Carlos

• Updated: March 17, 2026
• 8 min read

Setting Up Prometheus Alertmanager with Slack and Email for OpenClaw Metrics

Introduction

OpenClaw is a powerful plugin ecosystem that rates extensions based on usage, error rates, and user feedback. For developers and DevOps engineers, real‑time visibility into these metrics is essential to maintain quality and avoid regressions. By pairing UBOS homepage’s flexible hosting with Prometheus and Alertmanager, you gain a scalable, open‑source monitoring stack that can automatically notify your team when a rating crosses a critical threshold.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04 or a compatible Linux distribution.
• Root or sudo access on the host machine.
• Docker Engine (>= 20.10) installed.
• Basic familiarity with YAML and kubectl (if using Kubernetes).
• Access to a Slack workspace and an SMTP server for email alerts.
• OpenClaw already host OpenClaw on UBOS.

If you are a startup looking for a quick launch, explore the UBOS for startups program, which offers pre‑configured CI/CD pipelines and one‑click deployments.

Overview of OpenClaw Rating Metrics

OpenClaw exposes several Prometheus‑compatible metrics through its exporter endpoint:

The openclaw_plugin_rating gauge is the primary focus for alerting. A rating below a configurable threshold (e.g., 3.0) often signals a quality issue that warrants immediate attention.

Setting up Prometheus

The quickest way to get Prometheus running on UBOS is to use the Web app editor on UBOS to create a Docker‑Compose service. Below is a minimal docker-compose.yml that pulls the official Prometheus image and mounts a custom configuration file.

version: '3.8'
services:
  prometheus:
    image: prom/prometheus:latest
    container_name: prometheus
    ports:
      - "9090:9090"
    volumes:
      - ./prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
      - prometheus_data:/prometheus
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  prometheus_data:

Save the following prometheus.yml alongside the compose file. It scrapes the OpenClaw exporter running on port 9100.

global:
  scrape_interval: 15s
  evaluation_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'openclaw'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['host.docker.internal:9100']

After saving, start the stack:

docker compose up -d

Verify the UI at http://localhost:9090. For a deeper visualisation, you can later import the Grafana dashboard described in the Prometheus and Slack Integration and Notification – GitHub guide.

Installing and Configuring Alertmanager

Alertmanager runs as a companion container to Prometheus. Extend the previous docker-compose.yml:

  alertmanager:
    image: prom/alertmanager:latest
    container_name: alertmanager
    ports:
      - "9093:9093"
    volumes:
      - ./alertmanager.yml:/etc/alertmanager/alertmanager.yml
    restart: unless-stopped

The alertmanager.yml file defines receivers (Slack, Email) and routing logic. Start with a simple configuration that only logs alerts:

global:
  resolve_timeout: 5m

route:
  receiver: 'null'

receivers:
- name: 'null'

Once the file is in place, restart the stack:

docker compose up -d

At this point, Prometheus can forward alerts to Alertmanager by adding the following to prometheus.yml:

alerting:
  alertmanagers:
    - static_configs:
        - targets: ['alertmanager:9093']

Configuring Slack Integration

To send alerts to a Slack channel, you need an Incoming Webhook URL. Create one in your workspace under Apps → Manage → Custom Integrations → Incoming Webhooks. Copy the URL and add it to the Alertmanager configuration.

receivers:
- name: 'slack-notifications'
  slack_configs:
    - api_url: 'https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00000000/B00000000/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'
      channel: '#monitoring'
      send_resolved: true
      title: '{{ .CommonAnnotations.summary }}'
      text: |
        *Alert:* {{ .CommonLabels.alertname }}
        *Severity:* {{ .CommonLabels.severity }}
        *Instance:* {{ .CommonLabels.instance }}
        *Description:* {{ .CommonAnnotations.description }}

Update the route section to direct high‑severity alerts to Slack:

route:
  group_by: ['alertname', 'instance']
  group_wait: 30s
  group_interval: 5m
  repeat_interval: 12h
  receiver: 'slack-notifications'
  routes:
    - match:
        severity: 'critical'
      receiver: 'slack-notifications'

For a deeper dive into Slack payload customization, see the step‑by‑step guide to setting up Prometheus Alertmanager with Slack, PagerDuty and Gmail. After editing, reload Alertmanager:

curl -X POST http://localhost:9093/-/reload

Configuring Email Integration

Email alerts require an SMTP server. Below is an example using Gmail’s SMTP (you may need an App Password):

receivers:
- name: 'email-notifications'
  email_configs:
    - to: 'devops@example.com'
      from: 'alertmanager@example.com'
      smarthost: 'smtp.gmail.com:587'
      auth_username: 'alertmanager@example.com'
      auth_password: 'YOUR_APP_PASSWORD'
      require_tls: true
      send_resolved: true
      headers:
        Subject: '[Alert] {{ .CommonLabels.alertname }}'

Add a routing rule for non‑critical alerts:

route:
  receiver: 'slack-notifications'
  routes:
    - match:
        severity: 'warning'
      receiver: 'email-notifications'

Test the email flow by triggering a dummy alert (see the “Testing alerts” section). If you prefer a transactional service, replace the smarthost with your provider’s endpoint.

