Partially update an action policy.

Server: https://{kibana_url}

PATCH /api/alerting/v2/action_policies/{id}

Apply a partial update to an existing action policy. Fields not present in the body are left unchanged.

[Required authorization] Route required privileges: manage_alerting-v2-action-policies AND read_alerting-v2-rules.

Path Parameters

id string · min: 1 · max: 150 required: The ID of the action policy. Copy it from the response when you create a policy, fetch one policy, or fetch the policy list.

Request

description string · max: 1024: A description of the action policy.
destinations [] union · min: 1 · max: 10: The list of destinations. At least one is required.; One of:
group_by [] string · max: 16 nullable: The fields used to group alerts.
grouping_mode object: The grouping mode for alert notifications.; Values: per_episode all per_field
matcher object nullable: Selects the alerts this policy applies to. Set tags to match alerts from rules with those tags. Set expression to a KQL query, which will be evaluated against each alert.

If you set both tags and expression, an alert must match the tags and the expression for the policy to apply. When matcher is null, or when both tags and expression are empty, the policy applies to all alerts.

Updating matcher replaces it entirely: to change tags without dropping expression, resend the current expression value.
name string · min: 1 · max: 256: The name of the action policy.
throttle {}: The throttle configuration for notifications.
version string · min: 1 · max: 256 required: The current version of the action policy, used for optimistic concurrency control.

Responses

Returns the updated action policy.

application/json

auth object required: Authentication and ownership information.
created_at string required: The ISO datetime when the action policy was created.
created_by string required nullable: The user ID who created the action policy.
description string required: A description of the action policy.
destinations [] union required: The list of destinations.; One of:
enabled boolean required: Whether the action policy is enabled.
group_by [] string required nullable: The fields used to group alerts, or null for no grouping.
grouping_mode object required: The grouping mode for alert notifications.; Values: per_episode all per_field
id string required: The unique identifier for the action policy.
matcher object required nullable: Selects the alerts this policy applies to. Set tags to match alerts from rules with those tags. Set expression to a KQL query, which will be evaluated against each alert.

If you set both tags and expression, an alert must match the tags and the expression for the policy to apply. When matcher is null, or when both tags and expression are empty, the policy applies to all alerts.
name string required: The name of the action policy.
snoozed_until string required nullable: The ISO datetime until which the policy is snoozed, or null if not snoozed.
throttle object required nullable: The throttle configuration for notifications.
updated_at string required: The ISO datetime when the action policy was last updated.
updated_by string required nullable: The user ID who last updated the action policy.
version string: The version, used for optimistic concurrency control.

Indicates an invalid schema or parameters.

application/json

Indicates the request was not authenticated.

application/json

Indicates the user does not have the required privileges to perform the request.

application/json

Indicates an action policy with the given ID does not exist.

application/json

Indicates the action policy was concurrently updated by another caller.

application/json

Indicates an unexpected server-side error.

application/json

Indicates the alerting engine is disabled by the alerting:v2:enabled advanced setting.

application/json

Examples

Request Console 1 / 2 languages

Console Kibana Dev Tools

PATCH /api/alerting/v2/action_policies/{id}
{
  "description": "Updated description.",
  "name": "Notify on production alerts (updated)",
  "version": "WzAsMV0="
}

curl Shell

curl -X PATCH "https://{kibana_url}/api/alerting/v2/action_policies/{id}" \
  -H "kbn-xsrf: true" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "description": "Updated description.",
  "name": "Notify on production alerts (updated)",
  "version": "WzAsMV0="
}'

Response

{
  "auth": {
    "created_by_user": true,
    "owner": "elastic"
  },
  "created_at": "2026-01-15T12:00:00.000Z",
  "created_by": "elastic",
  "description": "Updated description.",
  "destinations": [
    {
      "id": "workflow-1",
      "type": "workflow"
    }
  ],
  "enabled": true,
  "group_by": "null",
  "grouping_mode": "per_episode",
  "id": "action-policy-1",
  "matcher": {
    "tags": [
      "production"
    ]
  },
  "name": "Notify on production alerts (updated)",
  "snoozed_until": "null",
  "throttle": {
    "interval": "null",
    "strategy": "on_status_change"
  },
  "updated_at": "2026-01-15T12:00:00.000Z",
  "updated_by": "elastic",
  "version": "WzAsMV0="
}

{
  "code": "INVALID_ACTION_POLICY_DATA",
  "details": {
    "context": "update",
    "errors": {
      "errors": [],
      "properties": {
        "name": {
          "errors": [
            "Invalid input: expected string, received undefined"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "error": "Bad Request",
  "message": "Error validating update action policy data - name: Invalid input: expected string, received undefined"
}

{
  "code": "UNAUTHORIZED",
  "error": "Unauthorized",
  "message": "Authentication required to access this API."
}

{
  "code": "FORBIDDEN",
  "error": "Forbidden",
  "message": "The current user does not have the required privileges for this request."
}

{
  "code": "ACTION_POLICY_NOT_FOUND",
  "details": {
    "action_policy_id": "action-policy-1"
  },
  "error": "Not Found",
  "message": "Action policy with ID \u0022action-policy-1\u0022 not found"
}

{
  "code": "ACTION_POLICY_VERSION_CONFLICT",
  "details": {
    "action_policy_id": "action-policy-1"
  },
  "error": "Conflict",
  "message": "Action policy with ID \u0022action-policy-1\u0022 has already been updated by another user"
}

{
  "code": "INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR",
  "error": "Internal Server Error",
  "message": "An unexpected error occurred."
}

{
  "code": "ALERTING_DISABLED",
  "error": "Service Unavailable",
  "message": "Alerting is disabled."
}

Path Parameters

Request { description , destinations , group_by , grouping_mode , matcher , name , throttle , version , }

Responses

Request