lib/promutil: Weak pointer based labels compressor

2026-05-18 01:06:33 +03:00 · 2025-08-20 20:02:11 +03:00
1991 changed files with 94033 additions and 141140 deletions
--- a/.github/scripts/lint-changelog-tip.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/lint-changelog-tip.sh
@@ -1,48 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env sh
-
-set -e
-
-CHANGELOG_FILE="docs/victoriametrics/changelog/CHANGELOG.md"
-
-GITHUB_BASE_REF=${GITHUB_BASE_REF:-"master"}
-GIT_REMOTE=${GIT_REMOTE:-"origin"}
-
-git diff "${GIT_REMOTE}/${GITHUB_BASE_REF}"...HEAD -- $CHANGELOG_FILE > diff.txt
-if ! grep -q "^+" diff.txt; then
-  echo "No additions in CHANGELOG.md"
-  exit 0
-fi
-
-ADDED_LINES=$(grep "^+\S" diff.txt | sed 's/^+//')
-
-START_TIP=$(grep -n "^## tip" "$CHANGELOG_FILE" | head -1 | cut -d: -f1)
-if [ -z "$START_TIP" ]; then
-  echo "ERROR: ${CHANGELOG_FILE} does not contain a ## tip section"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-END_TIP=$(awk "NR>$START_TIP && /^## / {print NR; exit}" "${CHANGELOG_FILE}")
-if [ -z "$END_TIP" ]; then
-  END_TIP=$(wc -l < "$CHANGELOG_FILE")
-fi
-
-BAD=0
-while IFS= read -r line; do
-  # Grep exact line inside the file and get line numbers
-  MATCHES=$(grep -n -F "$line" "$CHANGELOG_FILE" | cut -d: -f1)
-  for m in $MATCHES; do
-    if [ "$m" -lt "$START_TIP" ] || [ "$m" -gt "$END_TIP" ]; then
-      echo "'$line' on line ${m} is outside ## tip section (lines ${START_TIP}-${END_TIP})"
-      BAD=1
-    fi
-  done
-done << EOF
-$ADDED_LINES
-EOF
-
-if [ "$BAD" -ne 0 ]; then
-  echo "CHANGELOG modifications must be placed inside the ## tip section."
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "CHANGELOG modifications are valid."
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -47,8 +47,6 @@ jobs:
            arch: arm
          - os: linux
            arch: ppc64le
-          - os: linux
-            arch: s390x
          - os: darwin
            arch: amd64
          - os: darwin
@@ -61,11 +59,11 @@ jobs:
            arch: amd64
    steps:
      - name: Code checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5

      - name: Setup Go
        id: go
-        uses: actions/setup-go@v6
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          cache-dependency-path: |
            go.sum
--- a/.github/workflows/changelog-linter.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/changelog-linter.yml
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-name: 'changelog-linter'
-
-on:
-  pull_request:
-    paths:
-      - "docs/victoriametrics/changelog/CHANGELOG.md"
-
-jobs:
-  tip-lint:
-    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-    steps:
-      - uses: 'actions/checkout@v6'
-        with:
-          # needed for proper diff
-          fetch-depth: 0
-
-      - name: 'Validate that changelog changes are under ## tip'
-        run: |
-          GITHUB_BASE_REF=${{ github.base_ref }} ./.github/scripts/lint-changelog-tip.sh
--- a/.github/workflows/check-commit-signed.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-commit-signed.yml
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-name: check-commit-signed
-
-on:
-  pull_request:
-
-jobs:
-  check-commit-signed:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0  # we need full history for commit verification
-
-      - name: Check commit signatures
-        run: |
-          if [ "${{ github.event_name }}" != "pull_request" ]; then
-            echo "Not a PR event, skipping signature check"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          
-          RANGE="${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}..${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}"
-          echo "Checking commits in PR range: $RANGE"
-          
-          if [ -z "$(git rev-list $RANGE)" ]; then
-            echo "No new commits in this PR, skipping signature check"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          
-          unsigned=$(git log --pretty="%H %G?" $RANGE | grep -vE " (G|E)$" || true)
-          if [ -n "$unsigned" ]; then
-            echo "Found unsigned commits:"
-            echo "$unsigned"
-            exit 1
-          fi
-          
-          echo "All commits in PR are signed (G or E)"
--- a/.github/workflows/check-licenses.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-licenses.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:

      - name: Setup Go
        id: go
-        uses: actions/setup-go@v6
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          go-version: stable
          cache: false
--- a/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis-go.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis-go.yml
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@ jobs:

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5

      - name: Set up Go
        id: go
-        uses: actions/setup-go@v6
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          cache: false
          go-version: stable
@@ -49,14 +49,14 @@ jobs:
          restore-keys: go-artifacts-${{ runner.os }}-codeql-analyze-

      - name: Initialize CodeQL
-        uses: github/codeql-action/init@v4
+        uses: github/codeql-action/init@v3
        with:
          languages: go

      - name: Autobuild
-        uses: github/codeql-action/autobuild@v4
+        uses: github/codeql-action/autobuild@v3

      - name: Perform CodeQL Analysis
-        uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@v4
+        uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@v3
        with:
          category: 'language:go'
--- a/.github/workflows/docs.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs.yaml
@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ jobs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Code checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5
        with:
          path: __vm

      - name: Checkout private code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5
        with:
          repository: VictoriaMetrics/vmdocs
          token: ${{ secrets.VM_BOT_GH_TOKEN }}
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@ jobs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Code checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5

      - name: Setup Go
        id: go
-        uses: actions/setup-go@v6
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          cache-dependency-path: |
            go.sum
@@ -71,11 +71,11 @@ jobs:

    steps:
      - name: Code checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5

      - name: Setup Go
        id: go
-        uses: actions/setup-go@v6
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          cache-dependency-path: |
            go.sum
@@ -97,11 +97,11 @@ jobs:

    steps:
      - name: Code checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5

      - name: Setup Go
        id: go
-        uses: actions/setup-go@v6
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          cache-dependency-path: |
            go.sum
--- a/.github/workflows/vmui.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/vmui.yml
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ jobs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Code checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5

      - name: Setup Node
-        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '24.x'

--- a/22
+++ b/22
@@ -125,15 +125,6 @@ vmutils-linux-ppc64le: \
 	vmrestore-linux-ppc64le \
 	vmctl-linux-ppc64le

-vmutils-linux-s390x: \
-	vmagent-linux-s390x \
-	vmalert-linux-s390x \
-	vmalert-tool-linux-s390x \
-	vmauth-linux-s390x \
-	vmbackup-linux-s390x \
-	vmrestore-linux-s390x \
-	vmctl-linux-s390x
-
 vmutils-darwin-amd64: \
 	vmagent-darwin-amd64 \
 	vmalert-darwin-amd64 \
@@ -266,7 +257,6 @@ release-victoria-metrics: \
 	release-victoria-metrics-linux-amd64 \
 	release-victoria-metrics-linux-arm \
 	release-victoria-metrics-linux-arm64 \
-	release-victoria-metrics-linux-s390x \
 	release-victoria-metrics-darwin-amd64 \
 	release-victoria-metrics-darwin-arm64 \
 	release-victoria-metrics-freebsd-amd64 \
@@ -285,9 +275,6 @@ release-victoria-metrics-linux-arm:
 release-victoria-metrics-linux-arm64:
 	GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 $(MAKE) release-victoria-metrics-goos-goarch

-release-victoria-metrics-linux-s390x:
-	GOOS=linux GOARCH=s390x $(MAKE) release-victoria-metrics-goos-goarch
-
 release-victoria-metrics-darwin-amd64:
 	GOOS=darwin GOARCH=amd64 $(MAKE) release-victoria-metrics-goos-goarch

@@ -327,7 +314,6 @@ release-vmutils: \
 	release-vmutils-linux-amd64 \
 	release-vmutils-linux-arm64 \
 	release-vmutils-linux-arm \
-	release-vmutils-linux-s390x \
 	release-vmutils-darwin-amd64 \
 	release-vmutils-darwin-arm64 \
 	release-vmutils-freebsd-amd64 \
@@ -346,9 +332,6 @@ release-vmutils-linux-arm64:
 release-vmutils-linux-arm:
 	GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm $(MAKE) release-vmutils-goos-goarch

-release-vmutils-linux-s390x:
-	GOOS=linux GOARCH=s390x $(MAKE) release-vmutils-goos-goarch
-
 release-vmutils-darwin-amd64:
 	GOOS=darwin GOARCH=amd64 $(MAKE) release-vmutils-goos-goarch

@@ -435,7 +418,7 @@ release-vmutils-windows-goarch: \
 		vmctl-windows-$(GOARCH)-prod.exe

 pprof-cpu:
-	go tool pprof -trim_path=github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics $(PPROF_FILE)
+	go tool pprof -trim_path=github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics@ $(PPROF_FILE)

 fmt:
 	gofmt -l -w -s ./lib
@@ -500,8 +483,7 @@ app-local-windows-goarch:
 	CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=windows GOARCH=$(GOARCH) go build $(RACE) -ldflags "$(GO_BUILDINFO)" -tags "$(EXTRA_GO_BUILD_TAGS)" -o bin/$(APP_NAME)-windows-$(GOARCH)$(RACE).exe $(PKG_PREFIX)/app/$(APP_NAME)

 quicktemplate-gen: install-qtc
-	qtc -dir=lib
-	qtc -dir=app
+	qtc

 install-qtc:
 	which qtc || go install github.com/valyala/quicktemplate/qtc@latest
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 [![Latest Release](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics?sort=semver&label=&filter=!*-victorialogs&logo=github&labelColor=gray&color=gray&link=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FVictoriaMetrics%2FVictoriaMetrics%2Freleases%2Flatest)](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases)
 ![Docker Pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/victoriametrics/victoria-metrics?label=&logo=docker&logoColor=white&labelColor=2496ED&color=2496ED&link=https%3A%2F%2Fhub.docker.com%2Fr%2Fvictoriametrics%2Fvictoria-metrics)
 [![Go Report](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics?link=https%3A%2F%2Fgoreportcard.com%2Freport%2Fgithub.com%2FVictoriaMetrics%2FVictoriaMetrics)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics)
-[![Build Status](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/actions/workflows/build.yml/badge.svg?branch=master&link=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FVictoriaMetrics%2FVictoriaMetrics%2Factions)](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/actions/workflows/build.yml)
+[![Build Status](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/actions/workflows/main.yml/badge.svg?branch=master&link=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FVictoriaMetrics%2FVictoriaMetrics%2Factions)](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/actions/workflows/main.yml)
 [![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/branch/master/graph/badge.svg?link=https%3A%2F%2Fcodecov.io%2Fgh%2FVictoriaMetrics%2FVictoriaMetrics)](https://app.codecov.io/gh/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics)
 [![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics?labelColor=green&label=&link=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FVictoriaMetrics%2FVictoriaMetrics%2Fblob%2Fmaster%2FLICENSE)](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/blob/master/LICENSE)
 ![Slack](https://img.shields.io/badge/Join-4A154B?logo=slack&link=https%3A%2F%2Fslack.victoriametrics.com)
--- a/SECURITY.md
+++ b/SECURITY.md
@@ -4,11 +4,12 @@

 The following versions of VictoriaMetrics receive regular security fixes:

-| Version                                                                        | Supported          |
-|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------|
-| [Latest release](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/changelog/)  | :white_check_mark: |
-| [LTS releases](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/lts-releases/) | :white_check_mark: |
-| other releases                                                                 | :x:                |
+| Version | Supported          |
+|---------|--------------------|
+| [latest release](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/changelog/) | :white_check_mark: |
+| v1.102.x [LTS line](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/lts-releases/) | :white_check_mark: |
+| v1.110.x [LTS line](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/lts-releases/) | :white_check_mark: |
+| other releases  | :x:                |

 See [this page](https://victoriametrics.com/security/) for more details.

