AlertManager Query (API v2)

Query Prometheus-compatible AlertManager HTTP API v2 directly via curl. Covers alert listing with filters, silence management (list, create, get, delete), and alert state inspection.

Availability Warning

AlertManager runs as an in-cluster pod and may be unavailable (crashloop, DNS failure, not deployed locally). Always check connectivity first. When AlertManager is down, fall back to VictoriaMetrics for alert data:

# Fallback: firing/pending alerts from VictoriaMetrics (always available)
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  "$VM_METRICS_URL/api/v1/alerts" | jq '.data.alerts[]'

AlertManager provides what VM alerts cannot: silences, inhibition state, and alert routing.

Environment

# $VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL - base URL
#   Prod: export VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL="https://alertmanager.example.com"
#   Local: N/A (AlertManager typically not deployed locally)
# $VM_AUTH_HEADER - auth header (set for prod, empty for local)

Auth Pattern

All curl commands use conditional auth:

curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/alerts" | jq .

When VM_AUTH_HEADER is empty, -H flag is omitted automatically.

Core Endpoints

List Alerts

# All alerts (active, silenced, inhibited)
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/alerts" | jq .

# Only active (not silenced, not inhibited)
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/alerts?active=true&silenced=false&inhibited=false" | jq .

# Filter by label matcher (URL-encode the matcher)
curl -s -G ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  --data-urlencode 'filter=alertname="HighMemory"' \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/alerts" | jq .

# Filter by receiver
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/alerts?receiver=slack-critical" | jq .

Parameters: active (bool, default true), silenced (bool, default true), inhibited (bool, default true), unprocessed (bool, default true), filter (string array, matcher expressions), receiver (string regex)

List Silences

# All silences
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/silences" | jq .

# Filter silences by matcher
curl -s -G ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  --data-urlencode 'filter=alertname="HighMemory"' \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/silences" | jq .

Parameters: filter (string array, matcher expressions)

Get Silence by ID

# Note: singular "silence" in path (not "silences")
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/silence/{silenceID}" | jq .

Replace {silenceID} with the UUID.

Create Silence

curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "matchers": [
      {"name": "alertname", "value": "HighMemory", "isRegex": false, "isEqual": true}
    ],
    "startsAt": "2026-03-07T00:00:00Z",
    "endsAt": "2026-03-08T00:00:00Z",
    "createdBy": "claude",
    "comment": "Maintenance window"
  }' \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/silences" | jq .

Returns {"silenceID": "uuid-here"}. Matcher fields: name (label name), value (match value), isRegex (bool), isEqual (bool — false for negative match). Times in RFC3339.

Delete (Expire) Silence

# Note: singular "silence" in path
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  -X DELETE \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/silence/{silenceID}"

Replace {silenceID} with the UUID. Returns empty body on success.

Timestamp Format

All timestamps use RFC3339 format: 2026-03-07T00:00:00Z

Response Parsing (jq)

# Count alerts by state
... | jq 'group_by(.status.state) | map({state: .[0].status.state, count: length})'

# List alert names and states
... | jq '.[] | {alertname: .labels.alertname, state: .status.state, severity: .labels.severity}'

# Active silences only (not expired)
... | jq '[.[] | select(.status.state == "active")]'

# Silence details (ID, matchers, expiry)
... | jq '.[] | {id: .id, matchers: [.matchers[] | "\(.name)=\(.value)"], endsAt: .endsAt, createdBy: .createdBy}'

Common Patterns

# Quick connectivity check
curl -sf -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/alerts" && echo " OK" || echo " UNREACHABLE"

# Count firing alerts
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/alerts?active=true&silenced=false&inhibited=false" | jq 'length'

# Silence an alert for 2 hours from now
curl -s ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$(jq -n --arg start "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
    --arg end "$(date -u -d '+2 hours' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
    '{matchers: [{name: "alertname", value: $ARGS.named.alert, isRegex: false, isEqual: true}],
      startsAt: $start, endsAt: $end, createdBy: "claude", comment: $ARGS.named.reason}' \
    --arg alert "AlertName" --arg reason "Investigation in progress")" \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/silences" | jq .

# Check if a specific alert is silenced
curl -s -G ${VM_AUTH_HEADER:+-H "$VM_AUTH_HEADER"} \
  --data-urlencode 'filter=alertname="TargetAlert"' \
  "$VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL/api/v2/alerts?active=false&silenced=true" | jq 'length'

Environment Switching

# Check current environment
echo "VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL: $VM_ALERTMANAGER_URL"
if [ -n "$VM_AUTH_HEADER" ]; then
  echo "VM_AUTH_HEADER: (set, length=${#VM_AUTH_HEADER})"
else
  echo "VM_AUTH_HEADER: (unset or empty)"
fi

Important Notes

• Path difference: plural /api/v2/silences for list/create, singular /api/v2/silence/{id} for get/delete
• POST endpoints require Content-Type: application/json
• DELETE returns empty body on success (HTTP 200)
• filter parameter uses PromQL-style matchers: alertname="Foo", severity=~"critical|warning"
• AlertManager may be down — always have a fallback plan using $VM_METRICS_URL/api/v1/alerts
• For full endpoint details, parameters, and response formats, see references/api-reference.md