Deployment Notifications

Deployments affect everyone. Whether it's a new feature going live or a hotfix rolling out, the right people need to know - in real time, not via a status page they might not check.

Docker / Docker ComposeCopy Anchor Link

Wrap your deploy script with notifications:

#!/bin/bash
WEBHOOK="https://app.alphorn.dev/n/V1StGXR8_Z5jdHi6B-myT"
ALPHORN_API_KEY="${ALPHORN_API_KEY:-alp_...}"  # or export it in the environment
SERVICE="my-app"
VERSION=$(git describe --tags --always)

# Notify start
curl -fsS -X POST "$WEBHOOK" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ALPHORN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"title\": \"Deploy started: $SERVICE\",
    \"message\": \"Deploying $VERSION to production\",
    \"priority\": 2,
    \"tags\": [\"deploy\", \"started\", \"$SERVICE\"]
  }"

# Deploy
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d
EXIT_CODE=$?

if [ $EXIT_CODE -eq 0 ]; then
  curl -fsS -X POST "$WEBHOOK" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $ALPHORN_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "{
      \"title\": \"Deploy succeeded: $SERVICE\",
      \"message\": \"$VERSION is live in production\",
      \"priority\": 2,
      \"tags\": [\"deploy\", \"success\", \"$SERVICE\"]
    }"
else
  curl -fsS -X POST "$WEBHOOK" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $ALPHORN_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "{
      \"title\": \"Deploy FAILED: $SERVICE\",
      \"message\": \"$VERSION failed to deploy (exit $EXIT_CODE)\",
      \"priority\": 5,
      \"tags\": [\"deploy\", \"failure\", \"$SERVICE\"]
    }"
fi

KubernetesCopy Anchor Link

Send a notification from a Kubernetes Job or post-deploy hook:

apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
  name: deploy-notify
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: notify
          image: curlimages/curl
          command:
            - curl
            - -fsS
            - -X
            - POST
            - $(ALPHORN_WEBHOOK)
            - -H
            - "Authorization: Bearer $(ALPHORN_API_KEY)"
            - -H
            - "Content-Type: application/json"
            - -d
            - '{"title":"Deployed to k8s","message":"$(APP_VERSION) rolled out","priority":2,"tags":["deploy","k8s"]}'
          env:
            - name: ALPHORN_WEBHOOK
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: alphorn
                  key: webhook-url
            - name: ALPHORN_API_KEY
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: alphorn
                  key: api-key
            - name: APP_VERSION
              value: "v1.2.3"
      restartPolicy: Never

VercelCopy Anchor Link

Use deploy webhooks: Vercel can call a URL on deploy events - point it at your Alphorn webhook endpoint.

1. Go to Team Settings → Webhooks and add a webhook for deployment events (webhook availability depends on your Vercel plan, so check yours). Deploy Hooks under Project Settings → Git are the opposite direction: incoming URLs that trigger a deploy.
2. Or use the Vercel API in a GitHub Action to POST to Alphorn after deploy completes

Platform deploy webhooks can't send an Authorization header, so create that webhook with the API key switched off (No API key (URL is the secret)) and keep the URL private. A GitHub Action step can send the header like the CI/CD examples.

Vercel nests the event data under payload (for example payload.deployment.url), with the event name in the top-level type. Without templates, Alphorn finds no message-like field, so the notification body is the raw JSON. Shape it with field templates, for example Title Vercel: {type} and Message {payload.deployment.url} (an example; check the field names against a real delivery, as they vary by event).

NetlifyCopy Anchor Link

1. In Alphorn, create a webhook with the API key switched off (No API key (URL is the secret)). Netlify can't send a custom Authorization header, so keep the URL private.
2. In Netlify, open your site and go to Site configuration → Notifications → Deploy notifications
3. Click Add notification → HTTP POST request
4. Pick the event (for example Deploy failed or Deploy succeeded) and paste your Alphorn webhook URL
5. Repeat for each event you want

Netlify posts its deploy object, which has top-level fields such as name (the site name), state, error_message, and usually title (the commit title); check a real delivery for the exact fields. Without templates, Alphorn guesses the title (title wins over name), and since there's no message-like field, the message is the raw JSON. Shape it with field templates when creating the webhook, for example Title Netlify: {name} {state} and Message {error_message} for a failed-deploy webhook.

Routing examplesCopy Anchor Link