--- a/app/victoria-metrics/Makefile
+++ b/app/victoria-metrics/Makefile
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@ victoria-metrics-linux-ppc64le-prod:
 victoria-metrics-linux-386-prod:
 	APP_NAME=victoria-metrics $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-386

-victoria-metrics-linux-s390x-prod:
-	APP_NAME=victoria-metrics $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-s390x
-
 victoria-metrics-darwin-amd64-prod:
 	APP_NAME=victoria-metrics $(MAKE) app-via-docker-darwin-amd64

--- a/app/victoria-metrics/main.go
+++ b/app/victoria-metrics/main.go
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ func usage() {
 	const s = `
 victoria-metrics is a time series database and monitoring solution.

-See the docs at https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/
+See the docs at https://docs.victoriametrics.com/
 `
 	flagutil.Usage(s)
 }
--- a/app/vmagent/Makefile
+++ b/app/vmagent/Makefile
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@ vmagent-linux-ppc64le-prod:
 vmagent-linux-386-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmagent $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-386

-vmagent-linux-s390x-prod:
-	APP_NAME=vmagent $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-s390x
-
 vmagent-darwin-amd64-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmagent $(MAKE) app-via-docker-darwin-amd64

--- a/app/vmagent/main.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/main.go
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/promremotewrite"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/remotewrite"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/vmimport"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/zabbixconnector"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/auth"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/buildinfo"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/bytesutil"
@@ -75,7 +74,7 @@ var (
 		"See also -opentsdbHTTPListenAddr.useProxyProtocol")
 	opentsdbHTTPUseProxyProtocol = flag.Bool("opentsdbHTTPListenAddr.useProxyProtocol", false, "Whether to use proxy protocol for connections accepted "+
 		"at -opentsdbHTTPListenAddr . See https://www.haproxy.org/download/1.8/doc/proxy-protocol.txt")
-	configAuthKey = flagutil.NewPassword("configAuthKey", "Authorization key for accessing /config and /remotewrite-.*-config pages. It must be passed via authKey query arg. It overrides -httpAuth.*")
+	configAuthKey = flagutil.NewPassword("configAuthKey", "Authorization key for accessing /config page. It must be passed via authKey query arg. It overrides -httpAuth.*")
 	reloadAuthKey = flagutil.NewPassword("reloadAuthKey", "Auth key for /-/reload http endpoint. It must be passed via authKey query arg. It overrides -httpAuth.*")
 	dryRun        = flag.Bool("dryRun", false, "Whether to check config files without running vmagent. The following files are checked: "+
 		"-promscrape.config, -remoteWrite.relabelConfig, -remoteWrite.urlRelabelConfig, -remoteWrite.streamAggr.config . "+
@@ -253,8 +252,6 @@ func requestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 			{"metric-relabel-debug", "debug metric relabeling"},
 			{"api/v1/targets", "advanced information about discovered targets in JSON format"},
 			{"config", "-promscrape.config contents"},
-			{"remotewrite-relabel-config", "-remoteWrite.relabelConfig contents"},
-			{"remotewrite-url-relabel-config", "-remoteWrite.urlRelabelConfig contents"},
 			{"metrics", "available service metrics"},
 			{"flags", "command-line flags"},
 			{"-/reload", "reload configuration"},
@@ -351,17 +348,6 @@ func requestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 		}
 		firehose.WriteSuccessResponse(w, r)
 		return true
-	case "/zabbixconnector/api/v1/history":
-		zabbixconnectorHistoryRequests.Inc()
-		if err := zabbixconnector.InsertHandlerForHTTP(nil, r); err != nil {
-			zabbixconnectorHistoryErrors.Inc()
-			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
-			fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"error":%q}`, err.Error())
-			return true
-		}
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
-		return true
 	case "/newrelic":
 		newrelicCheckRequest.Inc()
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
@@ -491,42 +477,6 @@ func requestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 		promscrape.WriteConfigData(&bb)
 		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"yaml":%s}}`, stringsutil.JSONString(string(bb.B)))
 		return true
-	case "/remotewrite-relabel-config":
-		if !httpserver.CheckAuthFlag(w, r, configAuthKey) {
-			return true
-		}
-		remoteWriteRelabelConfigRequests.Inc()
-		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8")
-		remotewrite.WriteRelabelConfigData(w)
-		return true
-	case "/api/v1/status/remotewrite-relabel-config":
-		if !httpserver.CheckAuthFlag(w, r, configAuthKey) {
-			return true
-		}
-		remoteWriteStatusRelabelConfigRequests.Inc()
-		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-		var bb bytesutil.ByteBuffer
-		remotewrite.WriteRelabelConfigData(&bb)
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"yaml":%s}}`, stringsutil.JSONString(string(bb.B)))
-		return true
-	case "/remotewrite-url-relabel-config":
-		if !httpserver.CheckAuthFlag(w, r, configAuthKey) {
-			return true
-		}
-		remoteWriteURLRelabelConfigRequests.Inc()
-		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8")
-		remotewrite.WriteURLRelabelConfigData(w)
-		return true
-	case "/api/v1/status/remotewrite-url-relabel-config":
-		if !httpserver.CheckAuthFlag(w, r, configAuthKey) {
-			return true
-		}
-		remoteWriteStatusURLRelabelConfigRequests.Inc()
-		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-		var bb bytesutil.ByteBuffer
-		remotewrite.WriteURLRelabelConfigData(&bb)
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"yaml":%s}}`, stringsutil.JSONString(string(bb.B)))
-		return true
 	case "/prometheus/-/reload", "/-/reload":
 		if !httpserver.CheckAuthFlag(w, r, reloadAuthKey) {
 			return true
@@ -656,17 +606,6 @@ func processMultitenantRequest(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, path stri
 		}
 		firehose.WriteSuccessResponse(w, r)
 		return true
-	case "zabbixconnector/api/v1/history":
-		zabbixconnectorHistoryRequests.Inc()
-		if err := zabbixconnector.InsertHandlerForHTTP(at, r); err != nil {
-			zabbixconnectorHistoryErrors.Inc()
-			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
-			fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"error":%q}`, err.Error())
-			return true
-		}
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
-		return true
 	case "newrelic":
 		newrelicCheckRequest.Inc()
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
@@ -788,9 +727,6 @@ var (
 	opentelemetryPushRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/opentelemetry/v1/metrics", protocol="opentelemetry"}`)
 	opentelemetryPushErrors   = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_request_errors_total{path="/opentelemetry/v1/metrics", protocol="opentelemetry"}`)

-	zabbixconnectorHistoryRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/zabbixconnector/api/v1/history", protocol="zabbixconnector"}`)
-	zabbixconnectorHistoryErrors   = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_request_errors_total{path="/zabbixconnector/api/v1/history", protocol="zabbixconnector"}`)
-
 	newrelicWriteRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vm_http_requests_total{path="/newrelic/infra/v2/metrics/events/bulk", protocol="newrelic"}`)
 	newrelicWriteErrors   = metrics.NewCounter(`vm_http_request_errors_total{path="/newrelic/infra/v2/metrics/events/bulk", protocol="newrelic"}`)

@@ -811,12 +747,6 @@ var (
 	promscrapeConfigRequests       = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/config"}`)
 	promscrapeStatusConfigRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/api/v1/status/config"}`)

-	remoteWriteRelabelConfigRequests       = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/remotewrite-relabel-config"}`)
-	remoteWriteStatusRelabelConfigRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/api/v1/status/remotewrite-relabel-config"}`)
-
-	remoteWriteURLRelabelConfigRequests       = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/remotewrite-url-relabel-config"}`)
-	remoteWriteStatusURLRelabelConfigRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/api/v1/status/remotewrite-url-relabel-config"}`)
-
 	promscrapeConfigReloadRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_http_requests_total{path="/-/reload"}`)
 )

--- a/app/vmagent/opentelemetry/request_handler.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/opentelemetry/request_handler.go
@@ -2,14 +2,13 @@ package opentelemetry

 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"net/http"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/common"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/remotewrite"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/auth"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prommetadata"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promscrape"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/firehose"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/protoparserutil"
@@ -25,13 +24,6 @@ var (
 	rowsPerInsert          = metrics.NewHistogram(`vmagent_rows_per_insert{type="opentelemetry"}`)
 )

