setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications — Claude Code skill
Wires CloudWatch alarms to notification channels through SNS: encrypted topics, subscriptions, access policies and alarm actions.
npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications -a claude-codeWhat setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications does
This skill gives the agent a fixed procedure for setting up CloudWatch alarm notifications. It creates encrypted SNS topics, writes a topic policy so CloudWatch can publish into them, and adds subscriptions for email, SMS and webhook endpoints. The alarm then gets linked to a notification action.
The steps live in references/setup-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications.md, and the skill expects the agent to follow that file exactly rather than improvise. A troubleshooting section covers the usual failures. No email? Run aws sns list-subscriptions-by-topic and check the subscription says Confirmed instead of PendingConfirmation. SMS bouncing? The phone number has to be in E.164 format and SMS must be supported in your AWS region. Silent alarm? Look at aws cloudwatch describe-alarms — AlarmActions needs the right topic ARN and ActionsEnabled must be true.
Everything here touches live AWS resources, so run it where your credentials allow creating SNS topics and subscriptions.
What it helps with
- create an encrypted SNS topic for CloudWatch alarms
- grant CloudWatch publish access through a topic policy
- subscribe an email address, phone number or webhook to alerts
- attach a notification action to an existing alarm
- debug a subscription stuck in PendingConfirmation
Example prompts for the agent
- set up notifications for the CPU alarm on this SNS topic
- create an encrypted SNS topic and subscribe the team email to it
- my alarm isn't sending notifications — check AlarmActions and ActionsEnabled
How to install setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --path skills/specialized-skills/operations-skills/setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notificationsManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications
How do I install setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications in Claude?
Run npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications -a claude-code. The skill file then sits at ~/.claude/skills/setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications/SKILL.md.
What does setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications do?
It configures notification channels for CloudWatch alarms: encrypted SNS topics, topic policies for CloudWatch access, email, SMS and webhook subscriptions, and the alarm action that ties them together.
Why is my email subscription not confirming?
It is probably still PendingConfirmation. Check with aws sns list-subscriptions-by-topic and confirm the subscription from the email you received.
Source text
SKILL.md · Apache-2.0
--- name: setting-up-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications description: Sets up notification channels for CloudWatch alarms using SNS topics and subscriptions. Always use this skill when configuring alarm notifications — it creates encrypted SNS topics, configures topic policies for CloudWatch access, sets up email/SMS/webhook subscriptions, and links alarms to notification actions with proper security controls. version: 1 --- # Setting Up CloudWatch Alarm Notifications ## Overview Domain expertise for configuring Amazon CloudWatch alarm notification channels using Amazon SNS topics and subscriptions. Covers creating encrypted SNS topics, setting up subscriptions for email, SMS, and webhook endpoints, configuring topic policies for CloudWatch access, and linking alarms to notification actions. ## Set up alarm notifications To configure notification channels for a CloudWatch alarm, follow the procedure exactly. See [CloudWatch alarm notification setup procedure](references/setup-cloudwatch-alarm-notifications.md). ## Troubleshooting ### Email notifications not received Verify the email subscription was confirmed. Use `aws sns list-subscriptions-by-topic` to check that the subscription status is "Confirmed" rather than "PendingConfirmation". ### SMS notifications failing Ensure the phone number is in E.164 format (e.g., +12345678901) and that SMS is supported in your AWS region. ### Alarm not triggering notifications Verify the alarm has the correct SNS topic ARN in its AlarmActions using `aws cloudwatch describe-alarms`, and ensure ActionsEnabled is set to true.
© aws · Apache-2.0 · aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws
