Quick Start Guide

Create your first database alert in under 30 minutes.

Prerequisites: Semantico must be installed in your ASP.NET application. You should have the Semantico UI accessible.

Overview

In this guide, you’ll:

Access the Semantico UI
Create a project (database connection)
Define a simple query
Test query execution
Create a subscription with cron schedule
Add a recipient for notifications
Trigger and verify your first notification

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Step 1: Access Semantico UI

Start your ASP.NET application:
```
dotnet run
```
Open your browser to the Semantico UI path (default: http://localhost:5000/semantico)
Enter basic authentication credentials (from your Program.cs):
- Username: admin (or your configured username)
- Password: admin (or your configured password)
You’ll see the Semantico dashboard with statistics and navigation

Step 2: Create a Project

A project represents a database connection that you want to monitor.

Click Projects in the left navigation
Click Create New Project
Fill in the project details:
- Name: My Application Database
- Description: Production database monitoring
- Database Type: Select your database (PostgreSQL, SQL Server, or MySQL)
- Connection String: Enter your database connection string

Connection String Examples:

PostgreSQL:

Host=your-db-host;Database=your-db;Username=readonly;Password=your-password

SQL Server:

Server=your-server;Database=your-db;User Id=readonly;Password=your-password;TrustServerCertificate=True

MySQL:

Server=your-server;Database=your-db;Uid=readonly;Pwd=your-password

Click Test Connection to verify connectivity
Click Save

Tip: Use a read-only database user for monitoring queries to prevent accidental data modifications.

Step 3: Create a Query

A query defines what data you want to monitor.

Click Queries in the left navigation
Click Create New Query
Fill in the query details:
- Name: Daily New Users
- Description: Count of new users registered today
Add a Query Step:
- Step Name: Count Users
- Project: Select My Application Database
- SQL Query:
```
SELECT COUNT(*) as new_users
FROM users
WHERE created_at >= CURRENT_DATE
```
- Order: 1
Click Save

Data Validation Query Examples

Alert if required fields are NULL:

SELECT
    id,
    email,
    username,
    'Required field is NULL' as issue
FROM users
WHERE email IS NULL
   OR username IS NULL
   OR created_at IS NULL
-- Alert triggers if any rows returned

Detect orphaned records:

SELECT
    o.id,
    o.user_id,
    'Order has no associated user' as issue
FROM orders o
LEFT JOIN users u ON o.user_id = u.id
WHERE u.id IS NULL
-- Alert if orphaned orders exist

Check for invalid state combinations:

SELECT
    id,
    status,
    payment_status,
    'Completed order without payment' as issue
FROM orders
WHERE status = 'completed'
  AND payment_status != 'paid'
-- Alert if business rule violated

Find duplicate records:

SELECT
    email,
    COUNT(*) as duplicate_count
FROM users
GROUP BY email
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1
-- Alert if duplicates found

Step 4: Test Query Execution

Before scheduling, test that your query works:

Open your saved query
Click Preview Query Execution
Review the results
Verify the data looks correct
Note the execution time

Pro Tip: Always test queries before creating subscriptions to avoid scheduling errors.

Step 5: Create a Subscription

A subscription schedules when your query runs and who gets notified.

Click Subscriptions in the left navigation
Click Create New Subscription
Fill in subscription details:
- Name: Daily User Count Alert
- Query: Select Daily New Users
- Cron Expression: 0 9 * * * (Daily at 9 AM)
- Timeout: 60 seconds
- Store Results: ✓ (checked)
- Send Notifications: ✓ (checked)

Common Cron Expressions:

Expression	Description
`0 9 * * *`	Every day at 9:00 AM
`0 /6 * *`	Every 6 hours
`/15 * * *`	Every 15 minutes
`0 9 * * 1`	Every Monday at 9:00 AM
`0 0 1 * *`	First day of every month at midnight

Click Save

Cron Help: Hover over the cron expression field for a human-readable description, or use crontab.guru for help.

Step 6: Add a Recipient

Recipients define where notifications are delivered.

Click Recipients in the left navigation
Click Create New Recipient
Choose notification type:

Option A: Email Notification

Name: DevOps Team
Type: Email
Email Address: devops@yourdomain.com

Email Adapter Required: Email notifications require implementing IEmailAdapter in your application configuration. See Configuration Guide.

Option B: Microsoft Teams

Name: Alerts Channel
Type: Teams
Webhook URL: https://outlook.office.com/webhook/...

To get your Teams webhook URL:

Go to your Teams channel
Click … → Connectors → Incoming Webhook
Configure and copy the webhook URL

Option C: Jira

Name: Jira Alerts
Type: Jira
Jira Configuration: Enter your Jira details

Click Save

Step 7: Add Recipient to Subscription

Go back to Subscriptions
Open Daily User Count Alert
In the Recipients section, click Add Recipient
Select your recipient (e.g., DevOps Team)
Click Save

Step 8: Trigger Manual Execution

Test your complete workflow:

Open your subscription Daily User Count Alert
Click Execute Now (manual trigger button)
Wait for execution to complete (usually 5-10 seconds)
Check the execution status

Step 9: Verify Notification

Check that you received the notification:

Email: Check your inbox for notification from Semantico
Teams: Check your Teams channel for the alert card
Jira: Check your Jira project for the new issue

What You Should See

The notification will include:

Query name and description
Execution timestamp
Query results (formatted table)
Link to execution history (if applicable)

Step 10: View Execution History

Click Notifications in the left navigation
You should see your recent execution
Click to view full details:
- Query executed
- Execution time
- Results
- Recipients notified
- Delivery status