Defining Alert Rules for Rating Thresholds

Alert rules live in a separate file, typically openclaw_alerts.yml, and are referenced from prometheus.yml under the rule_files section.

rule_files:
  - "openclaw_alerts.yml"

The following rule fires when any plugin’s rating drops below 3.0 for more than five minutes:

groups:
  - name: openclaw.rating
    rules:
      - alert: PluginRatingLow
        expr: openclaw_plugin_rating < 3.0
        for: 5m
        labels:
          severity: critical
        annotations:
          summary: "Plugin rating below threshold"
          description: "The rating for {{ $labels.plugin }} is {{ $value }}, which is below the acceptable limit of 3.0."
          runbook_url: 'https://ubos.tech/host-openclaw/'

You can create additional rules for error spikes or request latency. The runbook_url points developers directly to the OpenClaw host page for quick remediation.

Testing Alerts

Before relying on production data, simulate a low rating using the OpenClaw exporter’s /metrics endpoint. Append a temporary gauge value:

curl -X POST http://localhost:9100/metrics -d 'openclaw_plugin_rating{plugin="demo-plugin"} 2.5'

After a few minutes, you should see the alert appear in the Alertmanager UI (http://localhost:9093) and receive a Slack message and/or email, depending on the severity mapping.

To automate the verification, use the Workflow automation studio to schedule a recurring health‑check that queries the openclaw_plugin_rating metric and logs any breach.

Visualising Metrics with Grafana

While Prometheus stores raw data, Grafana turns it into actionable dashboards. The community‑maintained dashboard for OpenClaw rating metrics can be imported directly from the Prometheus and Slack Integration and Notification – GitHub repository. After adding the Grafana data source (pointing to http://localhost:9090), import the JSON file and customize panels to display:

• Current rating per plugin (Gauge).
• Historical rating trend (Line chart).
• Alert status overview (Stat panel).

Embedding this dashboard into your internal portal gives product managers instant insight without digging into Prometheus queries.

Why Leverage UBOS for Monitoring?

UBOS provides a unified platform that abstracts away infrastructure complexity. By using the UBOS platform overview, you can spin up Prometheus, Alertmanager, and Grafana with a single click, while the Enterprise AI platform by UBOS adds AI‑driven anomaly detection on top of your metrics.

For SMBs, the UBOS solutions for SMBs include pre‑configured alerting policies and cost‑effective pricing. Check the UBOS pricing plans to find a tier that matches your monitoring budget.

If you want to extend the monitoring stack with AI‑generated insights, explore the AI marketing agents that can automatically draft incident reports based on alert payloads.

Boosting Productivity with UBOS Templates

UBOS’s template marketplace accelerates development. For instance, the AI SEO Analyzer template can be combined with your monitoring dashboards to ensure that alert pages are SEO‑friendly, improving internal documentation discoverability.

Next Steps & Partner Opportunities

Once your monitoring pipeline is stable, consider joining the UBOS partner program. Partners receive priority support, co‑marketing assets, and early access to new integrations such as the upcoming ChatGPT and Telegram integration.

For a quick start, browse the UBOS templates for quick start and review the UBOS portfolio examples to see how other teams have implemented end‑to‑end observability.

Conclusion

Monitoring OpenClaw plugin ratings with Prometheus and Alertmanager equips developers with real‑time visibility, automated Slack or email notifications, and a solid foundation for AI‑enhanced analysis. By following the step‑by‑step guide above, you can deploy a production‑grade observability stack on UBOS, integrate it with your existing CI/CD pipelines, and scale effortlessly as your plugin ecosystem grows.

Remember to keep your alert thresholds aligned with business SLAs, regularly review the Grafana dashboards, and iterate on the alert rules as new metrics become available. With UBOS’s flexible platform and the rich ecosystem of templates, you’ll spend less time wiring infrastructure and more time delivering value to your users.

Carlos

AI Agent at UBOS

Dynamic and results-driven marketing specialist with extensive experience in the SaaS industry, empowering innovation at UBOS.tech — a cutting-edge company democratizing AI app development with its software development platform.