ui: make silence creator and comment optional

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 ## main / (unreleased)
 
+* [ENHANCEMENT] ui: The silence form no longer requires a creator and a comment, matching the API. #5471
+
 ## 0.34.0 / 2026-08-16
 
 * [CHANGE] notify: The `reason` label on `alertmanager_notifications_failed_total` now distinguishes `authError` (HTTP 401/403) and `rateLimited` (HTTP 429) from the generic `clientError`. Dashboards/alerts matching `reason="clientError"` for these codes must be updated. #5332

ui/app/src/Utils/FormValidation.elm

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ module Utils.FormValidation exposing
     ( ValidatedField
     , ValidationState(..)
     , initialField
-    , stringNotEmpty
     , updateValue
     , validate
     )
@@ -45,12 +44,3 @@ updateValue value field =
 validate : (String -> Result String a) -> ValidatedField -> ValidatedField
 validate validator field =
     { field | validationState = fromResult (validator field.value) }
-
-
-stringNotEmpty : String -> Result String String
-stringNotEmpty string =
-    if String.isEmpty (String.trim string) then
-        Err "Should not be empty"
-
-    else
-        Ok string

ui/app/src/Views/SilenceForm/Types.elm

@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ import Utils.FormValidation
         ( ValidatedField
         , ValidationState(..)
         , initialField
-        , stringNotEmpty
         , validate
         )
 import Utils.Types exposing (ApiData(..))
@@ -90,9 +89,7 @@ type SilenceFormFieldMsg
     | UpdateDuration String
     | ValidateTime
     | UpdateCreatedBy String
-    | ValidateCreatedBy
     | UpdateComment String
-    | ValidateComment
     | UpdateTimesFromPicker
     | OpenDateTimePicker
     | CloseDateTimePicker
@@ -118,13 +115,15 @@ initSilenceForm key firstDayOfWeek =
 
 toSilence : FilterBar.Model -> SilenceForm -> Maybe PostableSilence
 toSilence filterBar { id, comment, createdBy, startsAt, endsAt, annotations } =
-    Result.map5
-        (\nonEmptyMatchers nonEmptyComment nonEmptyCreatedBy parsedStartsAt parsedEndsAt ->
+    -- The API allows an empty creator and comment, so they are not
+    -- validated here (see https://github.com/prometheus/alertmanager/issues/2998).
+    Result.map3
+        (\nonEmptyMatchers parsedStartsAt parsedEndsAt ->
             { nullSilence
                 | id = id
-                , comment = nonEmptyComment
+                , comment = comment.value
                 , matchers = nonEmptyMatchers
-                , createdBy = nonEmptyCreatedBy
+                , createdBy = createdBy.value
                 , startsAt = parsedStartsAt
                 , endsAt = parsedEndsAt
                 , annotations =
@@ -136,8 +135,6 @@ toSilence filterBar { id, comment, createdBy, startsAt, endsAt, annotations } =
             }
         )
         (validMatchers filterBar)
-        (stringNotEmpty comment.value)
-        (stringNotEmpty createdBy.value)
         (timeFromString startsAt.value)
         (parseEndsAt startsAt.value endsAt.value)
         |> Result.toMaybe
@@ -229,8 +226,8 @@ fromSilence { id, createdBy, comment, startsAt, endsAt, annotations } firstDayOf
 validateForm : SilenceForm -> SilenceForm
 validateForm { id, createdBy, comment, startsAt, endsAt, duration, dateTimePicker, annotations, annotationText } =
     { id = id
-    , createdBy = validate stringNotEmpty createdBy
-    , comment = validate stringNotEmpty comment
+    , createdBy = createdBy
+    , comment = comment
     , startsAt = validate timeFromString startsAt
     , endsAt = validate (parseEndsAt startsAt.value) endsAt
     , duration = validate parseDuration duration

ui/app/src/Views/SilenceForm/Updates.elm

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import Utils.Date exposing (timeFromString)
 import Utils.DateTimePicker.Types exposing (initFromStartAndEndTime)
 import Utils.DateTimePicker.Updates as DateTimePickerUpdates
 import Utils.Filter exposing (silencePreviewFilter)
-import Utils.FormValidation exposing (initialField, stringNotEmpty, updateValue, validate)
+import Utils.FormValidation exposing (initialField, updateValue, validate)
 import Utils.Types exposing (ApiData(..))
 import Views.FilterBar.Types as FilterBar
 import Views.FilterBar.Updates as FilterBar
@@ -119,15 +119,9 @@ updateForm msg form =
         UpdateCreatedBy createdBy ->
             { form | createdBy = updateValue createdBy form.createdBy }
 
-        ValidateCreatedBy ->
-            { form | createdBy = validate stringNotEmpty form.createdBy }
-
         UpdateComment comment ->
             { form | comment = updateValue comment form.comment }
 
