# Silence alerts during maintenance

> A time-boxed silence so planned work doesn't page anyone, while incidents still open and stay visible.

Web page: https://infrainbox.app/docs/cookbook/maintenance-window/

**You'll get:** no notifications for a maintenance window you set in advance, without losing visibility — incidents still open and show up in the inbox, they just don't notify anyone while the silence is active.

## Before you start

- A workspace on InfraInbox, with the source(s) or resource(s) you're about to work on already sending events.

## 1. Start a silence

Go to **Notifications → Silences** (dashboard screen `/rules/silences`) and click **New silence** (dashboard screen `/rules/silences/new`). Give it a name that says what the maintenance is (e.g. "PVE01 firmware update").

## 2. Match what you're touching

Under **Matchers**, add one or more conditions — every matcher must hold for a notice to be held back, so add enough to cover exactly what's affected: a specific `source`, a `resource`, a `severity`, or a `tag`. A silence with no matchers isn't allowed, on purpose: it would hold back the whole workspace.

If you'd rather silence one entire source with one click instead of building a matcher, use **Mute** from that source's own page instead — same mechanism, pre-filled to that source, and it can be left open-ended until you unmute it.

## 3. Set the window

Under **Window**, set **Starts** and **Ends** in the workspace's own time zone — the editor and the Silences list both name that zone above the times, so you can check it is the one you meant. If maintenance runs long, come back and click **End now** on this silence when you're done rather than waiting for the original end time — or just set a generous end time up front and end it early if you finish sooner.

Save.

## Check it works

While the silence is active:

- Anything it matches still opens or updates an incident, and still shows up in the inbox — a silence never hides an incident, only the notification about it.
- On the incident's activity timeline, a held-back notice shows as **SKIPPED: silenced**, so you can confirm afterwards that the silence actually caught what you expected.
- Trigger a matching test event (or use [Test an event](https://infrainbox.app/docs/notifications/test-an-event.md) beforehand) to confirm the matchers are right before the real maintenance window starts.

## If it doesn't work

| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Notifications still arrive | A matcher is more specific than the event (e.g. matching a `resource` your maintenance doesn't actually touch), or the window's time zone isn't what you expected — it's always the workspace's zone, not your browser's. |
| Nothing shows in the inbox either | That's not this silence — check whether a routing rule for this event drops it or sends it inbox-only regardless of any silence. |

## Next

- [Silences and mutes](https://infrainbox.app/docs/notifications/silences.md) — the full reference, including mutes.
- [Only critical alerts at night](https://infrainbox.app/docs/cookbook/quiet-nights.md) if what you want is a *recurring* nightly quiet period rather than a one-off window.