Skip to content
Overwatch Logo Overwatch Documentation

Quickstart Guide

Quickstart Guide

Section titled “Quickstart Guide”

Welcome to Overwatch! This guide will help you get up and running with the platform in just a few minutes. You’ll learn how to set up your account, connect your first integration, and start resolving incidents with AI assistance.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”

Before you begin, ensure you have:

  1. An Overwatch account (contact your administrator if you don’t have one).
  2. Access to at least one supported observability platform (e.g., Datadog, New Relic, Grafana).

Step 1: Log In and Setup

Section titled “Step 1: Log In and Setup”
  1. Navigate to the Overwatch dashboard.
  2. Log in using your credentials or SSO provider.
  3. Upon first login, you will be greeted by the Onboarding Wizard.
    • Profile Setup: Confirm your name and timezone.
    • Team Invite: Invite your colleagues to join your organization.
    • First Integration: Connect your primary monitoring tool.

Step 2: Connect an Integration

Section titled “Step 2: Connect an Integration”

Overwatch needs to connect to your monitoring tools to provide value. Let’s connect Datadog as an example (the process is similar for others).

  1. Go to Settings > Integrations.
  2. Click Add Integration and select Datadog.
  3. Enter your Datadog API Key and Application Key.

    [!TIP] You can generate these in Datadog under Organization Settings > API Keys / Application Keys.

  4. Click Connect. Overwatch will verify the connection and start syncing monitors and recent alerts.

[!NOTE] Troubleshooting: If the connection fails, ensure your API keys have the necessary permissions (usually read access for monitors and events). Check the Integrations Guide for detailed requirements.

Step 3: Install the Chrome Extension

Section titled “Step 3: Install the Chrome Extension”

The Overwatch Chrome Extension is a powerful companion that brings AI context directly to your monitoring dashboards.

  1. Go to the Chrome Web Store (link in dashboard footer) and install the Overwatch Companion.
  2. Pin the extension to your browser toolbar.
  3. Open a dashboard in Datadog (or your connected tool).
  4. Click the Overwatch icon to see the Context Overlay, which shows relevant runbooks and past incidents related to what you are viewing.

Step 4: Resolve Your First Incident

Section titled “Step 4: Resolve Your First Incident”

When an alert triggers in your connected platform:

  1. Notification: You’ll receive a notification in Overwatch (and Slack/Email if configured).
  2. Incident View: Click the notification to open the Incident Detail page.
  3. AI Analysis: Look at the AI Insights panel. Overwatch automatically analyzes the alert context and suggests:
    • Root Cause Analysis: Potential reasons for the failure.
    • Similar Incidents: Past incidents that look like this one.
    • Recommended Procedures: Step-by-step runbooks to fix it.
  4. Execute Procedure: Click Start Procedure on a recommendation to begin a guided resolution workflow.

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”