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

# Incident Title Generator

> Learn how Rootly automatically generates unique incident titles using random adjective–noun combinations while allowing full customization and manual editing.

## How the Incident Title Generator Works

Rootly can automatically generate a unique title for an incident when you leave the **Title** field blank. The generator creates a memorable two-word phrase by combining:

* An adjective
* A noun

Both words come from your organization’s **configurable word banks**.

This ensures that every incident—manual or automated—has a distinct title, even if responders forget to provide one. Users may edit the title at any time during the incident lifecycle.

<Info>
  If a user does not enter a title, Rootly automatically assigns one using the team’s configured adjective and noun lists.
</Info>

***

## Title Generation Logic

When Rootly generates a title:

1. It collects adjectives and nouns used in incident titles **within the last year**.
2. These recently used words are added to an exclusion list to reduce repeats.
3. Rootly selects a random adjective and noun from your team’s configured word banks.
4. The result is **titleized** (for example, `"sleepy server"` → `"Sleepy Server"`).
5. The incident is marked with `title_autogenerated = true`.

This logic applies to:

* Incidents created in the Web UI
* Incidents created via Slack
* Incidents created via the API

<Info>
  API-created incidents also auto-generate titles if the payload omits the `title`.\
  The API response includes `title_autogenerated` so automation can detect system-generated titles.
</Info>

***

## Configuring the Word Banks

Admins may customize the adjective and noun lists used for generation.

You can update these from:

**Organization Settings → Show Advanced Settings → Incident Title Generator**

Configuration options include:

* **config\_adjectives** — list of allowed adjectives
* **config\_nouns** — list of allowed nouns
* Exclusion logic is automatic (based on 1 year of past incidents)

<Info>
  Customizing your word banks allows incident names to better reflect your organization’s culture, domains, and terminology.
</Info>

***

## Optional: AI-Generated Titles

With [Rootly AI](/ai/ai-settings) opted in, responders can replace a generated title with an AI-written one: run `/rootly update` in the incident channel and click **Generate with AI**. Rootly AI reads the incident's summary, alerts, and early timeline to produce the title. See [AI Summaries](/ai/ai-summaries#generated-titles).

***

## Titles in External Integrations

When exporting incidents to tools like PagerDuty or Opsgenie:

* If the title was auto-generated, Rootly may prefer using the **summary** as the outbound title.
* Rootly prepends the **severity** to outbound titles when appropriate.

Example:

\[SEV2] Database Latency Degradation

This ensures external systems receive clear, actionable titles.

***

## Best Practices

* **Let Rootly auto-generate titles** when responders are busy—clean-up can happen later.
* **Customize your adjective/noun lists** to improve clarity and team culture.
* **Use AI generation** for complex or ambiguous incidents.
* **Edit titles manually** once the incident scope is understood.
* **Avoid relying solely on the title** for operational details—pair it with a strong summary.

***

<a id="faq" />

<a id="faqs" />

## Frequently Asked Questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can I edit an automatically generated title?" icon="wand-magic-sparkles">
    Yes. Titles can be edited at any point during the incident lifecycle.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How does Rootly avoid repeating names?" icon="arrows-rotate">
    Rootly excludes adjectives and nouns used in the past year to reduce duplication.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do API-created incidents use the generator?" icon="plus">
    Yes. If `title` is omitted, Rootly generates one automatically and marks it as auto-generated (`title_autogenerated: true`).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can the generator produce more than two-word titles?" icon="heading">
    Not currently. Titles always follow the adjective + noun format unless manually edited or overwritten by AI.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does the generator affect external system titles (PagerDuty, Opsgenie)?" icon="phone">
    External integrations may use the summary instead when the title is autogenerated. Severity may also be prefixed automatically.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>