit permissions on. To apply the trigger to a service you don't have edit permissions on, you'll need to request edit permissions on that service.

What happens if I change the trigger in a draft?

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Incident Workflows in a draft state will not trigger under any circumstance. No changes made in a draft will affect live, published Workflows or incidents. Changes will only take effect after publishing.

Why can't I see a specific Incident Workflow in the Run a Workflow dropdown menu?

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To run a Workflow manually, the Workflow must have a manual trigger. From the trigger, you can configure which services to associate with the Workflow.

If a Workflow is not appearing from the Run a Workflow menu on the incident, it is because of one of the following reasons:

The Workflow does not have a manual trigger.
The service or incident is not associated with the Workflow.
The Workflow is associated to the incident, but did not meet the trigger conditions and is not available.

Do Incident Workflow actions run sequentially?

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Yes. The order in which you add actions to an Incident Workflow defines the sequence in which they execute. For example, if you subscribe stakeholders and then send a status update, those stakeholders will be subscribed to the incident before the status update is generated.

Can I configure Incident Workflows using Terraform or the REST API?

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Yes. Please refer to our Terraform Provider for PagerDuty and Incident Workflows REST API documentation for more information.