What alerts actually do
Mission Control polls your forecasted spend every 15 minutes (cron job) and fires one alert per threshold per period. Default thresholds are 50%, 80%, and 100% of your tier's monthly budget. Once an alert fires it won't refire until the next billing period — no spam.
There's also a separate budget_exhausted alert that fires the moment the cumulative spend crosses 100%, distinct from the forecast-based 100% alert.
Channel rules by tier
| Channel | Operator | Commander | Fleet |
|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Slack webhook | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Discord webhook | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Operator gets email-only because email is what the budget actually pays for. Commander gets webhook-based channels because that's where engineering teams actually live.
Setting up an alert
- Settings → Alerts in the navbar.
- Add Alert — pick the channel (email / slack / discord), the threshold (50 / 80 / 100), and the destination (your email is pre-filled; webhooks need their URL).
- Test — fires one immediate dispatch with the current period's numbers. This is the only way to verify the webhook actually delivers before you wait for a real threshold breach.
- Save. The next cron tick honours the new alert.
What an alert looks like
The dispatcher renders three formats for the same payload:
- Email: dark HTML matching the cockpit, with the headline number ("$32 of $40 monthly budget — 80%"), trend line, and a link back to the cockpit.
- Slack: blocks API payload with a coloured side bar (amber for warning, red for exhausted), the BudgetRing as text, and one action button.
- Discord: embeds API payload with the same shape and a colour-coded edge.
All three include a deep link to /mission-control so the recipient can jump straight in.
Forecast vs actual
The 50% / 80% / 100% thresholds compare your forecasted month-end spend (extrapolated from current burn rate) against your tier budget. This intentionally fires earlier than alerts based on actual spend so you have time to react. The budget_exhausted alert is based on actual spend and fires the instant you cross the line.
If your forecast goes up because of one expensive run (a big audit, a long Sonnet completion), the alert reflects that — even if you'd realistically slow down for the rest of the month.