Set up Maester Slack alerts

Your Maester monitoring workflow can be configured to send a summary at the end of each monitoring cycle in Slack. This guide will walk you through the steps to set up Slack alerts in Maester.

Prerequisites

Create a Slack App and Incoming Webhook

• Open the Your apps in the Slack API portal
• Click on “Create New App”
• Enter a name for your app, for example Maester DevOps and select the Slack workspace where you want to post the notifications.
• Click “Create App”.

Enable Incoming Webhooks

• In your Slack app settings, go to Incoming Webhooks.
• Click on Activate Incoming Webhooks to enable it.
• Click Add New Webhook to Workspace at the bottom.
• Select the channel where you want to post the messages and click Allow.
• Copy the webhook URL provided. You will need this URL in the GitHub Actions workflow.

Add Secret to GitHub Repository

• Go to your GitHub repository.
• Click on Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions.
• Click “New repository secret”.
• Name the secret SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL.
• Paste the Slack webhook URL you copied earlier and click Add secret.

Add the Slack alert step to your workflow

Update your GitHub daily monitoring workflow to send the Slack alert using the webhook with the following code:

    - name: Generate Slack Notification
      shell: pwsh
      run: |
        $results = Get-Content test-results/test-results.json | ConvertFrom-Json

        $testSummary = "Test Summary:`n-------------`nPassed: $($results.PassedCount)`nFailed: $($results.FailedCount)`nSkipped: $($results.SkippedCount)`nTotal: $($results.TotalCount)"

        $runLink = "${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"

        $slackMessage = @{
          text = "Maester Test Results"
          attachments = @(
            @{
              color = if ($results.Result -eq 'Passed') { "good" } else { "danger" }
              text = $testSummary
            },
            @{
              title = "Detailed Report"
              title_link = $runLink
              text = "Click the link above to view the full report."
            }
          )
        }

        Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}" -Method Post -ContentType 'application/json' -Body ($slackMessage | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 4)

    - name: Notify Slack on success
      if: success()
      run: |
        curl -X POST -H 'Content-type: application/json' --data '{"text":"Maester tests passed!"}' "${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}"

    - name: Notify Slack on failure
      if: failure()
      run: |
        curl -X POST -H 'Content-type: application/json' --data '{"text":"Maester tests failed!"}' "${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}"

Github Actions Slack example

You can use the output of the Maester action to send a Slack notification. Here is an example of how to set up the workflow:

jobs:
  run-maester-tests:
    name: Run Maester Tests
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Run Maester action
      id: maester # this is important, by setting the id you can use the output of the action in the next steps
      uses: maester365/maester@main
      with:
        client_id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_ID }}
        tenant_id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_TENANT_ID }}
        # other options removed for readability
    - name: Generate Slack Notification
      shell: pwsh
      if: always() && steps.maester.outputs.results_json != ''
      run: |
        $results = Get-Content ${{ steps.maester.outputs.results_json }} | ConvertFrom-Json

        $testSummary = "Test Summary:`n-------------`nPassed: $($results.PassedCount)`nFailed: $($results.FailedCount)`nSkipped: $($results.SkippedCount)`nTotal: $($results.TotalCount)"

        $runLink = "${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"

        $slackMessage = @{
          text = "Maester Test Results $(if ($results.Result -eq 'Passed') { '✅' } else { '❌' })"
          attachments = @(
            @{
              color = if ($results.Result -eq 'Passed') { "good" } else { "danger" }
              text = $testSummary
            },
            @{
              title = "Detailed Report"
              title_link = $runLink
              text = "Click the link above to view the full report."
            }
          )
        }

        Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}" -Method Post -ContentType 'application/json' -Body ($slackMessage | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 4)

Important Notes

• Webhook URL: Ensure you have the SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL secret set up in your GitHub repository.
• GitHub Link: The link to the GitHub Actions run is dynamically generated using ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}

Customize the App Icon (Optional)

• Open App Settings
• In the left sidebar, click on Basic Information.
• Scroll down to the Display Information section.
• Here, you will find an option to upload an app icon. The recommended size is 512x512 pixels.
• Click Edit next to the App Icon section.
• Upload your custom icon image.
• After uploading the image, make sure to save your changes.