-// InsertHandler processes metrics from given reader.
-func InsertHandlerForReader(at *auth.Token, r io.Reader, encoding string) error {
-	return stream.ParseStream(r, encoding, nil, func(tss []prompb.TimeSeries, mms []prompb.MetricMetadata) error {
-		return insertRows(at, tss, mms, nil)
-	})
-}
-
 // InsertHandler processes opentelemetry metrics.
 func InsertHandler(at *auth.Token, req *http.Request) error {
 	extraLabels, err := protoparserutil.GetExtraLabels(req)
@@ -76,7 +68,7 @@ func insertRows(at *auth.Token, tss []prompb.TimeSeries, mms []prompb.MetricMeta
 	ctx.WriteRequest.Timeseries = tssDst

 	var metadataTotal int
-	if prommetadata.IsEnabled() {
+	if promscrape.IsMetadataEnabled() {
 		var accountID, projectID uint32
 		if at != nil {
 			accountID = at.AccountID
--- a/app/vmagent/prometheusimport/request_handler.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/prometheusimport/request_handler.go
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/remotewrite"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/auth"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/httpserver"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prommetadata"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promscrape"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/prometheus"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/prometheus/stream"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/protoparserutil"
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ func InsertHandler(at *auth.Token, req *http.Request) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	encoding := req.Header.Get("Content-Encoding")
-	return stream.Parse(req.Body, defaultTimestamp, encoding, true, prommetadata.IsEnabled(), func(rows []prometheus.Row, mms []prometheus.Metadata) error {
+	return stream.Parse(req.Body, defaultTimestamp, encoding, true, promscrape.IsMetadataEnabled(), func(rows []prometheus.Row, mms []prometheus.Metadata) error {
 		return insertRows(at, rows, mms, extraLabels)
 	}, func(s string) {
 		httpserver.LogError(req, s)
--- a/app/vmagent/promremotewrite/request_handler.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/promremotewrite/request_handler.go
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/common"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/remotewrite"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/auth"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prommetadata"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promscrape"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/promremotewrite/stream"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/protoparserutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/tenantmetrics"
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ func insertRows(at *auth.Token, timeseries []prompb.TimeSeries, mms []prompb.Met
 	ctx.WriteRequest.Timeseries = tssDst

 	var metadataTotal int
-	if prommetadata.IsEnabled() {
+	if promscrape.IsMetadataEnabled() {
 		var accountID, projectID uint32
 		if at != nil {
 			accountID = at.AccountID
--- a/app/vmagent/remotewrite/client.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/remotewrite/client.go
@@ -463,6 +463,12 @@ again:
 		// - Real-world implementations of v1 use both 400 and 415 status codes.
 		// See more in research: https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/8462#issuecomment-2786918054
 	case 415, 400:
+		if c.canDowngradeVMProto.Swap(false) {
+			logger.Infof("received unsupported media type or bad request from remote storage at %q. Downgrading protocol from VictoriaMetrics to Prometheus remote write for all future requests. "+
+				"See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/vmagent/#victoriametrics-remote-write-protocol", c.sanitizedURL)
+			c.useVMProto.Store(false)
+		}
+
 		if encoding.IsZstd(block) {
 			logger.Infof("received unsupported media type or bad request from remote storage at %q. Re-packing the block to Prometheus remote write and retrying."+
 				"See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/vmagent/#victoriametrics-remote-write-protocol", c.sanitizedURL)
--- a/app/vmagent/remotewrite/client_test.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/remotewrite/client_test.go
@@ -93,7 +93,10 @@ func TestParseRetryAfterHeader(t *testing.T) {

 // helper calculate the max possible time duration calculated by timeutil.AddJitterToDuration.
 func helper(d time.Duration) time.Duration {
-	dv := min(d/10, 10*time.Second)
+	dv := d / 10
+	if dv > 10*time.Second {
+		dv = 10 * time.Second
+	}

 	return d + dv
 }
--- a/app/vmagent/remotewrite/relabel.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/remotewrite/relabel.go
@@ -3,18 +3,15 @@ package remotewrite
 import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
-	"sync/atomic"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/fasttime"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/flagutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promrelabel"
-	"go.yaml.in/yaml/v3"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
 )
@@ -35,12 +32,9 @@ var (
 		"See https://prometheus.io/docs/concepts/data_model/#metric-names-and-labels")
 )

+var labelsGlobal []prompb.Label
+
 var (
-	labelsGlobal []prompb.Label
-
-	remoteWriteRelabelConfigData    atomic.Pointer[[]byte]
-	remoteWriteURLRelabelConfigData atomic.Pointer[[]interface{}]
-
 	relabelConfigReloads      *metrics.Counter
 	relabelConfigReloadErrors *metrics.Counter
 	relabelConfigSuccess      *metrics.Gauge
@@ -73,42 +67,6 @@ func initRelabelConfigs() {
 	}
 }

-// WriteRelabelConfigData writes -remoteWrite.relabelConfig contents to w
-func WriteRelabelConfigData(w io.Writer) {
-	p := remoteWriteRelabelConfigData.Load()
-	if p == nil {
-		// Nothing to write to w
-		return
-	}
-	_, _ = w.Write(*p)
-}
-
-// WriteURLRelabelConfigData writes -remoteWrite.urlRelabelConfig contents to w
-func WriteURLRelabelConfigData(w io.Writer) {
-	p := remoteWriteURLRelabelConfigData.Load()
-	if p == nil {
-		// Nothing to write to w
-		return
-	}
-	type urlRelabelCfg struct {
-		Url           string      `yaml:"url"`
-		RelabelConfig interface{} `yaml:"relabel_config"`
-	}
-	var cs []urlRelabelCfg
-	for i, url := range *remoteWriteURLs {
-		cfgData := (*p)[i]
-		if !*showRemoteWriteURL {
-			url = fmt.Sprintf("%d:secret-url", i+1)
-		}
-		cs = append(cs, urlRelabelCfg{
-			Url:           url,
-			RelabelConfig: cfgData,
-		})
-	}
-	d, _ := yaml.Marshal(cs)
-	_, _ = w.Write(d)
-}
-
 func reloadRelabelConfigs() {
 	rcs := allRelabelConfigs.Load()
 	if !rcs.isSet() {
@@ -132,42 +90,28 @@ func reloadRelabelConfigs() {
 func loadRelabelConfigs() (*relabelConfigs, error) {
 	var rcs relabelConfigs
 	if *relabelConfigPathGlobal != "" {
-		global, rawCfg, err := promrelabel.LoadRelabelConfigs(*relabelConfigPathGlobal)
+		global, err := promrelabel.LoadRelabelConfigs(*relabelConfigPathGlobal)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot load -remoteWrite.relabelConfig=%q: %w", *relabelConfigPathGlobal, err)
 		}
-		remoteWriteRelabelConfigData.Store(&rawCfg)
 		rcs.global = global
 	}
 	if len(*relabelConfigPaths) > len(*remoteWriteURLs) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("too many -remoteWrite.urlRelabelConfig args: %d; it mustn't exceed the number of -remoteWrite.url args: %d",
 			len(*relabelConfigPaths), (len(*remoteWriteURLs)))
 	}
-
-	var urlRelabelCfgs []interface{}
 	rcs.perURL = make([]*promrelabel.ParsedConfigs, len(*remoteWriteURLs))
 	for i, path := range *relabelConfigPaths {
 		if len(path) == 0 {
-			urlRelabelCfgs = append(urlRelabelCfgs, nil)
+			// Skip empty relabel config.
 			continue
 		}
-		prc, rawCfg, err := promrelabel.LoadRelabelConfigs(path)
+		prc, err := promrelabel.LoadRelabelConfigs(path)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot load relabel configs from -remoteWrite.urlRelabelConfig=%q: %w", path, err)
 		}
 		rcs.perURL[i] = prc
-
-		var parsedCfg interface{}
-		_ = yaml.Unmarshal(rawCfg, &parsedCfg)
-		urlRelabelCfgs = append(urlRelabelCfgs, parsedCfg)
 	}
-	if len(*remoteWriteURLs) > len(*relabelConfigPaths) {
-		// fill the urlRelabelCfgs with empty relabel configs if not set
-		for i := len(*relabelConfigPaths); i < len(*remoteWriteURLs); i++ {
-			urlRelabelCfgs = append(urlRelabelCfgs, nil)
-		}
-	}
-	remoteWriteURLRelabelConfigData.Store(&urlRelabelCfgs)
 	return &rcs, nil
 }

--- a/app/vmagent/remotewrite/remotewrite.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/remotewrite/remotewrite.go
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promrelabel"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/ratelimiter"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/slicesutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/streamaggr"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/timeserieslimits"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
@@ -486,9 +485,6 @@ func tryPush(at *auth.Token, wr *prompb.WriteRequest, forceDropSamplesOnFailure
 			matchIdxs.B = sas.Push(tssBlock, matchIdxs.B)
 			if !*streamAggrGlobalKeepInput {
 				tssBlock = dropAggregatedSeries(tssBlock, matchIdxs.B, *streamAggrGlobalDropInput)
-			} else if *streamAggrGlobalDropInput {
-				// if both keep_input and drop_input are true, we keep only the aggregated series
-				tssBlock = dropUnaggregatedSeries(tssBlock, matchIdxs.B)
 			}
 			matchIdxsPool.Put(matchIdxs)
 		}
@@ -992,17 +988,7 @@ func (rwctx *remoteWriteCtx) TryPushTimeSeries(tss []prompb.TimeSeries, forceDro
 				tss = append(*v, tss...)
 			}
 			tss = dropAggregatedSeries(tss, matchIdxs.B, rwctx.streamAggrDropInput)
-		} else if rwctx.streamAggrDropInput {
-			// if both keep_input and drop_input are true, we keep only the aggregated series
-			if rctx == nil {
-				rctx = getRelabelCtx()
-				// Make a copy of tss before dropping aggregated series
-				v = tssPool.Get().(*[]prompb.TimeSeries)
-				tss = append(*v, tss...)
-			}
-			tss = dropUnaggregatedSeries(tss, matchIdxs.B)
 		}
-
 		matchIdxsPool.Put(matchIdxs)
 	}
 	if rwctx.deduplicator != nil {
@@ -1025,10 +1011,9 @@ func (rwctx *remoteWriteCtx) TryPushTimeSeries(tss []prompb.TimeSeries, forceDro
 	return false
 }

-var matchIdxsPool slicesutil.BufferPool[uint32]
+var matchIdxsPool bytesutil.ByteBufferPool

-// dropAggregatedSeries drops matched series, also the unmatched if dropInput is true.
-func dropAggregatedSeries(src []prompb.TimeSeries, matchIdxs []uint32, dropInput bool) []prompb.TimeSeries {
+func dropAggregatedSeries(src []prompb.TimeSeries, matchIdxs []byte, dropInput bool) []prompb.TimeSeries {
 	dst := src[:0]
 	if !dropInput {
 		for i, match := range matchIdxs {
@@ -1043,20 +1028,6 @@ func dropAggregatedSeries(src []prompb.TimeSeries, matchIdxs []uint32, dropInput
 	return dst
 }

