Notification Channels

Meridian VMS can send notifications through multiple channels when alarms are triggered or escalated. Notification channels are configured globally in the settings and then assigned to individual alarm definitions.

Supported Channels

Telegram

Send alarm notifications to a Telegram chat or group via a bot.

Required configuration:

Field	Description
Bot Token	The API token for your Telegram bot (from @BotFather)
Chat ID	The numeric chat ID or group ID to send messages to

To obtain a Chat ID, send a message to your bot and query https://api.telegram.org/bot{token}/getUpdates to find the chat.id value.

Discord

Send alarm notifications to a Discord channel via a webhook.

Required configuration:

Field	Description
Webhook URL	The full Discord webhook URL (from channel settings > Integrations > Webhooks)

Discord webhooks support rich embeds. Meridian VMS formats alarm notifications with the alarm name, camera name, location, timestamp, and severity.

Email (SMTP)

Send alarm notifications via email using an SMTP server.

Required configuration:

Field	Description
SMTP Host	Hostname or IP of the SMTP server
SMTP Port	Port number (typically 587 for TLS, 465 for SSL, 25 for unencrypted)
Use TLS	Whether to use STARTTLS encryption
Username	SMTP authentication username
Password	SMTP authentication password
From Address	The sender email address displayed in notifications
Recipients	Comma-separated list of recipient email addresses

Gmail and Office 365

For Gmail, use smtp.gmail.com on port 587 with TLS enabled and an App Password. For Office 365, use smtp.office365.com on port 587 with TLS. Standard account passwords will not work if two-factor authentication is enabled — generate an application-specific password instead.

Webhook

Send alarm notifications as JSON payloads to an arbitrary HTTP endpoint.

Required configuration:

Field	Description
URL	The endpoint URL that will receive POST requests with JSON alarm data

The webhook payload includes:

{
  "alarm_name": "Perimeter Intrusion",
  "camera_name": "North Fence Camera 3",
  "location": "Johannesburg > Head Office > Perimeter",
  "triggered_at": "2026-04-03T14:32:10Z",
  "severity": "high",
  "event_type": "person",
  "confidence": 0.91
}

This channel is useful for integrating Meridian VMS with third-party incident management systems, ticketing platforms, or custom automation workflows.

Configuring Channels

1. Navigate to Settings > Detection & Alarms > Notification Channels
2. Click Add Channel
3. Select the channel type (Telegram, Discord, Email, or Webhook)
4. Fill in the required fields for the selected type
5. Click Save

Testing a Channel

Each configured notification channel has a Test button. Clicking it sends a sample notification through the channel so you can verify the configuration is correct before assigning it to alarm definitions.

Test before going live

Always use the Test button after creating or modifying a notification channel. Misconfigured SMTP credentials or invalid webhook URLs will silently fail when a real alarm triggers, leaving operators unnotified.

Assigning Channels to Alarms

Notification channels are assigned when creating or editing an alarm definition:

1. Navigate to Settings > Detection & Alarms > Alarm Definitions
2. Create a new alarm or edit an existing one
3. In the Notification Channels section, select one or more configured channels
4. Save the alarm definition

When the alarm triggers, notifications are sent to all assigned channels simultaneously.

Channel Priority and Escalation

Alarm definitions support escalation rules that can send to different channels based on the alarm lifecycle:

• On trigger — Notify immediately when the alarm first fires
• On escalation — Notify a different set of channels if the alarm is not acknowledged within the escalation timeout

This allows you to configure initial notifications to a Telegram group for control room operators, with escalation to email or a management webhook if the alarm is not handled within the defined time window.