> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.chronosphere.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Add templated links to monitors Use templated links on [monitors](/investigate/alerts/monitors) to send responders from an [alert](/investigate/alerts/alert-details) to the right dashboard view, log query, or external runbook. Each link interpolates template variables from the alerting signal's labels when the alert triggers, so every alert opens a destination scoped to its own cluster, namespace, pod, or other dimensions. Responders open expanded links from **Additional information** on the [alert details](/investigate/alerts/alert-details#view-an-alerts-related-information) page. ## Links and annotations In the monitor editor, **Annotations** hold text notes such as runbook summaries. **Links** hold URL-valued annotations that Observability Platform renders as clickable links on monitor and alert detail pages. Link names become annotation keys. They must use only letters, numbers, and underscores, and can't start with a number. When the **Links** section is enabled in the monitor editor, Observability Platform displays URL-valued annotations from existing monitors in **Links** rather than in **Annotations**. Saving the monitor preserves those entries in `annotations`. SLOs also support the **Links** section in the **SLO Definition** drawer when this feature is enabled. SLO links use the same link types but don't interpolate template variables during editing because SLOs have no live preview signal. See [Labels and annotations](/investigate/alerts/manage-slos#labels-and-annotations) for the separate SLO annotations workflow. ## Add links to a monitor Add dashboard, log, or external links in the monitor editor **Links** section, or set URL-valued entries on the monitor's `annotations` map when you define the monitor in code. Select the tab for your workflow. In the Chronoctl, Terraform, and API tabs, a `Pod restarts` monitor includes two templated links in `annotations`: `dashboard` and `error_logs`. The sample values in this section match those code examples. Replace *`TENANT`* with your tenant subdomain. For *`DASHBOARD_SLUG`*, [open the dashboard](/observe/dashboards#view-dashboards), click [**Copy URL**](/navigate#shareable-links) in the page header, and use the path segment after `/dashboards/`. For template syntax and URL patterns, see [Construct link URLs](#construct-link-urls). Value for the `dashboard` annotation: ```text wrap /var-cluster/ /var-namespace/ theme={null} https://TENANT.chronosphere.io/dashboards/DASHBOARD_SLUG?var-cluster={{ $labels.chronosphere_k8s_cluster }}&var-namespace={{ $labels.namespace }} ``` Logs query that the code examples encode into the `error_logs` annotation URL: ```text wrap /severity/ /kubernetes.namespace/ theme={null} severity="ERROR" AND service="{{ $labels.service }}" AND kubernetes.namespace="{{ $labels.namespace }}" ``` 1. [Create or edit a monitor](/investigate/alerts/monitors#create-a-monitor). 2. In the **Links** section, click **Add link**. 3. Enter a **Link name**. 4. Select a link type: * **URL**: Enter a full URL or a relative path to a page in Observability Platform. Use this type for external runbooks, status pages, and other links. See [Construct link URLs](#construct-link-urls) for URL patterns. * **Dashboard**: Select a dashboard from the autocomplete. Observability Platform maps dashboard variables to alert signal labels so the link opens a view scoped to the alerting dimensions. Add or remove variable mappings as needed. * **Logs**: Enter a [logging query](/investigate/querying/query-logs/query-syntax). Observability Platform builds a Logs Explorer URL from the query. Use template variables in the query to scope results to each alerting signal. See [Construct link URLs](#construct-link-urls) for query patterns. The **Logs** type is available only when your tenant has a logging data source. If logging isn't enabled, the drawer accepts **URL** and **Dashboard** links only. 5. Review the **Link preview** as you type. The preview updates to show the link Observability Platform stores on the monitor. 6. Click **Create** to add the link to the table, then click **Save** on the monitor form to persist your changes. 