-// dropUnaggregatedSeries drops unmatched series.
-func dropUnaggregatedSeries(src []prompb.TimeSeries, matchIdxs []uint32) []prompb.TimeSeries {
-	dst := src[:0]
-	for i, match := range matchIdxs {
-		if match == 0 {
-			continue
-		}
-		dst = append(dst, src[i])
-	}
-	tail := src[len(dst):]
-	clear(tail)
-	return dst
-}
-
 func (rwctx *remoteWriteCtx) pushInternalTrackDropped(tss []prompb.TimeSeries) {
 	if rwctx.tryPushTimeSeriesInternal(tss) {
 		return
--- a/app/vmagent/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ import (
 	"time"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/consistenthash"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/fs"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/persistentqueue"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promrelabel"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/prometheus"
@@ -59,8 +57,8 @@ func TestGetLabelsHash_Distribution(t *testing.T) {
 	f(10)
 }

-func TestRemoteWriteContext_TryPushTimeSeries(t *testing.T) {
-	f := func(streamAggrConfig, relabelConfig string, enableWindows bool, dedupInterval time.Duration, keepInput, dropInput bool, input string, expectedRowsPushedAfterRelabel, expectedPushedSample int) {
+func TestRemoteWriteContext_TryPush_ImmutableTimeseries(t *testing.T) {
+	f := func(streamAggrConfig, relabelConfig string, enableWindows bool, dedupInterval time.Duration, keepInput, dropInput bool, input string) {
 		t.Helper()
 		perURLRelabel, err := promrelabel.ParseRelabelConfigsData([]byte(relabelConfig))
 		if err != nil {
@@ -73,16 +71,10 @@ func TestRemoteWriteContext_TryPushTimeSeries(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		allRelabelConfigs.Store(rcs)

-		path := "fast-queue-write-test"
-		fs.MustRemoveDir(path)
-		fq := persistentqueue.MustOpenFastQueue(path, "test", 100, 0, false)
-		defer fs.MustRemoveDir(path)
-		defer fq.MustClose()
-
 		pss := make([]*pendingSeries, 1)
 		isVMProto := &atomic.Bool{}
 		isVMProto.Store(true)
-		pss[0] = newPendingSeries(fq, isVMProto, 0, 100)
+		pss[0] = newPendingSeries(nil, isVMProto, 0, 100)
 		rwctx := &remoteWriteCtx{
 			idx:                    0,
 			streamAggrKeepInput:    keepInput,
@@ -91,8 +83,6 @@ func TestRemoteWriteContext_TryPushTimeSeries(t *testing.T) {
 			rowsPushedAfterRelabel: metrics.GetOrCreateCounter(`foo`),
 			rowsDroppedByRelabel:   metrics.GetOrCreateCounter(`bar`),
 		}
-		defer metrics.UnregisterAllMetrics()
-
 		if dedupInterval > 0 {
 			rwctx.deduplicator = streamaggr.NewDeduplicator(nil, enableWindows, dedupInterval, nil, "dedup-global")
 		}
@@ -114,27 +104,23 @@ func TestRemoteWriteContext_TryPushTimeSeries(t *testing.T) {
 		inputTss := prometheus.MustParsePromMetrics(input, offsetMsecs)
 		expectedTss := make([]prompb.TimeSeries, len(inputTss))

-		// check inputTss is not modified after TryPushTimeSeries
+		// copy inputTss to make sure it is not mutated during TryPush call
 		copy(expectedTss, inputTss)
 		if !rwctx.TryPushTimeSeries(inputTss, false) {
 			t.Fatalf("cannot push samples to rwctx")
 		}

-		if int(rwctx.rowsPushedAfterRelabel.Get()) != expectedRowsPushedAfterRelabel {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected number of rows after relabel; got %d; want %d", rwctx.rowsPushedAfterRelabel.Get(), expectedRowsPushedAfterRelabel)
-		}
-
-		if len(pss[0].wr.tss) != expectedPushedSample {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected number of pushed samples; got %d; want %d", len(pss[0].wr.tss), expectedPushedSample)
-		}
-
 		if !reflect.DeepEqual(expectedTss, inputTss) {
 			t.Fatalf("unexpected samples;\ngot\n%v\nwant\n%v", inputTss, expectedTss)
 		}
 	}

-	// relabeling
-	f(``, `
+	f(`
+- interval: 1m
+  outputs: [sum_samples]
+- interval: 2m
+  outputs: [count_series]
+`, `
 - action: keep
  source_labels: [env]
  regex: "dev"
@@ -143,66 +129,53 @@ metric{env="dev"} 10
 metric{env="bar"} 20
 metric{env="dev"} 15
 metric{env="bar"} 25
-`, 2, 2)
-
-	// relabeling + aggregation
-	f(`
- match: '{env="dev"}'
-  interval: 1m
-  outputs: [sum_samples]
-`, `
- action: keep
-  source_labels: [env]
-  regex: ".*"
-`, false, 0, false, false, `
-metric{env="dev"} 10
-metric{env="bar"} 20
-metric{env="dev"} 15
-metric{env="bar"} 25
-`, 4, 2)
-
-	// aggregation + keepInput
-	f(`
- match: '{env="dev"}'
-  interval: 1m
-  outputs: [sum_samples]
-`, ``, false, 0, true, false, `
-metric{env="dev"} 10
-metric{env="bar"} 20
-metric{env="dev"} 15
-metric{env="bar"} 25
-`, 4, 4)
-
-	// aggregation + dropInput
-	f(`
- match: '{env="dev"}'
-  interval: 1m
-  outputs: [sum_samples]
-`, ``, false, 0, false, true, `
-metric{env="dev"} 10
-metric{env="bar"} 20
-metric{env="dev"} 15
-metric{env="bar"} 25
-`, 4, 0)
-
-	// aggregation + keepInput + dropInput
-	f(`
- match: '{env="dev"}'
-  interval: 1m
-  outputs: [sum_samples]
-`, ``, false, 0, true, true, `
-metric{env="dev"} 10
-metric{env="bar"} 20
-metric{env="bar"} 25
-`, 3, 1)
-
-	// aggregation + deduplication
+`)
 	f(``, ``, true, time.Hour, false, false, `
 metric{env="dev"} 10
 metric{env="foo"} 20
 metric{env="dev"} 15
 metric{env="foo"} 25
-`, 4, 0)
+`)
+	f(``, `
+- action: keep
+  source_labels: [env]
+  regex: "dev"
+`, true, time.Hour, false, false, `
+metric{env="dev"} 10
+metric{env="bar"} 20
+metric{env="dev"} 15
+metric{env="bar"} 25
+`)
+	f(``, `
+- action: keep
+  source_labels: [env]
+  regex: "dev"
+`, true, time.Hour, true, false, `
+metric{env="test"} 10
+metric{env="dev"} 20
+metric{env="foo"} 15
+metric{env="dev"} 25
+`)
+	f(``, `
+- action: keep
+  source_labels: [env]
+  regex: "dev"
+`, true, time.Hour, false, true, `
+metric{env="foo"} 10
+metric{env="dev"} 20
+metric{env="foo"} 15
+metric{env="dev"} 25
+`)
+	f(``, `
+- action: keep
+  source_labels: [env]
+  regex: "dev"
+`, true, time.Hour, true, true, `
+metric{env="dev"} 10
+metric{env="test"} 20
+metric{env="dev"} 15
+metric{env="bar"} 25
+`)
 }

