---
title: "Silences"
description: "Mute the notifications of alerts whose labels match, between a start and an end, for maintenance and known incidents."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ezghcloud.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Silences

A silence mutes the notifications of alert instances whose labels match all of its matchers,
between its start and its end. Use one for planned maintenance, or to stop repeats while you work
on a known problem.

- **Silences mute notifications only.** Rules are still evaluated, and instances still go pending,
  fire and resolve. The console shows matching instances as **Silenced**.
- They apply to every rule in the project whose instances match.
- `test` notifications, a rule's `error` notifications and email confirmations are never
  silenced.

```json
{
  "matchers": [
    { "label": "service", "op": "=", "value": "api" },
    { "label": "severity", "op": "=~", "value": "warning|info" }
  ],
  "startsAt": "2026-10-14T02:00:00Z",
  "endsAt": "2026-10-14T04:00:00Z",
  "comment": "Database maintenance"
}
```

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| `matchers` | 1 to 32 matchers, all of which must match. Required |
| `startsAt` | When it starts muting (RFC 3339). Default now |
| `endsAt` | When it stops: after `startsAt`, in the future, and at most **30 days** after `startsAt`. Required |
| `comment` | Why, 1 to 1,000 characters. Required |

The answer adds `id`, `slug` (`sil_…`), `state` (`scheduled`, `active` or `expired`), and
`createdBy`, who created it.

## Matchers

Matchers work as Alertmanager's:

| `op` | Matches when the label's value |
| --- | --- |
| `=` | Equals `value` |
| `!=` | Doesn't equal `value` |
| `=~` | Matches the regular expression `value`, anchored at both ends (RE2) |
| `!~` | Doesn't match the regular expression `value` |

- A label an instance doesn't have counts as empty, so `team!="payments"` matches instances
  without a `team` label.
- Regular expressions match the **whole** value: `stag` doesn't match `staging`; `stag.*` does.
- **At least one matcher must not match the empty string**, so a silence can't mute the whole
  project by accident: `severity=~".*"` alone is refused.
- Match on the [labels](/observability/alerting#labels) every instance has: the rule's static
  labels, its series or group labels, `alertname` (the rule's name) and `ezgh_rule` (the rule's
  ID). `alertname="API p95 latency"` silences one rule.

## When a silence starts and ends

- A notification is checked against the active silences when it's created and again just before
  it's sent, so a silence created while a notification waits for a retry still mutes it. Instances
  that match are left out; a notification left with none is marked **Silenced** in the delivery
  log.
- A resolved instance is left out while a silence matches it, and also when its firing was
  silenced, so you aren't told that something you never heard about has resolved.
- **When a silence ends** (its `endsAt` passes, it's expired, or its matchers change), instances
  whose notification it withheld (their firing, or a repeat) and that are still firing (or without
  data) are notified at the next evaluation. Instances it never withheld a notification from
  aren't notified just because it ended; they repeat on their `repeatInterval` as usual.
- A rule's history records when a silence first withholds a notification for an instance.

## Changing and expiring

Silences aren't deleted:

- A **scheduled** silence can change any field. An **active** one can change only `endsAt` and
  `comment`. An **expired** one can't change: create a new one.
- **Expire** ends a silence now (`POST silences/<ID>/expire`). Expiring one that has already
  ended changes nothing.
- Expired silences are listed for 30 days, then removed.

## In the console

**Silence…** on an alert opens **Create silence** with matchers filled in from the alert's labels:
remove the ones you don't need, so the silence covers what you mean, not just that one instance.
The sheet shows how many current alerts the matchers match. Choose when it starts (**Now** or
**Schedule**), how long it **Lasts**, and a comment.

**Observability** > **Alerting** > **Silences** lists **Active**, **Scheduled** and **Expired**
silences with their matchers, end, comment and creator. **Edit** changes one. **Expire** (**Cancel** for a scheduled
silence) asks you to confirm.

## From the CLI and the API

### CLI

```sh
ezgh obs silences create --matcher service=api --duration 2h --comment "Database maintenance" --project web
ezgh obs silences create --matcher alertname="API p95 latency" --matcher 'env!~stag.*' \
  --starts 2026-10-14T02:00:00Z --ends 2026-10-14T04:00:00Z --comment "Planned failover" --project web
ezgh obs silences list --state active --project web
ezgh obs silences expire sil_k3f9a0x2m7qp --project web
```

`--matcher` is `name=value`, `name!=value`, `name=~regex` or `name!~regex`. A silence starts now
or at `--starts`, and ends at `--ends` or after `--duration`. Silences are named by ID or slug. [`ezgh obs silences`](/cli/reference/obs-silences) lists every flag.
### API

Under `/v1/organizations/<organization ID>/projects/<project ID>/obs/`:

| Operation | Request |
| --- | --- |
| [List silences](/obs-api/ListSilences/) | `GET silences`, newest first; `?state=active`, `scheduled` or `expired` |
| [Create a silence](/obs-api/CreateSilence/) | `POST silences` |
| [Get a silence](/obs-api/GetSilence/) | `GET silences/<ID>` |
| [Change a silence](/obs-api/UpdateSilence/) | `PATCH silences/<ID>`; `matchers` is replaced whole |
| [Expire a silence](/obs-api/ExpireSilence/) | `POST silences/<ID>/expire` |

A silence that breaks a rule above is `400 invalid_request`, with each problem in `issues`.

Active and scheduled silences count against the project's quota of 500
([Limits](/observability/alerting/limits)).

Source: https://docs.ezghcloud.com/observability/alerting/silences/index.mdx