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Linked Providers

In Keep, providers can be either “connected” or “linked”. Understanding the difference is important for proper alert routing and management.

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Connected vs Linked Providers

  • Connected Providers: These are providers that have been explicitly configured in Keep through the UI or API. They have full provider configuration and authentication details.
  • Linked Providers: These are providers that send alerts to Keep without being explicitly connected. They appear automatically when Keep receives alerts from them through webhooks or push mechanisms.

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How Linking Works

When Keep receives alerts from an unconnected provider (like Prometheus pushing alerts), it automatically creates a “linked” provider entry. This allows you to:
  • Track which systems are sending alerts
  • See when the last alert was received
  • Apply deduplication rules specific to that provider

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Attaching Alerts to Connected Providers

If you have a connected provider and want incoming alerts to be associated with it instead of creating a linked provider, you can add the provider_id query parameter to the webhook URL. For example, with Prometheus AlertManager: 
alertmanager:
config:
receivers:
name: "keep"
webhook_configs:
url: "https://api.keephq.dev/alerts/prometheus?provider_id=your_provider_id"

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Best Practices

  1. For Production Systems: It’s recommended to use connected providers when possible, as they provide:
    • Better authentication and security
    • Access to provider-specific features
    • Clearer audit trail
  2. For Testing/Development: Linked providers can be useful for:
    • Quick prototyping
    • Testing alert flows
    • Temporary integrations
  3. Converting Linked to Connected: If you find yourself regularly receiving alerts from a linked provider, consider:
    • Setting up a proper provider connection
    • Using the provider_id parameter to attach alerts to the connected provider

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Limitations

Linked providers:
  • Cannot be used to pull alerts or data
  • Don’t have authentication details
  • Cannot be used for provider-specific actions
  • May have limited deduplication capabilities
For full functionality, consider converting linked providers to connected providers when they become part of your permanent alerting infrastructure.