 func TestShardAmountRemoteWriteCtx(t *testing.T) {
--- a/app/vmagent/remotewrite/streamaggr.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/remotewrite/streamaggr.go
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@ var (
 	streamAggrGlobalConfig = flag.String("streamAggr.config", "", "Optional path to file with stream aggregation config. "+
 		"See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/ . "+
 		"See also -streamAggr.keepInput, -streamAggr.dropInput and -streamAggr.dedupInterval")
-	streamAggrGlobalKeepInput = flag.Bool("streamAggr.keepInput", false, "Whether to keep input samples that match any rule in "+
-		"-streamAggr.config. By default, matched raw samples are aggregated and dropped, while unmatched samples "+
-		"are written to the remote storage. See also -streamAggr.dropInput and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/")
-	streamAggrGlobalDropInput = flag.Bool("streamAggr.dropInput", false, "Whether to drop input samples that not matching any rule in "+
-		"-streamAggr.config. By default, only matched raw samples are dropped, while unmatched samples "+
-		"are written to the remote storage. See also -streamAggr.keepInput and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/")
+	streamAggrGlobalKeepInput = flag.Bool("streamAggr.keepInput", false, "Whether to keep all the input samples after the aggregation "+
+		"with -streamAggr.config. By default, only aggregates samples are dropped, while the remaining samples "+
+		"are written to remote storages write. See also -streamAggr.dropInput and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/")
+	streamAggrGlobalDropInput = flag.Bool("streamAggr.dropInput", false, "Whether to drop all the input samples after the aggregation "+
+		"with -remoteWrite.streamAggr.config. By default, only aggregates samples are dropped, while the remaining samples "+
+		"are written to remote storages write. See also -streamAggr.keepInput and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/")
 	streamAggrGlobalDedupInterval = flag.Duration("streamAggr.dedupInterval", 0, "Input samples are de-duplicated with this interval on "+
 		"aggregator before optional aggregation with -streamAggr.config . "+
 		"See also -dedup.minScrapeInterval and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/#deduplication")
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ var (
 	streamAggrConfig = flagutil.NewArrayString("remoteWrite.streamAggr.config", "Optional path to file with stream aggregation config for the corresponding -remoteWrite.url. "+
 		"See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/ . "+
 		"See also -remoteWrite.streamAggr.keepInput, -remoteWrite.streamAggr.dropInput and -remoteWrite.streamAggr.dedupInterval")
-	streamAggrDropInput = flagutil.NewArrayBool("remoteWrite.streamAggr.dropInput", "Whether to drop input samples that not matching any rule in "+
-		"the corresponding -remoteWrite.streamAggr.config. By default, only matched raw samples are dropped, while unmatched samples "+
+	streamAggrDropInput = flagutil.NewArrayBool("remoteWrite.streamAggr.dropInput", "Whether to drop all the input samples after the aggregation "+
+		"with -remoteWrite.streamAggr.config at the corresponding -remoteWrite.url. By default, only aggregates samples are dropped, while the remaining samples "+
 		"are written to the corresponding -remoteWrite.url . See also -remoteWrite.streamAggr.keepInput and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/")
-	streamAggrKeepInput = flagutil.NewArrayBool("remoteWrite.streamAggr.keepInput", "Whether to keep input samples that match any rule in "+
-		"the corresponding -remoteWrite.streamAggr.config. By default, matched raw samples are aggregated and dropped, while unmatched samples "+
+	streamAggrKeepInput = flagutil.NewArrayBool("remoteWrite.streamAggr.keepInput", "Whether to keep all the input samples after the aggregation "+
+		"with -remoteWrite.streamAggr.config at the corresponding -remoteWrite.url. By default, only aggregates samples are dropped, while the remaining samples "+
 		"are written to the corresponding -remoteWrite.url . See also -remoteWrite.streamAggr.dropInput and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/")
 	streamAggrDedupInterval = flagutil.NewArrayDuration("remoteWrite.streamAggr.dedupInterval", 0, "Input samples are de-duplicated with this interval before optional aggregation "+
 		"with -remoteWrite.streamAggr.config at the corresponding -remoteWrite.url. See also -dedup.minScrapeInterval and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/#deduplication")
--- a/app/vmagent/zabbixconnector/request_handler.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/zabbixconnector/request_handler.go
@@ -1,80 +0,0 @@
-package zabbixconnector
-
-import (
-	"net/http"
-
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/common"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/remotewrite"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/auth"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/bytesutil"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/protoparserutil"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/zabbixconnector"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/zabbixconnector/stream"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/tenantmetrics"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
-)
-
-var (
-	rowsInserted       = metrics.NewCounter(`vmagent_rows_inserted_total{type="zabbixconnector"}`)
-	rowsTenantInserted = tenantmetrics.NewCounterMap(`vmagent_tenant_inserted_rows_total{type="zabbixconnector"}`)
-	rowsPerInsert      = metrics.NewHistogram(`vmagent_rows_per_insert{type="zabbixconnector"}`)
-)
-
-// InsertHandlerForHTTP processes remote write for ZabbixConnector POST /zabbixconnector/v1/history request.
-func InsertHandlerForHTTP(at *auth.Token, req *http.Request) error {
-	extraLabels, err := protoparserutil.GetExtraLabels(req)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	encoding := req.Header.Get("Content-Encoding")
-	return stream.Parse(req.Body, encoding, func(rows []zabbixconnector.Row) error {
-		return insertRows(at, rows, extraLabels)
-	})
-}
-
-func insertRows(at *auth.Token, rows []zabbixconnector.Row, extraLabels []prompb.Label) error {
-	ctx := common.GetPushCtx()
-	defer common.PutPushCtx(ctx)
-
-	rowsTotal := len(rows)
-	tssDst := ctx.WriteRequest.Timeseries[:0]
-	labels := ctx.Labels[:0]
-	samples := ctx.Samples[:0]
-	for i := range rows {
-		r := &rows[i]
-
-		labelsLen := len(labels)
-		for j := range r.Tags {
-			tag := &r.Tags[j]
-			labels = append(labels, prompb.Label{
-				Name:  bytesutil.ToUnsafeString(tag.Key),
-				Value: bytesutil.ToUnsafeString(tag.Value),
-			})
-		}
-		labels = append(labels, extraLabels...)
-
-		samplesLen := len(samples)
-		samples = append(samples, prompb.Sample{
-			Value:     r.Value,
-			Timestamp: r.Timestamp,
-		})
-
-		tssDst = append(tssDst, prompb.TimeSeries{
-			Labels:  labels[labelsLen:],
-			Samples: samples[samplesLen:],
-		})
-	}
-	ctx.WriteRequest.Timeseries = tssDst
-	ctx.Labels = labels
-	ctx.Samples = samples
-	if !remotewrite.TryPush(at, &ctx.WriteRequest) {
-		return remotewrite.ErrQueueFullHTTPRetry
-	}
-	rowsInserted.Add(rowsTotal)
-	if at != nil {
-		rowsTenantInserted.Get(at).Add(rowsTotal)
-	}
-	rowsPerInsert.Update(float64(rowsTotal))
-	return nil
-}
--- a/app/vmalert-tool/Makefile
+++ b/app/vmalert-tool/Makefile
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@ vmalert-tool-linux-ppc64le-prod:
 vmalert-tool-linux-386-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmalert-tool $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-386

-vmalert-tool-linux-s390x-prod:
-	APP_NAME=vmalert-tool $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-s390x
-
 vmalert-tool-darwin-amd64-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmalert-tool $(MAKE) app-via-docker-darwin-amd64

--- a/app/vmalert-tool/unittest/unittest.go
+++ b/app/vmalert-tool/unittest/unittest.go
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/fs"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/httpserver"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/netutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
 )
@@ -85,8 +84,7 @@ func UnitTest(files []string, disableGroupLabel bool, externalLabels []string, e
 		defer server.Close()
 	} else {
 		httpListenAddr = httpListenPort
-
-		ln, err := net.Listen(netutil.GetTCPNetwork(), fmt.Sprintf(":%s", httpListenPort))
+		ln, err := net.Listen("tcp", fmt.Sprintf(":%s", httpListenPort))
 		if err != nil {
 			logger.Fatalf("cannot listen on port %s: %v", httpListenPort, err)
 		}
@@ -132,7 +130,7 @@ func UnitTest(files []string, disableGroupLabel bool, externalLabels []string, e
 		}
 		labels[s[:n]] = s[n+1:]
 	}
-	err = notifier.Init(labels, externalURL)
+	_, err = notifier.Init(nil, labels, externalURL)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Fatalf("failed to init notifier: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -379,7 +377,7 @@ func (tg *testGroup) test(evalInterval time.Duration, groupOrderMap map[string]i
 			if len(g.Rules) == 0 {
 				continue
 			}
-			errs := g.ExecOnce(context.Background(), rw, ts)
+			errs := g.ExecOnce(context.Background(), func() []notifier.Notifier { return nil }, rw, ts)
 			for err := range errs {
 				if err != nil {
 					checkErrs = append(checkErrs, fmt.Errorf("\nfailed to exec group: %q, time: %s, err: %w", g.Name,
--- a/app/vmalert/Makefile
+++ b/app/vmalert/Makefile
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@ vmalert-linux-ppc64le-prod:
 vmalert-linux-386-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmalert $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-386

-vmalert-linux-s390x-prod:
-	APP_NAME=vmalert $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-s390x
-
 vmalert-darwin-amd64-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmalert $(MAKE) app-via-docker-darwin-amd64

--- a/app/vmalert/config/config.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/config/config.go
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ type Group struct {
 	// EvalDelay will adjust the `time` parameter of rule evaluation requests to compensate intentional query delay from datasource.
 	// see https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5155
 	EvalDelay   *promutil.Duration `yaml:"eval_delay,omitempty"`
-	Limit       *int               `yaml:"limit,omitempty"`
+	Limit       int                `yaml:"limit,omitempty"`
 	Rules       []Rule             `yaml:"rules"`
 	Concurrency int                `yaml:"concurrency"`
 	// Labels is a set of label value pairs, that will be added to every rule.
@@ -91,8 +91,8 @@ func (g *Group) Validate(validateTplFn ValidateTplFn, validateExpressions bool)
 	if g.EvalOffset != nil && g.EvalDelay != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("eval_offset cannot be used with eval_delay")
 	}
-	if g.Limit != nil && *g.Limit < 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("invalid limit %d, shouldn't be less than 0", *g.Limit)
+	if g.Limit < 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid limit %d, shouldn't be less than 0", g.Limit)
 	}
 	if g.Concurrency < 0 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid concurrency %d, shouldn't be less than 0", g.Concurrency)
--- a/app/vmalert/config/config_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/config/config_test.go
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ func TestParse_Failure(t *testing.T) {

 	f([]string{"testdata/rules/rules_interval_bad.rules"}, "eval_offset should be smaller than interval")
 	f([]string{"testdata/rules/rules0-bad.rules"}, "unexpected token")
-	f([]string{"testdata/dir/rules0-bad.rules"}, "invalid annotations")
+	f([]string{"testdata/dir/rules0-bad.rules"}, "error parsing annotation")
 	f([]string{"testdata/dir/rules1-bad.rules"}, "duplicate in file")
 	f([]string{"testdata/dir/rules2-bad.rules"}, "function \"unknown\" not defined")
 	f([]string{"testdata/dir/rules3-bad.rules"}, "either `record` or `alert` must be set")
@@ -181,10 +181,9 @@ func TestGroupValidate_Failure(t *testing.T) {
 		EvalOffset: promutil.NewDuration(2 * time.Minute),
 	}, false, "eval_offset should be smaller than interval")

-	limit := -1
 	f(&Group{
 		Name:  "wrong limit",
-		Limit: &limit,
+		Limit: -1,
 	}, false, "invalid limit")

 	f(&Group{
@@ -343,6 +342,7 @@ func TestGroupValidate_Failure(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 	}, true, "bad prometheus expr")
+
 }

 func TestGroupValidate_Success(t *testing.T) {
--- a/app/vmalert/datasource/client.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/datasource/client.go
@@ -173,26 +173,22 @@ func (c *Client) Query(ctx context.Context, query string, ts time.Time) (Result,
 			return Result{}, nil, fmt.Errorf("second attempt: %w", err)
 		}
 	}
-	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()

 	// Process the received response.
-	var parseFn func(resp *http.Response) (Result, error)
+	var parseFn func(req *http.Request, resp *http.Response) (Result, error)
 	switch c.dataSourceType {
 	case datasourcePrometheus:
-		parseFn = parsePrometheusInstantResponse
+		parseFn = parsePrometheusResponse
 	case datasourceGraphite:
 		parseFn = parseGraphiteResponse
 	case datasourceVLogs:
-		parseFn = parseVLogsInstantResponse
+		parseFn = parseVLogsResponse
 	default:
 		logger.Panicf("BUG: unsupported datasource type %q to parse query response", c.dataSourceType)
 	}
-
-	result, err := parseFn(resp)
-	if err != nil {
-		return Result{}, nil, fmt.Errorf("error parsing response from %q: %w", req.URL.Redacted(), err)
-	}
-	return result, req, nil
+	result, err := parseFn(req, resp)
+	_ = resp.Body.Close()
+	return result, req, err
 }

 // QueryRange executes the given query on the given time range.
@@ -233,23 +229,19 @@ func (c *Client) QueryRange(ctx context.Context, query string, start, end time.T
 			return res, fmt.Errorf("second attempt: %w", err)
 		}
 	}
-	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()

