> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.molesignal.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set an incident's severity

> Change an incident's severity by hand.

```http theme={null}
PUT /api/v1/alerts/incidents/{id}/severity
```

Sets the severity of an active incident and records the caller in `severity_set_by`; from then on the
rule's evaluation no longer changes the severity. Raising the severity of an `open` incident starts its
escalation again from the first step that applies to the new severity, with `escalation.reason` set to
`severity_raised`; lowering it, or changing an acknowledged incident, only changes the severity. The call
requires `alerts.incidents.update`.

**Body**

| Field | Type | Required | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| `severity` | string | Yes | `info`, `warning`, `error`, or `critical`. |

```bash cURL theme={null}
curl -X PUT http://localhost:5080/api/v1/alerts/incidents/$INCIDENT_ID/severity \
  -H "authorization: Bearer $MS_TOKEN" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"severity": "critical"}'
```

The response is the updated incident. [List incidents](https://docs.molesignal.com/en-US/api/alerting/list-incidents.md) describes every field.

```json 200 theme={null}
{
  "id": "3KEDNEyqouYJeBDTLTMTBui7XHW",
  "org_id": "<organization-id>",
  "rule_id": "3KEDBLvTYO6DnWi8H9S9MNLpPT7",
  "escalation_policy_id": "<policy-id>",
  "status": "open",
  "severity": "critical",
  "summary": "High error rate · checkout",
  "fingerprint": "2b7f5329675de7077c74ffa2646a36cd3adf16f80f523270332894d1ff630632",
  "current_step": 0,
  "current_loop": 0,
  "current_step_started_at": 1790000300000000,
  "assignees": [
    "<user-id>"
  ],
  "labels": {
    "service": "checkout"
  },
  "annotations": {},
  "trace_ids": [],
  "host_ids": [],
  "affected_services": [
    "checkout"
  ],
  "created_at": 1790000000000000,
  "acknowledged_at": null,
  "acknowledged_by": null,
  "resolved_at": null,
  "resolved_by": null,
  "team_id": "<team-id>",
  "routing": {
    "reason": "default"
  },
  "snoozed_until": null,
  "snoozed_by": null,
  "assignees_pinned": false,
  "severity_set_by": "<user-id>",
  "merged_into": null,
  "dispatch_round": 1,
  "dispatch_reason": "severity_raised",
  "revision": 4
}
```

**Errors**

| Status | Cause |
| - | - |
| `422` | `severity` is missing or not one of the four values. |
| `403` | The token lacks `alerts.incidents.update`, or the incident is out of the token's reach. |
| `404` | The incident does not exist. |
| `409` | The incident has recovered or was merged into another, or it kept changing while it was being updated; retry. |


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