How to Connect Tellspin to PagerDuty
How the PagerDuty Integration Works
When you link a PagerDuty schedule, PagerDuty stays the source of truth for the rotation. Tellspin reads who is currently on-call and keeps a Slack contact method (usually a user group such as @dev-on-call) pointed at that person. Tellspin re-syncs every minute, so handoffs and PagerDuty overrides show up in Slack almost immediately.
This gives your team a non-incident way to reach the on-call engineer without opening PagerDuty.
Step 1: Connect PagerDuty
Open the Tellspin App Home in Slack.
Under Choose an option to get started, click Pagerduty Connect.
Tellspin App Home with New Schedule, Pagerduty Connect, New OpsGenie Link, New Datadog Link, and New Schedule Triage If this is the first PagerDuty link in your workspace, the PagerDuty Connect modal opens. Click Connect to PagerDuty, sign in to PagerDuty, and authorize Tellspin. Tellspin only needs read access to schedules, users, and escalation policies.
PagerDuty Connect modal with the Connect to PagerDuty button
Once connected, the button reads New Pagerduty Link and you can link as many PagerDuty schedules as you like.
Some workspaces limit creating PagerDuty-linked schedules to Slack admins. If you don't see the button at all, ask a Slack admin to set up the link or email support@tellspin.com.
Step 2: Choose the PagerDuty Schedule
Click New Pagerduty Link. In the Select schedule modal, start typing the name of the PagerDuty schedule under Choose an existing pagerduty schedule, pick it from the list, and click Next.
The PagerDuty schedule must be attached to an escalation policy. PagerDuty only reports who is on-call for schedules that are used by an escalation policy.
Step 3: Map PagerDuty Users to Slack
The Map Users modal lists everyone on the PagerDuty schedule. Under each name, choose their Slack account in Select a user, then click Next. Every user needs a match before you can continue.
Tellspin fills these in for you when PagerDuty and Slack emails match. If you see Reinstall Tellspin with the users:read.email permission, click Reinstall to grant it, so matching emails map automatically. Anyone whose email differs between the two tools still has to be picked by hand.
Step 4: Choose the Contact Method
In the Choose contact method modal, pick how people will reach the on-call person:
- User Group – enter a Handle name such as
dev-on-call. Tellspin creates and manages@dev-on-call, keeping exactly one member in it: the current on-call user. - Keyword or Channel – use these if you don't have permission to create Slack user groups, or if you need the schedule in a Slack Connect channel. See Contact Methods.
Optionally pick Rotation Managers under Additional Options. They can edit the schedule and its PagerDuty user mappings. Then click Create.
To announce the on-call person in a channel, open the schedule in the App Home after it's created, click Edit, and choose Add Reminder.
Don't See the User Group Option?
Tellspin only offers User Group when your Slack account can create and edit user groups. Slack's default is to allow that for workspace admins only, so a non-admin sees just Keyword and Channel. Either have a Slack admin create the schedule, or change the workspace setting so everyone can manage user groups. Tellspin doesn't detect that setting change on its own; after changing it, email support@tellspin.com and ask for the permission check to be re-run. See who can edit Tellspin schedules.
Changing the User Mapping Later
If someone joins the PagerDuty schedule or a mapping is wrong, open the schedule in the App Home, click Edit, and use Change User Mappings → Edit Users.
What You'll See in the App Home
The linked schedule appears with its Handle, current On-call user, the Pagerduty sync schedule name, upcoming shifts pulled from PagerDuty, and a Syncs every minute note.