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Automation Rules

The Rules section (/rules) under Automation defines event-driven routing logic in PixelView.

Rules bridge incoming system events, monitoring alerts, or webhook triggers with automated execution workflows. When an external trigger (such as mariadb-down or host_failure) is received, an active rule immediately invokes its bound workflow without requiring manual intervention.

To access and manage your event-driven rules:

  • In the left navigation sidebar under Automation, click Rules:

Automation Rules Overview Table

Rules Table Overview

The main table lists all configured automation rules:

Column Description
ID/Name Name of the rule (e.g., MariaBD-rules) with an icon, and a copyable 8-character UUID chip with clipboard utility.
Description Contextual explanation of the rule's purpose (e.g., Test rule for automation bot).
Trigger Unique event trigger identifier (e.g., mariadb-down) that initiates workflow execution.
Status Current operational status displayed as a colored badge (Enabled in green or Disabled).
Actions Row context menu (...) providing editing and deletion options.

Table Toolbar Controls

  • Search / Global Filter: Perform rapid full-text filtering across all rule names, triggers, and descriptions.
  • Column Filters: Filter rows by specific attribute criteria.
  • Show/Hide Columns: Customize table column visibility.
  • Density Toggle: Switch between compact and comfortable row spacing.
  • Refresh: Re-fetch the latest rules list from the backend API.
  • Add Rule (+): Launch the rule creation modal.

Creating an Automation Rule

To register a new trigger-to-workflow rule:

  • Click the orange + (Add Rule) button in the top-right table toolbar:

Add Rule Toolbar Button

  • The Add Rule modal dialog will open:

Add Rule Modal Dialog

Configuration Fields

  • Name (Required): Enter a distinctive name for the automation rule (e.g., MariaBD-rules).
  • Description (Optional): Provide an operational summary explaining what event this rule responds to and its target remediation path.
  • Trigger (Required): The event identifier that triggers this rule. !!! warning "Important" Trigger names must be unique across your environment and must not contain spaces (e.g., use snake_case or kebab-case like mariadb-down or service_failure).
  • Select Workflow (Required): Select the target automated workflow from the dropdown that should execute when the trigger occurs.
  • Enabled (Toggle): Toggle the switch to activate or deactivate the rule upon creation (default: active).

Dialog Actions

  • CANCEL: Dismiss the dialog without creating the rule.
  • CREATE RULE: Save the rule and activate event-driven routing.

Managing Rules (Edit & Delete)

To modify an existing rule or remove it:

  • Click the Actions menu (...) on the target rule row:

Rule Actions Context Menu

Editing a Rule

  • Click Edit from the actions menu:

Edit Rule Modal Dialog

  • Editable Fields: You can update the Name, Description, bound Workflow, or toggle the Enabled switch to pause or resume automated execution.
  • Immutable Trigger: Notice that the Trigger field is locked and disabled during edits to preserve routing consistency for existing webhooks and external event sources.
  • Actions:
  • CANCEL: Close the editor without modifying values.
  • RESET CHANGES: Discard unsaved changes and reset inputs back to their saved state.
  • SAVE CHANGES: Persist updates to the rule.

Deleting a Rule

  • Click Delete from the actions menu.
  • A browser confirmation prompt will appear: 
    Are you sure you want to delete [Rule Name]?
  • Click OK to permanently remove the rule.

Warning

Deleting a rule immediately ceases automated responses for its configured trigger. Any incoming alerts or bot events matching this trigger will no longer initiate remediation workflows.

Event-Driven Triggers & Webhook Integration

Automation rules provide the automated bridge between monitoring alerts and hands-free remediation:

  • Trigger Identification Standards:
    • Trigger keys must follow predictable, space-free naming patterns (such as mariadb-down, disk-threshold-critical, or ssl-cert-expiring).
    • The trigger identifier acts as the lookup key matched against inbound event webhooks.
  • Inbound Alert Matching:
    • When an external monitoring system (such as Prometheus Alertmanager or Zabbix) posts an alert payload to a PixelView Service endpoint (?servicekey=<key>), the ingestion engine extracts the event name.
    • If the event name matches an active, enabled rule trigger, PixelView automatically instantiates an execution run for the bound workflow.
  • Audit & Execution Tracing:
    • Jobs triggered via automation rules appear in Executions with Source: Automation.
    • If a rule is temporarily Disabled, incoming events are logged in case history but do not spawn automated executions, giving operators the flexibility to perform manual maintenance without automated interference.