Automate Incident Management with n8n, PagerDuty, Jira & Mattermost

1. Opening Problem Statement

Meet Alex, an IT Operations Manager at a mid-sized tech company, struggling daily to keep up with incident alerts from PagerDuty. Every alert requires creating a Jira ticket, notifying the right teams on Mattermost channels, and updating statuses as issues progress. Alex spends over two hours each day manually copying incident details, creating relevant tickets, and sending updates. Missed status changes cause confusion, delays, and sometimes escalations, impacting service uptime and customer satisfaction.

Does this sound familiar? This exact pain point is what our n8n workflow solves by automating the incident lifecycle from alert to resolution, linking PagerDuty, Jira, and Mattermost seamlessly.

2. What This Automation Does

This n8n workflow acts as a bridge integrating PagerDuty incidents with Jira issues and Mattermost chats. Here is what happens when it runs:

• Automatically creates Jira issues from incoming PagerDuty incident webhooks.
• Creates dedicated Mattermost channels named after incidents and invites key users.
• Sends rich Mattermost notifications on new incidents with direct links to PagerDuty and Jira resources.
• Allows team members to acknowledge or resolve incidents via Mattermost buttons, triggering status updates in PagerDuty and Jira automatically.
• Posts follow-up status updates back to Mattermost channels to keep everyone informed in real-time.
• Eliminates manual entry errors and accelerates incident response times, saving potentially hours daily.

3. Prerequisites ⚙️

• n8n account with workflow execution permissions.
• PagerDuty account with API access and incident rights 📧.
• Jira Software Cloud account with project and issue creation permissions 📧.
• Mattermost account for team communication and API access 💬.
• Credentials set up in n8n for PagerDuty, Jira, and Mattermost integrations 🔑.

4. Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Configure Webhook to Receive PagerDuty Events

Navigate to Trigger → Webhook node named “Webhook”. Set the HTTP method to POST and assign the path that PagerDuty will send events to (auto-generated in this workflow as a UUID). Copy the webhook URL.

In PagerDuty, add this webhook URL in the Event Rules or Webhooks section to forward incident events to n8n.

Test by triggering a PagerDuty incident; you should see requests hitting this webhook in n8n.

Common mistake: Not setting the webhook path exactly or forgetting to configure PagerDuty to send POST requests here.

Step 2: Create a Mattermost Channel for Each New Incident

After receiving the PagerDuty event, the workflow uses the Mattermost1 node to create a new channel. Configure the team ID and use the incident key as the channel name, and the incident title as the display name.

This ensures each incident gets a dedicated channel for communication.

Outcome: A new channel appears in Mattermost named after the incident key.

Common mistake: Using incorrect team ID or missing credentials will cause failure here.

Step 3: Add the On-Call User to the Incident Channel

Next, the Mattermost2 node adds the configured user ID (usually the on-call engineer) to the newly created channel using the channel ID dynamically passed from the prior node.

This step helps alert the on-call team within their communication space.

Step 4: Create a Jira Issue Tied to the Incident

The Jira1 node triggers issue creation in the specified Jira project (ID 10016 in this example). It pulls the incident title from the webhook JSON payload as the summary and assigns the issue to a hardcoded user (user “qwertz12345”).

Details to note: Ensure Jira credentials have permission to create and assign issues.

Code snippet: The summary field uses an expression to insert the incident title: = {{$node["Webhook"].json["body"]["event"]["data"]["title"]}}.

Step 5: Notify the Incident Channel of New Issue and PagerDuty Links

Two messages are sent to the Mattermost channel: Mattermost3 announces the new incident, including links to PagerDuty and Jira issues.

Outcome: Team members get instant notification to start collaboration.

Step 6: Add Interactive Buttons to the Mattermost Message (Acknowledge / Resolve)

The Mattermost4 node sends a more detailed message with interactive buttons labeled “Acknowledge” and “Resolve”. These buttons trigger n8n webhook URLs that update status in PagerDuty and Jira.

Integration: Integration URLs reference the n8n webhook nodes “ack” and “resolve”, passing incident and issue keys via button context properties for status updates.

Step 7: Webhook to Acknowledge an Incident

When a team member clicks “Acknowledge,” the webhook node “Ack” receives a POST request. It passes details to the PagerDuty1 node to change incident status to “acknowledged.” Then it posts an update message back to Mattermost using Mattermost5.

Step 8: Webhook to Resolve an Incident

Similarly, clicking “Resolve” triggers the “Resolve” webhook node, which updates the PagerDuty incident to “resolved” via PagerDuty2, and then updates the Jira issue status to a resolved state via Jira2.

Follow-up notifications about incident closure are posted to Mattermost through Mattermost6 and Mattermost7 nodes.

5. Customizations ✏️

• Change Jira Project: In the Jira1 node, alter the project ID parameter to match your Jira project.
• Customize Mattermost Messages: Modify the message templates in Mattermost3 and Mattermost4 nodes to include your team’s tone or additional fields like priority.
• Add More Actions: Extend Mattermost4 by adding new interactive buttons for other statuses or workflows by following the integration button syntax.

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• Dynamic Assignee: Replace hardcoded Jira assignee in Jira1 with dynamic user extraction from the incident payload if available.
• Multi-Team Alerts: Use additional Mattermost nodes to notify multiple channels or teams based on incident tags.

6. Troubleshooting 🔧

Problem: “Webhook does not receive events”
Cause: PagerDuty webhook URL not configured properly or wrong HTTP method.
Solution: Verify webhook URL in PagerDuty matches n8n webhook path and HTTP method is POST.

Problem: “Jira issue creation fails”
Cause: Improper Jira credentials or missing project permissions.
Solution: Check Jira API credentials, permission scopes, and that the project ID is correct in Jira1 node.

Problem: “Mattermost message buttons do not work”
Cause: Incorrect button URL or missing webhook endpoints in n8n.
Solution: Ensure webhook URLs for acknowledge and resolve buttons match your deployed n8n instance endpoints.

7. Pre-Production Checklist ✅

• Test PagerDuty incident webhook triggers with sample incidents.
• Verify Mattermost channels are created with correct team IDs and users added.
• Ensure Jira issues are being created and assigned properly.
• Test interactive message buttons to confirm ack and resolve workflows.
• Have rollback plan: disable webhook connections if errors occur.

8. Deployment Guide

Activate the workflow by toggling it live in n8n. Monitor webhook activity logs and test with real PagerDuty incidents.

Maintain logs of incident lifecycle for auditing. Optionally, set up alerts in n8n if webhook failures occur.

9. FAQs

Can I use Slack instead of Mattermost?
Yes, by replacing all Mattermost nodes with Slack nodes. You’ll need to adjust message formatting and webhook URLs accordingly.

Does this consume PagerDuty API credits?
Yes, each update or query to PagerDuty uses API calls. Plan your API usage accordingly.

Is the data secure?
Data travels over HTTPS with credentials stored securely in n8n. Follow your company policies for API key management.

Can this scale for large teams?
Yes, n8n and PagerDuty’s API can handle large volumes, but test performance under load.

10. Conclusion

By deploying this n8n workflow, Alex transformed a tedious multi-tool incident management ordeal into a smooth automated process. Immediate Jira ticket creation, team notifications, and real-time status updates in PagerDuty and Mattermost allow rapid and informed responses.

This workflow can save hours each day, reduce communication errors, and improve incident resolution times—directly impacting uptime and customer satisfaction.

Looking ahead, consider enhancing this automation with escalation policies, richer reporting dashboards, or integrating other alerting tools.

Let’s make your incident management smarter, faster, and more reliable with n8n!