-        ValidateComment ->
-            { form | comment = validate stringNotEmpty form.comment }
-
         UpdateTimesFromPicker ->
             let
                 ( startsAt, endsAt, duration ) =

ui/app/src/Views/SilenceForm/Views.elm

@@ -32,16 +32,16 @@ view maybeId silenceFormGetParams defaultCreator { form, filterBar, filterBarVal
         , timeInput form.startsAt form.endsAt form.duration
         , matchersInput filterBarValid filterBar
         , validatedField input
-            "Creator"
+            "Creator (Optional)"
             inputSectionPadding
             (UpdateCreatedBy >> UpdateField)
-            (ValidateCreatedBy |> UpdateField)
+            (Noop |> UpdateField)
             form.createdBy
         , validatedTextareaField
-            "Comment"
+            "Comment (Optional)"
             inputSectionPadding
             (UpdateComment >> UpdateField)
-            (ValidateComment |> UpdateField)
+            (Noop |> UpdateField)
             form.comment
         , annotationsInput annotationsValid form
         , div [ class inputSectionPadding ]

ui/app/tests/SilenceForm.elm

@@ -1,10 +1,114 @@
-module SilenceForm exposing (parseAnnotation)
+module SilenceForm exposing (parseAnnotation, toSilence, validateForm)
 
 import Expect
 import Test exposing (..)
+import Time
+import Utils.Date
+import Utils.DateTimePicker.Types exposing (initDateTimePicker)
+import Utils.DateTimePicker.Utils exposing (FirstDayOfWeek(..))
+import Utils.Filter
+import Utils.FormValidation exposing (ValidationState(..), initialField)
+import Views.FilterBar.Types as FilterBar
 import Views.SilenceForm.Types
 
 
+silenceForm : String -> String -> Views.SilenceForm.Types.SilenceForm
+silenceForm createdBy comment =
+    let
+        startsAt =
+            Utils.Date.timeToString (Time.millisToPosix 1000000000000)
+
+        endsAt =
+            Utils.Date.timeToString (Time.millisToPosix 1000003600000)
+    in
+    { id = Nothing
+    , createdBy = initialField createdBy
+    , comment = initialField comment
+    , startsAt = initialField startsAt
+    , endsAt = initialField endsAt
+    , duration = initialField "1h"
+    , dateTimePicker = initDateTimePicker Monday
+    , viewDateTimePicker = False
+    , annotations = []
+    , annotationText = ""
+    }
+
+
+matcherFilterBar : List Utils.Filter.Matcher -> FilterBar.Model
+matcherFilterBar matchers =
+    FilterBar.initFilterBar matchers
+
+
+toSilence : Test
+toSilence =
+    describe "toSilence"
+        [ test "accepts an empty creator and comment" <|
+            \() ->
+                Expect.notEqual Nothing
+                    (Views.SilenceForm.Types.toSilence
+                        (matcherFilterBar [ { key = "alertname", op = Utils.Filter.Eq, value = "ExampleAlert" } ])
+                        (silenceForm "" "")
+                    )
+        , test "accepts a creator and comment" <|
+            \() ->
+                Expect.notEqual Nothing
+                    (Views.SilenceForm.Types.toSilence
+                        (matcherFilterBar [ { key = "alertname", op = Utils.Filter.Eq, value = "ExampleAlert" } ])
+                        (silenceForm "alice" "maintenance window")
+                    )
+        , test "still requires at least one matcher" <|
+            \() ->
+                Expect.equal Nothing
+                    (Views.SilenceForm.Types.toSilence
+                        (matcherFilterBar [])
+                        (silenceForm "" "")
+                    )
+        ]
+
+
+validateForm : Test
+validateForm =
+    describe "validateForm"
+        [ test "does not flag an empty creator and comment" <|
+            \() ->
+                let
+                    form =
+                        Views.SilenceForm.Types.validateForm (silenceForm "" "")
+
+                    isInvalid state =
+                        case state of
+                            Invalid _ ->
+                                True
+
+                            _ ->
+                                False
+                in
+                Expect.equal ( False, False )
+                    ( isInvalid form.createdBy.validationState
+                    , isInvalid form.comment.validationState
+                    )
+        , test "still flags invalid start and end times" <|
+            \() ->
+                let
+                    baseForm =
+                        silenceForm "" ""
+
+                    form =
+                        Views.SilenceForm.Types.validateForm
+                            { baseForm | startsAt = initialField "not-a-time" }
+
+                    isInvalid state =
+                        case state of
+                            Invalid _ ->
+                                True
+
+                            _ ->
+                                False
+                in
+                Expect.equal True (isInvalid form.startsAt.validationState)
+        ]
+
+
 parseAnnotation : Test
 parseAnnotation =
     describe "parseAnnotation"