Site: Planekeeper Docs — Monitor software versions across your stack. Planekeeper tracks releases, gathers version data, and alerts on drift.
Section: Recipes > Send notifications to Discord
Source: https://docs.planekeeper.com/recipes/discord-notifications/
Title: Send notifications to Discord
Author: Planekeeper
Description: Set up Discord webhook notifications with copy-paste templates for alert events.
Word count: 510
Reading time: 3 min

Contents:
- [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)
- [Why Discord needs custom templates](#why-discord-needs-custom-templates)
- [Step 1: Create a Discord webhook](#step-1-create-a-discord-webhook)
- [Step 2: Create a notification channel in Planekeeper](#step-2-create-a-notification-channel-in-planekeeper)
- [Step 3: Add Discord templates](#step-3-add-discord-templates)
  - [New alert template](#new-alert-template)
  - [Acknowledged template](#acknowledged-template)
  - [Resolved template](#resolved-template)
- [Step 4: Test the channel](#step-4-test-the-channel)
- [Step 5: Create a notification rule](#step-5-create-a-notification-rule)
  - [Route only critical alerts](#route-only-critical-alerts)
- [Customizing the format](#customizing-the-format)
  - [Minimal template](#minimal-template)
  - [Template with rule details](#template-with-rule-details)

***

# Send notifications to Discord


This recipe configures Planekeeper to send alert notifications to a Discord channel using webhooks. Discord requires a specific JSON format with a `content` field for text messages.

---

## Prerequisites

- A running Planekeeper instance with at least one alert config
- Admin access to a Discord server

## Why Discord needs custom templates

Discord's webhook API expects a specific JSON structure with a `content` field for text messages. Planekeeper's default notification payload does not match this format, so Discord will reject it with a `400 Bad Request` error.

You must enable **event-specific templates** on the notification channel and provide templates that wrap your message in the `{"content": "..."}` structure Discord requires. The templates in this recipe handle this for you.

---

## Step 1: Create a Discord webhook

1. Open Discord and go to your target server
2. Right-click the channel where you want notifications and select **Edit Channel**
3. Go to **Integrations** > **Webhooks**
4. Click **New Webhook**
5. Give it a name (for example, `Planekeeper Alerts`)
6. Click **Copy Webhook URL**

The URL looks like: `https://discord.com/api/webhooks/123456789/abcdefg...`

---

## Step 2: Create a notification channel in Planekeeper

1. Navigate to **Notification Channels** in the sidebar
2. Click **Create Channel**
3. Fill in the fields:

| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| Name | `Discord Alerts` |
| Channel Type | `webhook` |
| URL | Paste your Discord webhook URL |

4. Check **Use Event-Specific Templates**
5. Add the templates from step 3 below
6. Click **Create**

---

## Step 3: Add Discord templates

Copy and paste these templates into the corresponding fields.

### New alert template

```json title="New Alert / Escalated"
{"content": "**{{.Alert.Severity | upper}} Alert**: {{.Alert.ConfigName}}\n\n**Artifact:** {{.Alert.ArtifactName}}\n**Current:** {{.Alert.DiscoveredVersion}} -> **Latest:** {{.Alert.LatestVersion}}\n**Behind by:** {{.Alert.BehindBy}} ({{.Alert.RuleType}})\n\n[Click to Acknowledge](https://docs.planekeeper.com/recipes/discord-notifications/{{.AcknowledgeURL}})"}
```

This produces a message like:

> **CRITICAL Alert**: ArgoCD Version Check
>
> **Artifact:** argoproj.github.io/argo-helm/argo-cd
> **Current:** 5.46.0 -> **Latest:** 6.7.0
> **Behind by:** 8 (minors_behind)
>
> [Click to Acknowledge](https://...)

### Acknowledged template

```json title="Acknowledged / Unacknowledged"
{"content": "{{if .IsAcknowledged}}**Acknowledged**: {{.Alert.ConfigName}} - {{.Alert.ArtifactName}}\nAcknowledged by {{.AcknowledgedBy}}{{else}}**Unacknowledged**: {{.Alert.ConfigName}} - {{.Alert.ArtifactName}}\nAcknowledgment was reset due to a version change{{end}}"}
```

### Resolved template

```json title="Resolved"
{"content": "**Resolved**: {{.Alert.ConfigName}} - {{.Alert.ArtifactName}}\nThe version has been updated and no longer triggers this alert."}
```

---

## Step 4: Test the channel

1. Go to **Notification Channels** and find `Discord Alerts`
2. Click **Test**
3. Check your Discord channel for the test message
4. If the test fails, verify the webhook URL is correct and the channel still exists

> **warning:** 
**Discord rate limits**

Discord limits webhook messages to 30 per minute per channel. If you have many alerts firing simultaneously, some deliveries may be delayed by Planekeeper's retry logic.


---

## Step 5: Create a notification rule

1. Navigate to **Notification Rules** in the sidebar
2. Click **Create Rule**
3. Fill in the fields:

| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| Name | `All Alerts to Discord` |
| Channel | Select `Discord Alerts` |
| Severity Filter | Leave empty (matches all severities) |
| Event Filter | Leave empty (matches all events) |

4. Click **Create**

All alert events now route to your Discord channel.

### Route only critical alerts

To send only critical alerts to Discord, set the **Severity Filter** to `critical`. Create additional notification rules with different channels for other severity levels.

---

## Customizing the format

### Minimal template

For a compact notification without the acknowledge link:

```json
{"content": "{{.Alert.Severity | upper}}: {{.Alert.ConfigName}} is {{.Alert.BehindBy}} behind ({{.Alert.DiscoveredVersion}} -> {{.Alert.LatestVersion}})"}
```

### Template with rule details

For more context about why the alert was triggered:

```json
{"content": "**{{.Alert.Severity | upper}}**: {{.Alert.ConfigName}}\nRule: {{.Alert.RuleName}} ({{.Alert.RuleType}})\nRepo: {{.Alert.RepositoryURL}}\nFile: {{.Alert.TargetFile}}\nVersion: {{.Alert.DiscoveredVersion}} -> {{.Alert.LatestVersion}}"}
```


---

## Related

- Next: [Send notifications to Slack](https://docs.planekeeper.com/recipes/slack-notifications/page.md) — Set up Slack webhook notifications with simple text templates and Block Kit JSON templates for rich formatting.
- Section: [Recipes](https://docs.planekeeper.com/recipes/index.md)