 	// Process the received response.
-	var parseFn func(resp *http.Response) (Result, error)
+	var parseFn func(req *http.Request, resp *http.Response) (Result, error)
 	switch c.dataSourceType {
 	case datasourcePrometheus:
-		parseFn = parsePrometheusRangeResponse
+		parseFn = parsePrometheusResponse
 	case datasourceVLogs:
-		parseFn = parseVLogsRangeResponse
+		parseFn = parseVLogsResponse
 	default:
 		logger.Panicf("BUG: unsupported datasource type %q to parse query range response", c.dataSourceType)
 	}
-
-	res, err = parseFn(resp)
-	if err != nil {
-		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("error parsing response from %q: %w", req.URL.Redacted(), err)
-	}
+	res, err = parseFn(req, resp)
+	_ = resp.Body.Close()
 	return res, err
 }

--- a/app/vmalert/datasource/client_graphite.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/datasource/client_graphite.go
@@ -33,10 +33,10 @@ func (r graphiteResponse) metrics() []Metric {
 	return ms
 }

-func parseGraphiteResponse(resp *http.Response) (Result, error) {
+func parseGraphiteResponse(req *http.Request, resp *http.Response) (Result, error) {
 	r := &graphiteResponse{}
 	if err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(r); err != nil {
-		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("error parsing graphite metrics: %w", err)
+		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("error parsing graphite metrics for %s: %w", req.URL.Redacted(), err)
 	}
 	return Result{Data: r.metrics()}, nil
 }
--- a/app/vmalert/datasource/client_prom.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/datasource/client_prom.go
@@ -172,26 +172,17 @@ const (
 	rtVector, rtMatrix, rScalar = "vector", "matrix", "scalar"
 )

-func parsePromResponse(resp *http.Response) (*promResponse, error) {
+func parsePrometheusResponse(req *http.Request, resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error) {
 	r := &promResponse{}
-	if err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(r); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to decode response: %w", err)
+	if err = json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(r); err != nil {
+		return res, fmt.Errorf("error parsing response from %s: %w", req.URL.Redacted(), err)
 	}
 	if r.Status == statusError {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("response error %q: %s", r.ErrorType, r.Error)
+		return res, fmt.Errorf("response error, query: %s, errorType: %s, error: %s", req.URL.Redacted(), r.ErrorType, r.Error)
 	}
 	if r.Status != statusSuccess {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown response status %q", r.Status)
+		return res, fmt.Errorf("unknown status: %s, Expected success or error", r.Status)
 	}
-	return r, nil
-}
-
-func parsePrometheusInstantResponse(resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error) {
-	r, err := parsePromResponse(resp)
-	if err != nil {
-		return res, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse response: %w", err)
-	}
-
 	var parseFn func() ([]Metric, error)
 	switch r.Data.ResultType {
 	case rtVector:
@@ -200,6 +191,12 @@ func parsePrometheusInstantResponse(resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error)
 			return res, fmt.Errorf("unmarshal err %w; \n %#v", err, string(r.Data.Result))
 		}
 		parseFn = pi.metrics
+	case rtMatrix:
+		var pr promRange
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(r.Data.Result, &pr.Result); err != nil {
+			return res, err
+		}
+		parseFn = pr.metrics
 	case rScalar:
 		var ps promScalar
 		if err := json.Unmarshal(r.Data.Result, &ps); err != nil {
@@ -209,6 +206,7 @@ func parsePrometheusInstantResponse(resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error)
 	default:
 		return res, fmt.Errorf("unknown result type %q", r.Data.ResultType)
 	}
+
 	ms, err := parseFn()
 	if err != nil {
 		return res, err
@@ -224,34 +222,6 @@ func parsePrometheusInstantResponse(resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error)
 	return res, nil
 }

-func parsePrometheusRangeResponse(resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error) {
-	r, err := parsePromResponse(resp)
-	if err != nil {
-		return res, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse response: %w", err)
-	}
-	if r.Data.ResultType != rtMatrix {
-		return res, fmt.Errorf("unexpected result type %q; expected result type %q", r.Data.ResultType, rtMatrix)
-	}
-
-	var pr promRange
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(r.Data.Result, &pr.Result); err != nil {
-		return res, err
-	}
-	ms, err := pr.metrics()
-	if err != nil {
-		return res, err
-	}
-	res = Result{Data: ms, IsPartial: r.IsPartial}
-	if r.Stats.SeriesFetched != nil {
-		intV, err := strconv.Atoi(*r.Stats.SeriesFetched)
-		if err != nil {
-			return res, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert stats.seriesFetched to int: %w", err)
-		}
-		res.SeriesFetched = &intV
-	}
-	return res, nil
-}
-
 func (c *Client) setPrometheusInstantReqParams(r *http.Request, query string, timestamp time.Time) {
 	if c.appendTypePrefix {
 		r.URL.Path += "/prometheus"
--- a/app/vmalert/datasource/client_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/datasource/client_test.go
@@ -65,23 +65,21 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 		case 3:
 			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"unknown"}`))
 		case 4:
-			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"vector"}}`))
+			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"matrix"}}`))
 		case 5:
-			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"matrix","result":[{"metric":{"__name__":"vm_rows"},"values":[[1583786142,"13763"]]}]}}`))
-		case 6:
 			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"vector","result":[{"metric":{"__name__":"vm_rows","foo":"bar"},"value":[1583786142,"13763"]},{"metric":{"__name__":"vm_requests","foo":"baz"},"value":[1583786140,"2000"]}]}}`))
-		case 7:
+		case 6:
 			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"scalar","result":[1583786142, "1"]}}`))
-		case 8:
+		case 7:
 			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"scalar","result":[1583786142, "1"]},"stats":{"seriesFetched": "42"}}`))
-		case 9:
+		case 8:
 			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success", "isPartial":true, "data":{"resultType":"scalar","result":[1583786142, "1"]}}`))
 		}
 	})
 	mux.HandleFunc("/render", func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
 		c++
 		switch c {
-		case 10:
+		case 9:
 			w.Write([]byte(`[{"target":"constantLine(10)","tags":{"name":"constantLine(10)"},"datapoints":[[10,1611758343],[10,1611758373],[10,1611758403]]}]`))
 		}
 	})
@@ -104,9 +102,9 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatalf("failed to parse 'time' query param %q: %s", timeParam, err)
 		}
 		switch c {
-		case 11:
+		case 10:
 			w.Write([]byte("[]"))
-		case 12:
+		case 11:
 			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"vector","result":[{"metric":{"__name__":"total","foo":"bar"},"value":[1583786142,"13763"]},{"metric":{"__name__":"total","foo":"baz"},"value":[1583786140,"2000"]}]}}`))
 		}
 	})
@@ -125,7 +123,6 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	ts := time.Now()

 	expErr := func(query, err string) {
-		t.Helper()
 		_, _, gotErr := pq.Query(ctx, query, ts)
 		if gotErr == nil {
 			t.Fatalf("expected %q got nil", err)
@@ -138,11 +135,10 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	expErr(vmQuery, "500")                          // 0
 	expErr(vmQuery, "error parsing response")       // 1
 	expErr(vmQuery, "response error")               // 2
-	expErr(vmQuery, "unknown response status")      // 3
+	expErr(vmQuery, "unknown status")               // 3
 	expErr(vmQuery, "unexpected end of JSON input") // 4
-	expErr(vmQuery, "unknown result type")          // 5

-	res, _, err := pq.Query(ctx, vmQuery, ts) // 6 - vector
+	res, _, err := pq.Query(ctx, vmQuery, ts) // 5 - vector
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected %s", err)
 	}
@@ -163,7 +159,7 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	metricsEqual(t, res.Data, expected)

-	res, req, err := pq.Query(ctx, vmQuery, ts) // 7 - scalar
+	res, req, err := pq.Query(ctx, vmQuery, ts) // 6 - scalar
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected %s", err)
 	}
@@ -188,7 +184,7 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 			res.SeriesFetched)
 	}

-	res, _, err = pq.Query(ctx, vmQuery, ts) // 8 - scalar with stats
+	res, _, err = pq.Query(ctx, vmQuery, ts) // 7 - scalar with stats
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected %s", err)
 	}
@@ -209,7 +205,7 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 			*res.SeriesFetched)
 	}

-	res, _, err = pq.Query(ctx, vmQuery, ts) // 9
+	res, _, err = pq.Query(ctx, vmQuery, ts) // 8
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected %s", err)
 	}
@@ -220,7 +216,7 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	// test graphite
 	gq := s.BuildWithParams(QuerierParams{DataSourceType: string(datasourceGraphite)})

-	res, _, err = gq.Query(ctx, queryRender, ts) // 10 - graphite
+	res, _, err = gq.Query(ctx, queryRender, ts) // 9 - graphite
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected %s", err)
 	}
@@ -240,9 +236,9 @@ func TestVMInstantQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	vlogs := datasourceVLogs
 	pq = s.BuildWithParams(QuerierParams{DataSourceType: string(vlogs), EvaluationInterval: 15 * time.Second})

-	expErr(vlogsQuery, "error parsing response") // 11
+	expErr(vlogsQuery, "error parsing response") // 10

-	res, _, err = pq.Query(ctx, vlogsQuery, ts) // 12
+	res, _, err = pq.Query(ctx, vlogsQuery, ts) // 11
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected %s", err)
 	}
@@ -394,8 +390,6 @@ func TestVMRangeQuery(t *testing.T) {
 		switch c {
 		case 0:
 			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"matrix","result":[{"metric":{"__name__":"vm_rows"},"values":[[1583786142,"13763"]]}]}}`))
-		case 1:
-			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"vector","result":[1583786142, "1"]}}`))
 		}
 	})
 	mux.HandleFunc("/select/logsql/stats_query_range", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
@@ -428,7 +422,7 @@ func TestVMRangeQuery(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatalf("expected 'step' query param to be 60s; got %q instead", step)
 		}
 		switch c {
-		case 2:
+		case 1:
 			w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"success","data":{"resultType":"matrix","result":[{"metric":{"__name__":"total"},"values":[[1583786142,"10"]]}]}}`))
 		}
 	})
@@ -452,13 +446,13 @@ func TestVMRangeQuery(t *testing.T) {

 	start, end := time.Now().Add(-time.Minute), time.Now()

