# Get started with on-call

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When your product is critical to users, downtime isn’t an option. On-call is how you make sure the right person is always ready to respond. In an on-call schedule, on-call engineers or support specialists take turns being available to act when incidents need human attention.

## Getting started with on-call schedules

When an incident happens, Better Stack notifies the current on-call person. Here's how it works in practice:

1. A monitor or an integration triggers an incident.  
2. The current on-call person is notified first.  
3. If they don’t acknowledge the incident (for example, after 3 minutes), it escalates and notifies everyone on the team.

[info]
#### Primary on-call schedule
The on-call person in the schedule marked as **Primary** is notified about new incidents.
You can escalate to any schedule using [custom escalation policies](https://betterstack.com/docs/uptime/escalation-policies/). 
[/info]

### Want to control how incidents are escalated? 

Customize every step of the incident escalation flow using [advanced escalation policies](https://betterstack.com/docs/uptime/escalation-policies/). 

Configure which schedule or specific person should be notified and how to notify them.
Add fallback steps, time delays, time-based rules, conditional metadata steps, and more.

## Creating an on-call schedule

Start by [inviting all team members](https://betterstack.com/docs/uptime/inviting-team-members/) who’ll take part in on-call.

### Step 1: Create your schedule

- Go to [Who's on-call](https://uptime.betterstack.com/team/0/oncalls "; _blank") in the left menu.  
- Click **Create on-call schedule**.  
- Enter a schedule name. For example, **Primary schedule**.  
- Click **Continue**.

### Step 2: Configure the schedule

- Choose colleagues to take turns having on-call.  
- Choose how often shifts should change. For example, **every 1 day**.  
- Adjust when the first shift of the rotation should start if needed.  

![Configure_schedule.png](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/85056626-5433-4c98-32bd-8edb21769000/lg2x =1294x728)

- Check your new schedule in the live preview near the bottom of the page.
- Click **Apply changes** once everything looks right.

![CleanShot 2025-10-07 at 14.48.54@2x.png](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/2807a339-288e-4273-b1b6-f8f99c1d2000/md1x =2058x854)

### Step 3: Review and manage

After applying changes, the calendar shows all assigned shifts. 
 
You can:

- Check who’s on-call today or later.  
- Click **Configure** to reopen configuration and adjust the schedule.   
- Create one-off on-call overrides.

[info]
#### Creating overrides 
Overrides are perfect for quickly stepping in and taking over someone's shift.  
Click **Create override** to change who's on-call without modifying the schedule.
[/info]

![Create_override.png](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/4c8ef5d6-675c-4184-d109-33b26b406e00/md2x =2140x1050)

## Advanced escalation flows

Easily handle even the most complex on-call setups. Create multiple schedules and combine them in an escalation policy to:

- Set up **primary & secondary** schedules.  
- Enable seamless **follow-the-sun** coverage across time zones.  
- Tailor escalation policies for individual monitors and integrations.  

Escalation policies can reference any schedule you’ve created, escalate to specific people and trigger automations via integrations.

### Primary & secondary escalation flow

We'll create a **Tier 1** schedule that falls back to **Tier 2** when the Tier 1 on-call person doesn’t pick up and acknowledge the incident.

- Create **Tier 1 schedule**: your main rotation for first responders.  
- Create **Tier 2 schedule**: your backup rotation, often senior engineers or leads.  

Then create an escalation policy:

- Go to [Escalation policies](https://uptime.betterstack.com/team/0/policies "; _blank") → **Create escalation policy**.  
- In **Step 1**: select **Tier 1 schedule**.  
- Configure **Wait for**: for example, 15 minutes before further escalation.  
- In **Step 2**: select **Tier 2 schedule**.  

With this escalation policy, if the Tier 1 responder doesn’t acknowledge within 15 minutes, Better Stack automatically escalates the incident to Tier 2.

![CleanShot 2025-10-07 at 01.42.26@2x.png](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/165ff589-d7b3-4587-46bf-e0de8d4ddc00/public =1844x1170)

### Follow-the-sun escalation flow

We'll create three schedules for **EU**, **US West**, and **Asia/Pacific** time zones to ensure 24/7 global coverage.

- Create **Schedule for EU**: covering Europe working hours.  
- Create **Schedule for US West**: covering the West Coast working hours.  
- Create **Schedule for APAC**: covering Asia/Pacific working hours.  

[info]
#### Setting up schedule active hours
Select **Schedule active: Specific days and times** and configure when the schedule should be active.
No one in the schedule will be alerted outside its active hours.
[/info]

![Schedule_active.png](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/4ea57257-c85d-44fd-be92-2a6c5cfe1300/lg1x =1416x618)

You'll see the alternating schedules and shifts on [Who's on-call](https://uptime.betterstack.com/team/0/oncalls) page:

![CleanShot 2025-10-07 at 02.02.01@2x.png](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/d9b65ef7-6ca3-4e7c-999b-ee2483231d00/lg2x =1816x906)

Once the schedules are in place, create an **escalation policy**:

- Go to [Escalation policies](https://uptime.betterstack.com/team/0/policies "; _blank") → **Create policy**.  
- In **Step 1**: add all three schedules (EU, US West, APAC).  
  Better Stack automatically notifies whoever's on-call in their local region.  
- Add another step as a fallback in case the regional responders don't acknowledge the incident.

[info]
#### Escalation fallback steps
The escalation continues until someone acknowledges the incident.  
Add an extra fallback step to make sure critical incidents are escalated further.  
For example, escalate to the team lead or to the entire team after 15 minutes. 
[/info]

This escalation setup provides continuous coverage without night shifts, allowing each region to handle incidents during its normal working hours.

![CleanShot 2025-10-07 at 02.04.08@2x.png](https://imagedelivery.net/xZXo0QFi-1_4Zimer-T0XQ/38e65faf-779e-463c-83f2-a4c461438500/md2x =1898x1024)

## Need help?

Please let us know at hello@betterstack.com.  
We're happy to help! 🙏