How to get website change alerts in Slack or Discord
Email is fine for one person, but if a team needs to know when a competitor changes its prices or a supplier updates its terms, a shared channel works better. Everyone sees the alert, people can talk about it in the thread, and nothing gets buried in one person's inbox. This guide shows how to send ChangeGist alerts to Slack or Discord, step by step.
How it works
Slack and Discord both let other services post into a channel using a webhook: a private link that accepts messages for that one channel. You create the link in Slack or Discord, paste it into ChangeGist, and from then on each important change on the pages you watch is posted there, with the same plain-English summary you'd get by email.
Treat the link like a password. Anyone who has it can post into that channel, so don't share it in public places. If it ever leaks, delete the webhook and create a new one.
Getting a Slack webhook link
- Go to api.slack.com/apps and choose Create New App, then From scratch. Name it something like ChangeGist and pick your workspace.
- Open Incoming Webhooks and switch it on.
- Click Add New Webhook to Workspace, choose the channel the alerts should go to, then Allow.
- Copy the link that starts with https://hooks.slack.com/services/.
Depending on how your workspace is set up, you may need an admin to approve the new app.
Getting a Discord webhook link
- Open your server, click the server name and choose Server Settings.
- Go to Integrations, then Webhooks, then New Webhook. You need the Manage Webhooks permission.
- Give it a name such as ChangeGist and choose the channel for alerts.
- Click Copy Webhook URL.
Adding it to ChangeGist and testing it
Open your Account page, paste the link into the Slack or Discord box under Alert channels and save. Then click Send a test alert. A sample message arrives in the channel straight away, and the page tells you if anything went wrong, for example a link that has been deleted.
Slack, Discord and your own webhook are included in the Pro and Business plans. Email alerts are included on every plan.
Keeping the channel useful
A channel that pings every few minutes soon gets muted. A few habits keep it worth reading:
- Only important changes are posted. Dates, view counters and other noise are filtered out first.
- Use alert rules for busy pages, such as "only tell me when the price drops below £20" or "only new jobs in London". Changes that don't match aren't posted to the channel either.
- Use a dedicated channel, for example #competitor-watch, rather than a busy general one.
- Pick a sensible check frequency. Most pricing and policy pages don't need checking every few minutes.
Sending alerts somewhere else
If your team uses another tool, the third box on the Account page takes any web address. For each important change, ChangeGist sends it a JSON message with the page, the headline, the summary and a link to the details, which tools like Zapier or Make can pass on wherever you need it.