Google Chat workflow actions

Closed Beta — The Google Chat integration is currently in closed beta. Contact support@rootly.com to request access.

Workflows let you automate Google Chat actions during incidents: create spaces, send messages, post Cards v2, invite responders, manage spaces, and more. If you’re unfamiliar with how Workflows work, see the Workflows documentation first.

Automation Options

Smart Defaults

Auto-create Google Chat spaces at incident start using built-in settings

Custom Workflows

Build workflows with triggers, conditions, and multiple Google Chat actions

Available Actions

Action	What It Does
Create Google Chat Space	Creates a dedicated space for the incident, adds the bot, and posts an overview card
Send Google Chat Message	Sends a text message to one or more spaces (with optional threading)
Send Google Chat Attachments	Sends Cards v2 to spaces (requires service account)
Invite to Google Chat Space	Invites users to an incident space by email
Rename Google Chat Space	Changes the display name of a space
Update Google Chat Space Description	Updates the description of a space
Change Google Chat Space Privacy	Switches a space between private and discoverable
Archive Google Chat Spaces	Deletes incident spaces when they’re no longer needed

Create a Workflow

Open Workflows

Go to Rootly > Workflows > Create Workflow.

Choose workflow type

Select the workflow type that matches your use case (e.g., Incident, Retrospective, or Pulse).

Configure triggers

Triggers define when this workflow runs.

Trigger	When It Fires
Incident Created	New incident opens
Incident Updated	Severity, status, or fields change
Incident Status Changed	Incident moves to a specific status
Incident Commander Assigned	Someone takes ownership
Incident Resolved	Incident is resolved
Google Chat Space Created	The incident’s Google Chat space is ready
Manual Trigger	Run on demand from the UI

Add conditions (optional)

Conditions filter when the workflow should run after it’s been triggered — keeping notifications focused on the incidents that matter.Examples:

Only for SEV-1 or SEV-2 incidents
Only for specific teams or services
Only for production environments

Add a Google Chat action

Click Add Action and search for Google Chat to see all available actions.

Actions

Create Google Chat Space

Creates a dedicated Google Chat space for the incident. The bot is automatically added to the space and posts an incident overview card showing title, status, severity, start time, summary, and a “See in Rootly” button.This is typically the first action in an incident workflow — it gives responders a central place to coordinate.

Title

string

The space name. Supports Liquid syntax (e.g., {{ incident.title }}). Automatically formatted to meet Google Chat’s display name requirements.

Description

string

An optional description for the space. Supports Liquid syntax.

Audience

string

Controls space discoverability:

Empty (default) — Space is private, only invited members can see it
audiences/default — Space is discoverable by everyone in your Google Workspace organization

Discoverable spaces cannot be created for private incidents.

If the incident already has a Google Chat space, this action skips creation to avoid duplicates.

The overview card requires the service account connection. It is sent using bot identity automatically after space creation.

Send Google Chat Message

Sends a text message to one or more Google Chat spaces. Use Liquid variables to include dynamic incident details.

Spaces

select

The space(s) to post to. Supports Liquid syntax.

Text

string

The message content. Supports Liquid variables.

*Incident Update*

*Title:* {{ incident.title }}
*Severity:* {{ incident.severity }}
*Status:* {{ incident.status }}
*Commander:* {{ incident.commander.name | default: "Unassigned" }}

{{ incident.summary }}

Thread Key

string

An optional thread key to group messages into a thread within the space. Messages with the same thread key appear as replies in the same thread. Supports Liquid syntax.

If the message text is empty, the action will be skipped.

Common triggers: Incident Created, Incident Updated, Status Changed

Send Google Chat Attachments

Sends Cards v2 to one or more Google Chat spaces. Use this to send richly formatted, interactive content such as structured incident summaries with action buttons.

Spaces

select

The space(s) to send the cards to. Supports Liquid syntax.

Attachments

string

A JSON payload defining the Cards v2 content. Supports Liquid syntax. Follows the Google Chat Cards v2 schema.

Cards v2 require the service account connection. OAuth connections cannot send cards — Google restricts card messages to bot identity.

Invite to Google Chat Space

Invites users to the incident’s Google Chat space by email. Use this to automatically add on-call responders when they’re assigned a role.

Space

select

The space to invite users to. Supports Liquid syntax.

Emails

string

Comma-separated list of email addresses to invite. Supports Liquid syntax.

Common triggers: Incident Created, Incident Commander Assigned

Rename Google Chat Space

Renames an existing Google Chat space. Use this to reflect status changes — for example, prefixing resolved incidents with [RESOLVED].

Space

select

The space to rename. Supports Liquid syntax.

Title

string

The new display name. Supports Liquid syntax.

[RESOLVED] {{ incident.title }}

Common trigger: Incident Resolved

Update Google Chat Space Description

Updates the description of a Google Chat space. Use this to keep the space description in sync with the incident summary as it evolves.

Space

select

The space to update. Supports Liquid syntax.

Description

string

The new description. Supports Liquid syntax.

Common trigger: Incident Updated

Change Google Chat Space Privacy

Switches a space between private and discoverable. Use this to open up a space to the broader organization during a major incident, or lock it down afterward.

Space

select

The space to update. Supports Liquid syntax.

Audience

string

Empty — Makes the space private (invited members only)
audiences/default — Makes the space discoverable organization-wide

Setting a space to discoverable will also update the incident’s private flag. You cannot make a private incident’s space discoverable — change the incident visibility first.

Archive Google Chat Spaces

Deletes the incident’s Google Chat space when it’s no longer needed. Keeps your workspace clean after incidents are resolved.

Spaces

select

The space(s) to delete. Supports Liquid syntax.

Google Chat does not support archiving spaces — this action permanently deletes the space. Ensure your retention requirements are met before using this action.

Common trigger: Incident Status Changed to “Closed”

Slash Commands

When the Rootly bot is added to a Google Chat space, team members can use slash commands to manage incidents, alerts, and on-call directly from chat.

Incident Commands

Command	Description
`/rootly declare`	Declare a new incident (opens a form dialog)
`/rootly update`	Update incident details
`/rootly status`	View current incident status
`/rootly resolve`	Resolve the incident
`/rootly mitigate`	Mark incident as mitigated
`/rootly cancel`	Cancel the incident
`/rootly ack`	Acknowledge the incident
`/rootly note <message>`	Add a timeline event
`/rootly summary <text>`	Update incident summary
`/rootly severity <name>`	Set incident severity
`/rootly list`	List active incidents

On-Call & Alerting Commands

Command	Description
`/rootly alert`	Create a new alert and page responders (opens a form dialog)
`/rootly oncall`	Show who’s currently on-call across your schedules
`/rootly escalate`	Escalate — create an alert and page the escalation policy
`/rootly override`	Create a shift override (opens a form dialog)

Utility Commands

Command	Description
`/rootly help`	Show all available commands

Slash commands work with both /rootly and /incident prefixes.

The declare, update, alert, escalate, and override commands open dynamic form dialogs with the same configurable fields available in Slack and the web UI, including custom fields.

Emoji Reactions

Rootly can convert emoji reactions on messages in incident spaces into timeline events, follow-ups, or tasks. This lets responders quickly capture important information without leaving the conversation.

Default Emoji	Action
Pin or star emoji	Adds the message as a timeline event
Clipboard emoji	Creates a follow-up action item
Checkmark emoji	Creates a task action item

Rootly responds with a confirmation emoji (e.g., ✅) when it processes a reaction.

Customize which emojis trigger each action in Configuration > Integrations > Google Chat > Settings.

On-Call & Alerting

Google Chat spaces can be used as escalation policy targets, making Google Chat a first-class on-call surface alongside Slack.

Escalation Policy Targets

Add Google Chat spaces as notification targets on escalation policy levels. When an alert fires, Rootly posts an alert card to the configured space with action buttons. To configure:

Go to On-Call > Escalation Policies
Edit or create a policy level
Select a Google Chat space as a notification target

Alert Cards

When an alert is sent to a Google Chat space, Rootly posts an interactive card with action buttons that change based on alert status:

Button	Action
Acknowledge	Acknowledge the alert
Resolve	Resolve the alert
Escalate	Escalate to the next policy level
Mark as Noise	Mark the alert as noise
Snooze	Snooze the alert temporarily

Cards update automatically as the alert status changes — buttons reflect the current available actions.

Shift Notifications

When configured, Rootly sends notifications to Google Chat spaces for on-call events:

Shift start — Notifies when an on-call shift begins
Shift override — Notifies when someone takes over or creates an override
Coverage request — Posts a card with a “Take the Shift” button when someone requests coverage

Enable shift notifications in On-Call > Schedules > Edit > Notifications.

Additional Alert Spaces

Configure extra Google Chat spaces to receive alert broadcasts in Configuration > Integrations > Google Chat > Settings. This lets you send alerts to shared spaces in addition to the escalation policy targets.

Lifecycle Notifications

When connected via service account, Rootly automatically posts notifications to incident spaces for key events:

Role assigned — When a responder is assigned a role on the incident
Action item added — When a follow-up or task is created
Meeting recording — When a recording session starts or completes (includes duration and transcript link)
Retrospective published — When the post-incident review is published

Each notification includes a “View in Rootly” button for quick access.

Liquid Variables

Use the Liquid Variable Explorer to test variables with real incident data.

Incident Variables

Variable	Description
`{{ incident.title }}`	Incident title
`{{ incident.summary }}`	Incident summary
`{{ incident.severity }}`	Severity level (e.g., “SEV1”)
`{{ incident.status }}`	Current status
`{{ incident.started_at }}`	When the incident started
`{{ incident.commander.name }}`	Incident commander name
`{{ incident.commander.email }}`	Incident commander email
`{{ incident.url }}`	Link to the incident in Rootly

Google Chat Variables

Variable	Description
`{{ incident.google_chat_space_id }}`	ID of the incident’s Google Chat space
`{{ incident.google_chat_space_name }}`	Full resource name of the space (e.g., `spaces/AAAA...`)
`{{ incident.google_chat_space_url }}`	URL to the Google Chat space
`{{ incident.google_chat_space_short_url }}`	Shortened URL to the space
`{{ incident.google_chat_space_archived }}`	Whether the space has been deleted (Google Chat does not support archiving — this flag indicates the space was removed via the Archive action)
`{{ incident.google_chat_space_domain_id }}`	Google Workspace domain ID of the space

​Automation Options

Smart Defaults

Custom Workflows

​Available Actions

​Create a Workflow

​Actions

​Slash Commands

​Incident Commands

​On-Call & Alerting Commands

​Utility Commands

​Emoji Reactions

​On-Call & Alerting

​Escalation Policy Targets

​Alert Cards

​Shift Notifications

​Additional Alert Spaces

​Lifecycle Notifications

​Liquid Variables

​Incident Variables

​Google Chat Variables

Automation Options

Available Actions

Create a Workflow

Actions

Slash Commands

Incident Commands

On-Call & Alerting Commands

Utility Commands

Emoji Reactions

On-Call & Alerting

Escalation Policy Targets

Alert Cards

Shift Notifications

Additional Alert Spaces

Lifecycle Notifications

Liquid Variables

Incident Variables

Google Chat Variables