Telegram alerts when your service goes down
Your API can look fine on your laptop and still be down for customers — deploy stuck, DNS wrong, TLS expired, region outage. External uptime monitoring hits your public health URL from the internet. Telegram is ideal for mobile-first founders: push-style DMs without living in a team chat.
StillOnline sends owner alerts to your Telegram account through the official StillOnline bot. You do not create your own bot or paste tokens — link your account once in account settings and turn on Telegram alerts.
Quick answer
StillOnline delivers owner downtime alerts as Telegram DMs from the official bot—no BotFather or webhook URL. Link your account in settings, enable Telegram alerts, and on Free pick Telegram as your single owner channel (or use all channels on Pro / Ultimate). You get messages on check down (after two failed checks), recovery, and 24h stability—see health check quickstart to add the URL first.
What you get in Telegram
Owner alerts land in a private chat with the official StillOnline bot—not in a group and not as a generic “monitoring bot” you host yourself. Once your HTTP check is running, the bot can notify you on a small set of lifecycle events; the table below is the full list.
After a check is configured, StillOnline can message you in a private chat with the bot when:
| Event | When |
|---|---|
| Check down | Two failed external checks in a row (degraded → down). While the check stays down, you get a reminder on every scheduled check (same interval as your plan — e.g. every 5 minutes on Free). |
| Check recovered | Status returns to operational after down or degraded. |
| 24h stability | Check stays operational for 24 hours without an outage (milestone message). |
Each message includes project, check, URL, last probe (HTTP code, latency, method), trigger rule, timestamp, and inline buttons for status page and dashboard.
StillOnline does not alert on a single failed probe — only after status becomes down, plus recovery and the 24h milestone. You can turn each event type off under Which notifications to send in settings.
Email owner alerts while down are throttled to at most once every 15 minutes; Telegram (and Slack) repeat on each check interval so you feel ongoing outages on your phone.
Before you connect Telegram
You only need a few minutes and nothing from BotFather. Gather these three things first so the link flow does not stall halfway through settings.
- A StillOnline account — sign in (Google or GitHub).
- A project with an HTTP check — URL that should return 2xx (see health check quickstart).
- Telegram on your phone or desktop — you must be able to open a chat with a bot and tap Start.
On Free, pick one owner alert channel: Email, Telegram, or Slack. On Pro / Ultimate, you can enable email, Telegram, and Slack together (Pricing).
Part A — Link Telegram to your account
Step 1 — Open owner notification settings
- Go to https://stillonline.tech/app/settings.
- Scroll to Owner notifications → section Telegram.
Step 2 — Connect Telegram
- Click Connect Telegram.
- Your browser opens the StillOnline bot in Telegram (
t.me/...?start=...with a short-lived link token, usually 15 minutes). - In Telegram, tap Start (the
/startcommand with the token is sent automatically). - The bot replies that Telegram is linked and reminds you to enable alerts in settings.
If the link expired, click Connect Telegram again on the site — do not forward an old t.me URL to someone else.
Step 3 — Confirm the link on the site
Back in settings, you should see your Telegram username (e.g. @yourname) next to Telegram. If not, refresh the page after linking.
One StillOnline account ↔ one Telegram user. If Telegram says it is already linked to another account, sign in on the site with the email you used originally.
Part B — Enable Telegram alerts
Step 4 — Turn on alerts and save
- Check Telegram alerts (only available after linking).
- On Free, under Free: one channel, select Telegram (switching from email disables email owner alerts until you change channel or upgrade).
- Under Which notifications to send, leave Check outage (DOWN), Recovery, and 24 hours without outages enabled unless you want to mute some types on all channels.
- Click Save.
Email for owner alerts uses the address from your Google/GitHub sign-in; Telegram does not need a separate address.
Step 5 — Confirm a check exists
In Projects, open your project and ensure an HTTP check points at your live URL (e.g. https://api.example.com/health). The worker probes on your plan interval (5 minutes on Free).