7. To edit a link, click the **** edit icon. In the **Edit link** page, make any necessary changes and then click **Save**. To remove a link, click the **** delete icon on the link's row in the **Links** table. Add URL-valued keys to the `annotations` section in your monitor YAML when you [create](/investigate/alerts/monitors#create-a-monitor) or [edit](/investigate/alerts/monitors#edit-a-monitor) a monitor. For more information, see [Chronoctl](/tooling/chronoctl). ```yaml wrap /var-cluster/ /var-namespace/ theme={null} annotations: dashboard: >- https://TENANT.chronosphere.io/dashboards/DASHBOARD_SLUG?var-cluster={{ $labels.chronosphere_k8s_cluster }}&var-namespace={{ $labels.namespace }} error_logs: >- https://TENANT.chronosphere.io/logs/explorer?query=severity%3D%22ERROR%22%0AAND%20kubernetes.namespace%3D%22{{ $labels.namespace }}%22 ``` In a `chronosphere_monitor` resource, set the `annotations` argument to a map of link names and URL values. For more information, see the [Terraform provider](/tooling/infrastructure/terraform) documentation. ```terraform wrap /var-cluster/ /var-namespace/ theme={null} resource "chronosphere_monitor" "pod_restarts" { name = "Pod restarts" collection_id = chronosphere_collection.infra.id annotations = { dashboard = "https://TENANT.chronosphere.io/dashboards/DASHBOARD_SLUG?var-cluster={{ $labels.chronosphere_k8s_cluster }}&var-namespace={{ $labels.namespace }}" error_logs = "https://TENANT.chronosphere.io/logs/explorer?query=severity%3D%22ERROR%22%0AAND%20kubernetes.namespace%3D%22{{ $labels.namespace }}%22" } query { prometheus_expr = "increase(kube_pod_container_status_restarts_total[5m]) > 0" } } ``` Run `terraform apply` to create or update the monitor resource. Set the `annotations` field on the monitor body when calling [`CreateMonitor`](/tooling/api-info/definition/operations/CreateMonitor) or [`UpdateMonitor`](/tooling/api-info/definition/operations/UpdateMonitor). Replace *`COLLECTION_SLUG`* with the slug of the collection that owns the monitor. ```json wrap /var-cluster/ /var-namespace/ theme={null} { "monitor": { "name": "Pod restarts", "collection_slug": "COLLECTION_SLUG", "annotations": { "dashboard": "https://TENANT.chronosphere.io/dashboards/DASHBOARD_SLUG?var-cluster={{ $labels.chronosphere_k8s_cluster }}&var-namespace={{ $labels.namespace }}", "error_logs": "https://TENANT.chronosphere.io/logs/explorer?query=severity%3D%22ERROR%22%0AAND%20kubernetes.namespace%3D%22{{ $labels.namespace }}%22" }, "query": { "prometheus_expr": "increase(kube_pod_container_status_restarts_total[5m]) > 0" } } } ``` ## Construct link URLs Reference labels from the alerting time series with Prometheus Alertmanager template syntax. Observability Platform expands variables when an alert triggers and when responders view links on alert detail pages. Use either of these forms to read a label from the alerting series: * `{{ $labels.LABEL }}` * `{{ .Labels.LABEL }}` Replace *`LABEL`* with the label name, such as `namespace` or `chronosphere_k8s_cluster`. Labels referenced in a template must be present on the alerting time series. Missing labels display as the template string, such as `{{ $labels.missing_label }}`. the variable renders as empty in the expanded link. For a full list of alerting variables and templating functions, see the [Alertmanager documentation](https://prometheus.io/docs/alerting/latest/notifications/). ### Dashboard links Select **Dashboard** as the link type to scope a dashboard to the alerting signal. Choose a dashboard from the **Dashboard name** dropdown. For native dashboards, Observability Platform populates **Dashboard variables** with the dashboard's configured variables and maps each to a signal label using `${LABEL}` tokens. For classic (Grafana) dashboards, an info banner indicates that variables aren't available from the dashboard configuration. Click **+ Add variable** to add custom variable mappings. Click a variable's **Values** field to select from available signal labels, or type a literal value. Edit or delete existing variable mappings as needed. The **Link preview** updates as you configure variables, showing the constructed URL with interpolated template variables where signal labels are available. Omit `start`, `end`, `from`, and `to` from dashboard and Logs Explorer URLs when you want the alert page's time range to apply when a responder clicks the link. If the URL already includes any of those parameters, Observability Platform leaves them unchanged. ### Logs links When you use the **Logs** link type in the monitor editor, enter the query in plain logging query syntax and embed template variables where you want per-signal values. The sample logs query in [Add links to a monitor](#add-links-to-a-monitor) is what the `error_logs` annotation encodes in Chronoctl, Terraform, and API definitions. Observability Platform encodes the query into a Logs Explorer URL and preserves `{{ ... }}` expressions for expansion at alert time. To construct a logs URL manually instead, see [Create links to log data](/investigate/querying/create-links#create-links-to-log-data).