-	res, err := pq.QueryRange(ctx, vmQuery, start, end) // case 0
+	res, err := pq.QueryRange(ctx, vmQuery, start, end)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected %s", err)
 	}
 	m := res.Data
 	if len(m) != 1 {
-		t.Fatalf("expected 1 metric got %d in %+v", len(m), m)
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 metric  got %d in %+v", len(m), m)
 	}
 	expected := Metric{
 		Labels:     []prompb.Label{{Value: "vm_rows", Name: "__name__"}},
@@ -469,9 +463,6 @@ func TestVMRangeQuery(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected metric %+v want %+v", m[0], expected)
 	}

-	_, err = pq.QueryRange(ctx, vmQuery, start, end) // case 1
-	expectError(t, err, "unexpected result type")
-
 	// test unsupported graphite
 	gq := s.BuildWithParams(QuerierParams{DataSourceType: string(datasourceGraphite)})

--- a/app/vmalert/datasource/client_vlogs.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/datasource/client_vlogs.go
@@ -40,28 +40,8 @@ func (c *Client) setVLogsRangeReqParams(r *http.Request, query string, start, en
 	c.setReqParams(r, query)
 }

-func parseVLogsInstantResponse(resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error) {
-	res, err = parsePrometheusInstantResponse(resp)
-	if err != nil {
-		return Result{}, err
-	}
-	for i := range res.Data {
-		m := &res.Data[i]
-		for j := range m.Labels {
-			// reserve the stats func result name with a new label `stats_result` instead of dropping it,
-			// since there could be multiple stats results in a single query, for instance:
-			// 	_time:5m | stats quantile(0.5, request_duration_seconds) p50, quantile(0.9, request_duration_seconds) p90
-			if m.Labels[j].Name == "__name__" {
-				m.Labels[j].Name = "stats_result"
-				break
-			}
-		}
-	}
-	return
-}
-
-func parseVLogsRangeResponse(resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error) {
-	res, err = parsePrometheusRangeResponse(resp)
+func parseVLogsResponse(req *http.Request, resp *http.Response) (res Result, err error) {
+	res, err = parsePrometheusResponse(req, resp)
 	if err != nil {
 		return Result{}, err
 	}
--- a/app/vmalert/datasource/datasource.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/datasource/datasource.go
@@ -132,7 +132,10 @@ func (ls Labels) String() string {
 // a=[]Label{{Name: "a", Value: "2"}},b=[]Label{{Name: "a", Value: "1"}}, return 1
 // a=[]Label{{Name: "a", Value: "1"}},b=[]Label{{Name: "a", Value: "1"}}, return 0
 func LabelCompare(a, b Labels) int {
-	l := min(len(b), len(a))
+	l := len(a)
+	if len(b) < l {
+		l = len(b)
+	}

 	for i := 0; i < l; i++ {
 		if a[i].Name != b[i].Name {
--- a/app/vmalert/main.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/main.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"sort"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -76,13 +77,14 @@ absolute path to all .tpl files in root.
 		`Link to VMUI: -external.alert.source='vmui/#/?g0.expr={{.Expr|queryEscape}}'. `+
 		`If empty 'vmalert/alert?group_id={{.GroupID}}&alert_id={{.AlertID}}' is used.`)
 	externalLabels = flagutil.NewArrayString("external.label", "Optional label in the form 'Name=value' to add to all generated recording rules and alerts. "+
-		"In case of conflicts, original labels are kept with prefix 'exported_'.")
+		"In case of conflicts, original labels are kept with prefix `exported_`.")

 	dryRun = flag.Bool("dryRun", false, "Whether to check only config files without running vmalert. The rules file are validated. The -rule flag must be specified.")
 )

 var (
-	extURL *url.URL
+	alertURLGeneratorFn notifier.AlertURLGenerator
+	extURL              *url.URL
 )

 func main() {
@@ -119,7 +121,7 @@ func main() {
 		return
 	}

-	err = notifier.InitAlertURLGeneratorFn(extURL, *externalAlertSource, *validateTemplates)
+	alertURLGeneratorFn, err = getAlertURLGenerator(extURL, *externalAlertSource, *validateTemplates)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Fatalf("failed to init `external.alert.source`: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -226,13 +228,14 @@ func newManager(ctx context.Context) (*manager, error) {
 		labels[s[:n]] = s[n+1:]
 	}

-	err = notifier.Init(labels, *externalURL)
+	nts, err := notifier.Init(alertURLGeneratorFn, labels, *externalURL)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to init notifier: %w", err)
 	}
 	manager := &manager{
 		groups:         make(map[uint64]*rule.Group),
 		querierBuilder: q,
+		notifiers:      nts,
 		labels:         labels,
 	}
 	rw, err := remotewrite.Init(ctx)
@@ -289,6 +292,35 @@ func getHostnameAsExternalURL(addr string, isSecure bool) (*url.URL, error) {
 	return url.Parse(fmt.Sprintf("%s%s%s", schema, hname, port))
 }

+func getAlertURLGenerator(externalURL *url.URL, externalAlertSource string, validateTemplate bool) (notifier.AlertURLGenerator, error) {
+	if externalAlertSource == "" {
+		return func(a notifier.Alert) string {
+			gID, aID := strconv.FormatUint(a.GroupID, 10), strconv.FormatUint(a.ID, 10)
+			return fmt.Sprintf("%s/vmalert/alert?%s=%s&%s=%s", externalURL, paramGroupID, gID, paramAlertID, aID)
+		}, nil
+	}
+	if validateTemplate {
+		if err := notifier.ValidateTemplates(map[string]string{
+			"tpl": externalAlertSource,
+		}); err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error validating source template %s: %w", externalAlertSource, err)
+		}
+	}
+	m := map[string]string{
+		"tpl": externalAlertSource,
+	}
+	return func(alert notifier.Alert) string {
+		qFn := func(_ string) ([]datasource.Metric, error) {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("`query` template isn't supported for alert source template")
+		}
+		templated, err := alert.ExecTemplate(qFn, alert.Labels, m)
+		if err != nil {
+			logger.Errorf("cannot template alert source: %s", err)
+		}
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", externalURL, templated["tpl"])
+	}, nil
+}
+
 func usage() {
 	const s = `
 vmalert processes alerts and recording rules.
--- a/app/vmalert/main_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/main_test.go
@@ -49,6 +49,30 @@ func TestGetExternalURL(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }

+func TestGetAlertURLGenerator(t *testing.T) {
+	testAlert := notifier.Alert{GroupID: 42, ID: 2, Value: 4, Labels: map[string]string{"tenant": "baz"}}
+	u, _ := url.Parse("https://victoriametrics.com/path")
+	fn, err := getAlertURLGenerator(u, "", false)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
+	}
+	exp := fmt.Sprintf("https://victoriametrics.com/path/vmalert/alert?%s=42&%s=2", paramGroupID, paramAlertID)
+	if exp != fn(testAlert) {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected url want %s, got %s", exp, fn(testAlert))
+	}
+	_, err = getAlertURLGenerator(nil, "foo?{{invalid}}", true)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected template validation error got nil")
+	}
+	fn, err = getAlertURLGenerator(u, "foo?query={{$value}}&ds={{ $labels.tenant }}", true)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
+	}
+	if exp := "https://victoriametrics.com/path/foo?query=4&ds=baz"; exp != fn(testAlert) {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected url want %s, got %s", exp, fn(testAlert))
+	}
+}
+
 func TestConfigReload(t *testing.T) {
 	originalRulePath := *rulePath
 	originalExternalURL := extURL
@@ -96,10 +120,9 @@ groups:
 		querierBuilder: &datasource.FakeQuerier{},
 		groups:         make(map[uint64]*rule.Group),
 		labels:         map[string]string{},
+		notifiers:      func() []notifier.Notifier { return []notifier.Notifier{&notifier.FakeNotifier{}} },
 		rw:             &remotewrite.Client{},
 	}
-	_, cleanup := notifier.InitFakeNotifier()
-	defer cleanup()

 	syncCh := make(chan struct{})
 	sighupCh := procutil.NewSighupChan()
--- a/app/vmalert/manager.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/manager.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"strconv"
 	"sync"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/config"
@@ -17,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 // manager controls group states
 type manager struct {
 	querierBuilder datasource.QuerierBuilder
+	notifiers      func() []notifier.Notifier

 	rw remotewrite.RWClient
 	// remote read builder.
@@ -29,8 +29,25 @@ type manager struct {
 	groups   map[uint64]*rule.Group
 }

-// groupAPI generates apiGroup object from group by its ID(hash)
-func (m *manager) groupAPI(gID uint64) (*rule.ApiGroup, error) {
+// ruleAPI generates apiRule object from alert by its ID(hash)
+func (m *manager) ruleAPI(gID, rID uint64) (apiRule, error) {
+	m.groupsMu.RLock()
+	defer m.groupsMu.RUnlock()
+
+	g, ok := m.groups[gID]
+	if !ok {
+		return apiRule{}, fmt.Errorf("can't find group with id %d", gID)
+	}
+	for _, rule := range g.Rules {
+		if rule.ID() == rID {
+			return ruleToAPI(rule), nil
+		}
+	}
+	return apiRule{}, fmt.Errorf("can't find rule with id %d in group %q", rID, g.Name)
+}
+
+// alertAPI generates apiAlert object from alert by its ID(hash)
+func (m *manager) alertAPI(gID, aID uint64) (*apiAlert, error) {
 	m.groupsMu.RLock()
 	defer m.groupsMu.RUnlock()