Part C — Verify alerts work
Step 6 — Trigger a test down (carefully)
Pick a non-production check or a temporary URL:
- Edit the check URL to something that returns 500 or is unreachable, or pause your service briefly in staging.
- Wait for two failed probe cycles (up to ~10 minutes on a 5-minute interval; the second fail often comes ~1 minute after the first).
- You should get a Telegram message OUTAGE · StillOnline (or localized title) with probe details and buttons.
While the check stays down, expect another message each check interval — that is intentional for Telegram. Mute the bot chat in Telegram if you only want the first down ping (email is better for throttled reminders).
Step 7 — Confirm recovery
Restore the correct URL or service. After successful probes, you should get RECOVERED · StillOnline.
Keep your status page linked for customers — Telegram owner alerts are not a public incident channel.
Telegram vs email vs Slack
StillOnline delivers the same down, recovery, and 24h stability events on every owner channel—the difference is where the message lands and how often it repeats while a check stays down. Use this table to pick your primary channel on Free, or enable several on Pro.
| Channel | Best for |
|---|---|
| Telegram | Mobile push; DM with the StillOnline bot; repeat alerts every probe while down |
| Inbox workflow; down alerts throttled to 15 minutes | |
| Slack | Team channel via Incoming Webhook — see Slack setup guide |
Subscribers on the public status page still get email when they subscribe with Google — separate from owner Telegram alerts.
Limits and troubleshooting
Most “silent Telegram” cases come from plan limits (one channel on Free), a check that never reached down, or an expired link token—not from the bot being down globally. Walk through the rows below before you assume alerts are broken.
| Issue | What to check |
|---|---|
| Connect Telegram fails or bot unavailable | StillOnline Telegram bot is not configured on the server — use email or Slack as your owner channel in account settings until linking works, or contact support if errors persist. |
| No message on failure | Check enabled? Two failures needed for down? Telegram alerts on and account linked? Free plan: Telegram selected as the only channel? Check outage (DOWN) enabled? |
| Too many messages | Normal while down on Telegram — each probe; mute chat or rely on email for throttled down alerts. |
| “Link expired” in bot | Token timed out — use Connect Telegram again within ~15 minutes and tap Start. |
| Wrong account linked | One Telegram per site user — sign in with the correct Google/GitHub account before linking. |
StillOnline logs delivery in the database (NotificationLog, channel TELEGRAM) for support debugging.
Related guides
- Slack alerts via Incoming Webhook — team channel setup.
- Health check URL quickstart — create the URL monitoring will watch.
- Best uptime monitoring for indie SaaS 2026 — how we compare to other tools.
- Launch checklist: status page before go-live · Pricing.
FAQ
Do I need BotFather to get StillOnline Telegram alerts?
No. StillOnline runs the official bot; you only Connect Telegram in account settings and tap Start in the app. There is no custom bot token or webhook URL on your side. Full walkthrough is in this guide; add a monitored URL first via health check quickstart.
Can StillOnline Telegram alerts go to a group or channel?
No. StillOnline owner alerts are direct messages to the linked Telegram user. For a team channel, use Slack Incoming Webhook or share your public status page with customers.
Does StillOnline alert on every failed probe in Telegram?
No. StillOnline sends a down alert only after status becomes down (two consecutive check failures). A single failure may show degraded on the status page without a Telegram ping. While the check stays down, Telegram repeats on each scheduled check interval; email is throttled to once per 15 minutes.
Can I use StillOnline Telegram and email together on Free?
How do I unlink Telegram from my StillOnline account?
StillOnline ties one Telegram user to one site account. If the bot says Telegram is already linked elsewhere, sign in with the original Google/GitHub email before reconnecting. For account conflicts, contact support; plan on one Telegram identity per StillOnline user.
Does StillOnline store my Telegram ID for alerts?
Yes, StillOnline stores the Telegram user id needed to deliver DMs — see Privacy Policy. The alert bot does not send marketing; it only delivers outage, recovery, and 24h stability messages you enable under Which notifications to send.