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# Case title and description templates

A Case title used to be a single fixed string, so ten Cases opened by the same alert definition all read the same and telling them apart meant opening each one. Template the title and description instead and every Case is named for the signal that triggered it, so a responder scanning the list sees the priority, the service, and what fired without opening anything.

Templates use the same engine and the same variables as Notification Center, so any expression that works in your notifications works here. There is no second syntax to learn.

## What you need[​](#what-you-need "Direct link to What you need")

* The update permission for the alert type you are editing — for example `ALERTS:METRICSUPDATECONFIG` for a metric alert, or `ALERTS:LOGSUPDATECONFIG` for a log alert. See [Alerting permissions](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/alerting/permissions.md).
* An alert definition that opens Cases. See [Case sources](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/cases/case-sources.md).

## Where the templates live[​](#where-the-templates-live "Direct link to Where the templates live")

A Case title and description are message fields on the **Cases** preset, the same way a Slack message or a PagerDuty payload is built from fields on its own preset. That gives you two levels of control:

| Level               | What it sets                                                                    | When to use it                                             |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| The Cases preset    | The default `title` and `description` templates for every Case the preset opens | You want one naming convention across the estate           |
| An alert definition | An override of those same fields, for the Cases that alert opens                | One alert needs a name the default template cannot express |

To override on a single alert, open the alert definition's notification settings, set what to notify on to **Cases**, and supply a template for the `title` or `description` field on that destination. Over the API or Terraform, the same override is a `messageConfigFields` entry — a `fieldName` of `title` or `description` plus the `template` — on the alert's notification destination.

Templates render when the Case opens, once per triggering signal, so each Case carries the values behind its own signal rather than a shared label.

## Template a title[​](#template-a-title "Direct link to Template a title")

This title template:

```
[{{ alertDef.priority }}] {{ alertDef.name }} on {{ alert.groups["service"] }}
```

renders as:

```
[P1] Checkout 5xx spike on checkout-api
```

The description takes the same templates, so the body can carry signal-specific context too — the metric that broke, the group that triggered, or the alert ID a responder needs to correlate.

## What you can reference[​](#what-you-can-reference "Direct link to What you can reference")

Templates read from the triggering signal, so the useful variables are the alert definition and the group values that opened the Case:

| Variable                         | What it holds                                     | Example              |
| -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | -------------------- |
| `alertDef.name`                  | The name of the alert definition                  | `Checkout 5xx spike` |
| `alertDef.priority`              | The priority set on the alert definition          | `P1`                 |
| `alertDef.entityLabels["<key>"]` | An entity label on the alert definition           | `payments`           |
| `alert.groups["<key>"]`          | The value of a group-by key for this signal       | `checkout-api`       |
| `alert.highestPriority`          | The highest priority among the triggering signals | `P1`                 |

For the full schema, including conditionals, filters, and loops, see [Dynamic templating](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/notification-center/dynamic-templating.md). The Case-side variables that notifications read once a Case exists are listed in [Cases in Notification Center](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/notification-center/entity-types/cases.md).

## Handle a missing value[​](#handle-a-missing-value "Direct link to Handle a missing value")

A group-by key that does not apply to a given signal renders empty, which leaves a gap in the title. Give the expression a default so the Case still reads cleanly:

```
[{{ alertDef.priority }}] {{ alertDef.name }} on {{ alert.groups["service"] | default(value="unknown service") }}
```

To set one fallback for every undefined variable in a template rather than per expression, see [Tera syntax](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/notification-center/dynamic-templating/tera-syntax.md).

## Rename a single Case[​](#rename-a-single-case "Direct link to Rename a single Case")

A template decides the name a Case opens with, not the name it keeps. You can still rename an individual Case from its header, and the new name follows it across the Case list, the drill down, and anything referencing it. See [Working with Cases](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/cases/working-with-cases.md).

## Related resources[​](#related-resources "Direct link to Related resources")

[Working with Cases](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/cases/working-with-cases.md)[Case sources](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/cases/case-sources.md)[Dynamic templating](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/notification-center/dynamic-templating.md)[Cases in Notification Center](https://coralogix.com/docs/user-guides/notification-center/entity-types/cases.md)