Machine monitoring: from sensor to alert

What you will achieve

By the end of this tutorial you will have a complete industrial monitoring flow: receive sensor data via webhook, visualize events, and trigger alarms that automatically create tasks. Estimated time: 25 minutes.

Prerequisites

• An active Rela AI account with dashboard access
• Access to a terminal with curl (Linux, macOS, or Windows with WSL)
• A machine agent created (or we will create one in Step 1)

Step 1: Create a machine agent

1. In the sidebar, click Agents.
2. Click New Agent.
3. Configure:
   • Name: Pump P-101 Monitor
   • Type: select Machine
   • Description: Monitors vibration and temperature of pump P-101
4. Click Create.

You should see the machine agent configuration page with event sources and alarms sections.

Step 2: Add an HTTP event source

1. On the agent page, go to Event Sources.
2. Click New Source.
3. Configure:
   • Type: HTTP Webhook
   • Name: P-101 Vibration Sensor
4. Click Create.

You should see a generated webhook URL, similar to:

https://api.rela.ai/v1/events/webhook/abc123def456

Step 3: Send a test event

Open your terminal and run the following curl command:

curl -X POST https://api.rela.ai/v1/events/webhook/abc123def456 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "timestamp": "2026-03-26T10:30:00Z",
    "machine_id": "P-101",
    "metrics": {
      "vibration_mm_s": 3.2,
      "temperature_c": 67.5,
      "pressure_bar": 4.1
    },
    "status": "running"
  }'

You should receive a successful response:

{
  "status": "accepted",
  "event_id": "evt_789xyz"
}

Step 4: View the event in the history

1. Return to the dashboard and go to Agents > Pump P-101 Monitor.
2. Click the Events tab.
3. Look for the event you just sent.

You should see the event with its timestamp, metrics (vibration: 3.2 mm/s, temperature: 67.5 C, pressure: 4.1 bar), and status "running".

Step 5: Create an alarm rule

1. On the agent page, go to Alarms > Rules.
2. Click New Rule.
3. Configure the rule:
   • Name: High Vibration P-101
   • Condition: vibration_mm_s > 5
   • Priority: High
   • Action — Create task: enabled
   • Task title: Review high vibration on pump P-101
   • Task priority: urgent
   • Assigned to: select a technician
   • Action — Notify: enabled (email and/or WhatsApp)
4. Click Save.

You should see the rule listed with status "Active" and the condition vibration_mm_s > 5 visible.

Step 6: Test the rule with a critical event

Send a new event with vibration above the threshold:

curl -X POST https://api.rela.ai/v1/events/webhook/abc123def456 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "timestamp": "2026-03-26T11:00:00Z",
    "machine_id": "P-101",
    "metrics": {
      "vibration_mm_s": 7.8,
      "temperature_c": 72.3,
      "pressure_bar": 4.0
    },
    "status": "running"
  }'

You should see the following:

1. Active alarm — In Alarms a new "High Vibration P-101" alarm appears with High priority.
2. Task created — On the Kanban board the task "Review high vibration on pump P-101" appears in todo status.
3. Notification sent — The assigned technician receives an email and/or WhatsApp message.

Summary

Next steps

• Configure alarm escalation to notify supervisors automatically
• Connect MQTT sources to receive data from PLCs directly
• Create a maintenance plan based on generated alarms