Workflow: Maintenance Silence Lifecycle

Step-by-step guide for creating safe silences during planned maintenance — with mandatory preview, policy validation, and clean expiration.

When to Use

Use this workflow when:

Step	Action	Tool	Key Parameters
1	Preview blast radius (mandatory)	`am_preview_silence(matchers=[{"name": "service", "value": "checkout", "isRegex": false, "isEqual": true}])`	Returns affected_alert_count, receivers, warning_flag
2	Validate policy	`am_validate_silence_policy(matchers=[...], duration_minutes=120, comment="Deploy v2.3", created_by="alice")`	Returns allowed/violations
3	Create silence	`am_create_silence(matchers=[...], duration_minutes=120, comment="Deploy v2.3", created_by="alice")`	Returns silence_id
4	Confirm active	`am_list_silences(state="active")`	Verify silence appears
5	Extend if needed	`am_update_silence(silence_id="<id>", add_minutes=30)`	Returns new silence_id
6	Expire when done	`am_expire_silence(silence_id="<id>")`	Reactivates notifications

Guided Prompt: Use am-maintenance-silence-guided for the full step-by-step flow.

Guardrail	Description	Configuration
Duration Cap	Max silence duration (default 24h)	`AM_MAX_SILENCE_MINUTES`
Blast Radius Warning	Warns if silence affects ≥ N alerts	`AM_SILENCE_WARNING_THRESHOLD`
Duplicate Detection	Blocks creating equivalent active silences	Built-in
Policy Validation	Checks comment, creator, matcher breadth	`am_validate_silence_policy`
Preview Dry-Run	Shows affected alerts/receivers before creation	`am_preview_silence`

The am_silence_alert helper provides an LLM-friendly way to silence a specific alert:

Scope	Matchers Used	Use Case
`instance`	All alert labels	Narrowest — silences exactly this alert instance
`service` (default)	alertname + service + env	Recommended — silences this alert type for this service
`env`	env only	Broadest — silences everything in the environment