@@ -38,47 +55,13 @@ func (m *manager) groupAPI(gID uint64) (*rule.ApiGroup, error) {
 	if !ok {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't find group with id %d", gID)
 	}
-	return g.ToAPI(), nil
-}
-
-// ruleAPI generates apiRule object from alert by its ID(hash)
-func (m *manager) ruleAPI(gID, rID uint64) (rule.ApiRule, error) {
-	m.groupsMu.RLock()
-	defer m.groupsMu.RUnlock()
-
-	group, ok := m.groups[gID]
-	if !ok {
-		return rule.ApiRule{}, fmt.Errorf("can't find group with id %d", gID)
-	}
-	g := group.ToAPI()
-	ruleID := strconv.FormatUint(rID, 10)
 	for _, r := range g.Rules {
-		if r.ID == ruleID {
-			return r, nil
-		}
-	}
-	return rule.ApiRule{}, fmt.Errorf("can't find rule with id %d in group %q", rID, g.Name)
-}
-
-// alertAPI generates apiAlert object from alert by its ID(hash)
-func (m *manager) alertAPI(gID, aID uint64) (*rule.ApiAlert, error) {
-	m.groupsMu.RLock()
-	defer m.groupsMu.RUnlock()
-
-	group, ok := m.groups[gID]
-	if !ok {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't find group with id %d", gID)
-	}
-	g := group.ToAPI()
-	for _, r := range g.Rules {
-		if r.Type != rule.TypeAlerting {
+		ar, ok := r.(*rule.AlertingRule)
+		if !ok {
 			continue
 		}
-		alertID := strconv.FormatUint(aID, 10)
-		for _, a := range r.Alerts {
-			if a.ID == alertID {
-				return a, nil
-			}
+		if apiAlert := alertToAPI(ar, aID); apiAlert != nil {
+			return apiAlert, nil
 		}
 	}
 	return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't find alert with id %d in group %q", aID, g.Name)
@@ -99,16 +82,17 @@ func (m *manager) close() {
 }

 func (m *manager) startGroup(ctx context.Context, g *rule.Group, restore bool) error {
+	m.wg.Add(1)
 	id := g.GetID()
 	g.Init()
-	m.wg.Go(func() {
+	go func() {
+		defer m.wg.Done()
 		if restore {
-			g.Start(ctx, m.rw, m.rr)
+			g.Start(ctx, m.notifiers, m.rw, m.rr)
 		} else {
-			g.Start(ctx, m.rw, nil)
+			g.Start(ctx, m.notifiers, m.rw, nil)
 		}
-	})
-
+	}()
 	m.groups[id] = g
 	return nil
 }
@@ -135,7 +119,7 @@ func (m *manager) update(ctx context.Context, groupsCfg []config.Group, restore
 	if rrPresent && m.rw == nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("config contains recording rules but `-remoteWrite.url` isn't set")
 	}
-	if arPresent && notifier.GetTargets() == nil {
+	if arPresent && m.notifiers == nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("config contains alerting rules but neither `-notifier.url` nor `-notifier.config` nor `-notifier.blackhole` aren't set")
 	}

@@ -172,15 +156,15 @@ func (m *manager) update(ctx context.Context, groupsCfg []config.Group, restore
 	if len(toUpdate) > 0 {
 		var wg sync.WaitGroup
 		for _, item := range toUpdate {
-			oldG := item.old
-			newG := item.new
-			wg.Go(func() {
-				// cancel evaluation so the Update will be applied as fast as possible.
-				// it is important to call InterruptEval before the update, because cancel fn
-				// can be re-assigned during the update.
-				oldG.InterruptEval()
-				oldG.UpdateWith(newG)
-			})
+			wg.Add(1)
+			// cancel evaluation so the Update will be applied as fast as possible.
+			// it is important to call InterruptEval before the update, because cancel fn
+			// can be re-assigned during the update.
+			item.old.InterruptEval()
+			go func(oldGroup *rule.Group, newGroup *rule.Group) {
+				oldGroup.UpdateWith(newGroup)
+				wg.Done()
+			}(item.old, item.new)
 		}
 		wg.Wait()
 	}
--- a/app/vmalert/manager_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/manager_test.go
@@ -40,11 +40,10 @@ func TestManagerEmptyRulesDir(t *testing.T) {
 // execution of configuration update.
 // Should be executed with -race flag
 func TestManagerUpdateConcurrent(t *testing.T) {
-	_, cleanup := notifier.InitFakeNotifier()
-	defer cleanup()
 	m := &manager{
 		groups:         make(map[uint64]*rule.Group),
 		querierBuilder: &datasource.FakeQuerier{},
+		notifiers:      func() []notifier.Notifier { return []notifier.Notifier{&notifier.FakeNotifier{}} },
 	}
 	paths := []string{
 		"config/testdata/dir/rules0-good.rules",
@@ -128,9 +127,8 @@ func TestManagerUpdate_Success(t *testing.T) {
 		m := &manager{
 			groups:         make(map[uint64]*rule.Group),
 			querierBuilder: &datasource.FakeQuerier{},
+			notifiers:      func() []notifier.Notifier { return []notifier.Notifier{&notifier.FakeNotifier{}} },
 		}
-		_, cleanup := notifier.InitFakeNotifier()
-		defer cleanup()

 		cfgInit := loadCfg(t, []string{initPath}, true, true)
 		if err := m.update(ctx, cfgInit, false); err != nil {
@@ -279,8 +277,7 @@ func TestManagerUpdate_Failure(t *testing.T) {
 			rw:             rw,
 		}
 		if notifiers != nil {
-			_, cleanup := notifier.InitFakeNotifier()
-			defer cleanup()
+			m.notifiers = func() []notifier.Notifier { return notifiers }
 		}
 		err := m.update(context.Background(), []config.Group{cfg}, false)
 		if err == nil {
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/alert.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/alert.go
@@ -166,8 +166,8 @@ func templateAnnotations(annotations map[string]string, data AlertTplData, tmpl
 		ctmpl, _ := tmpl.Clone()
 		ctmpl = ctmpl.Option("missingkey=zero")
 		if err := templateAnnotation(&buf, builder.String(), tData, ctmpl, execute); err != nil {
-			r[key] = err.Error()
-			eg.Add(fmt.Errorf("(key: %q, value: %q): %w", key, text, err))
+			r[key] = text
+			eg.Add(fmt.Errorf("key %q, template %q: %w", key, text, err))
 			continue
 		}
 		r[key] = buf.String()
@@ -184,13 +184,13 @@ type tplData struct {
 func templateAnnotation(dst io.Writer, text string, data tplData, tpl *textTpl.Template, execute bool) error {
 	tpl, err := tpl.Parse(text)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("error parsing template: %w", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("error parsing annotation template: %w", err)
 	}
 	if !execute {
 		return nil
 	}
 	if err = tpl.Execute(dst, data); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("error evaluating template: %w", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("error evaluating annotation template: %w", err)
 	}
 	return nil
 }
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/alert_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/alert_test.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ func TestAlertExecTemplate(t *testing.T) {
 	)
 	extLabels["cluster"] = extCluster
 	extLabels["dc"] = extDC
-	err := Init(extLabels, extURL)
+	_, err := Init(nil, extLabels, extURL)
 	checkErr(t, err)

 	f := func(alert *Alert, annotations map[string]string, tplExpected map[string]string) {
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/alertmanager.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/alertmanager.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package notifier
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"net/http"
@@ -23,11 +22,10 @@ import (
 // AlertManager represents integration provider with Prometheus alert manager
 // https://github.com/prometheus/alertmanager
 type AlertManager struct {
-	addr      *url.URL
-	argFunc   AlertURLGenerator
-	client    *http.Client
-	timeout   time.Duration
-	lastError string
+	addr    *url.URL
+	argFunc AlertURLGenerator
+	client  *http.Client
+	timeout time.Duration

 	authCfg *promauth.Config
 	// stores already parsed RelabelConfigs object
@@ -73,42 +71,24 @@ func (am AlertManager) Addr() string {
 	return am.addr.Redacted()
 }

-func (am *AlertManager) LastError() string {
-	return am.lastError
-}
-
 // Send an alert or resolve message
-func (am *AlertManager) Send(ctx context.Context, alerts []Alert, alertLabels [][]prompb.Label, headers map[string]string) error {
-	if len(alerts) != len(alertLabels) {
-		return fmt.Errorf("mismatched number of alerts and label sets after global alert relabeling")
-	}
+func (am *AlertManager) Send(ctx context.Context, alerts []Alert, headers map[string]string) error {
 	am.metrics.alertsSent.Add(len(alerts))
 	startTime := time.Now()
-	err := am.send(ctx, alerts, alertLabels, headers)
+	err := am.send(ctx, alerts, headers)
 	am.metrics.alertsSendDuration.UpdateDuration(startTime)
 	if err != nil {
-		// the context can be cancelled on graceful shutdown
-		// or on group update. So no need to handle the error as usual.
-		if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
-			return nil
-		}
 		am.metrics.alertsSendErrors.Add(len(alerts))
-		am.lastError = err.Error()
-	} else {
-		am.lastError = ""
 	}
 	return err
 }

-func (am *AlertManager) send(ctx context.Context, alerts []Alert, alertLabels [][]prompb.Label, headers map[string]string) error {
+func (am *AlertManager) send(ctx context.Context, alerts []Alert, headers map[string]string) error {
 	b := &bytes.Buffer{}
 	alertsToSend := make([]Alert, 0, len(alerts))
 	lblss := make([][]prompb.Label, 0, len(alerts))
-	for i, a := range alerts {
-		lbls := alertLabels[i]
-		if am.relabelConfigs != nil {
-			lbls = am.relabelConfigs.Apply(lbls, 0)
-		}
+	for _, a := range alerts {
+		lbls := a.applyRelabelingIfNeeded(am.relabelConfigs)
 		if len(lbls) == 0 {
 			continue
 		}
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/alertmanager_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/alertmanager_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 	"time"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promauth"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promrelabel"
 )

@@ -146,11 +145,11 @@ func TestAlertManager_Send(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %s", err)
 	}

-	if err := am.Send(context.Background(), []Alert{{Labels: map[string]string{"a": "b"}}}, [][]prompb.Label{{{Name: "a", Value: "b"}}}, nil); err == nil {
+	if err := am.Send(context.Background(), []Alert{{Labels: map[string]string{"a": "b"}}}, nil); err == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("expected connection error got nil")
 	}

-	if err := am.Send(context.Background(), []Alert{{Labels: map[string]string{"a": "b"}}}, [][]prompb.Label{{{Name: "a", Value: "b"}}}, nil); err == nil {
+	if err := am.Send(context.Background(), []Alert{{Labels: map[string]string{"a": "b"}}}, nil); err == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("expected wrong http code error got nil")
 	}

@@ -161,7 +160,7 @@ func TestAlertManager_Send(t *testing.T) {
 		End:         time.Now().UTC(),
 		Labels:      map[string]string{"alertname": "alert0"},
 		Annotations: map[string]string{"a": "b", "c": "d"},
-	}}, [][]prompb.Label{{{Name: "alertname", Value: "alert0"}}}, map[string]string{headerKey: "bar"}); err != nil {
+	}}, map[string]string{headerKey: "bar"}); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
 	}

@@ -175,7 +174,7 @@ func TestAlertManager_Send(t *testing.T) {
 			Name:   "alert2",
 			Labels: map[string]string{"rule": "test", "tenant": "1"},
 		},
-	}, [][]prompb.Label{{{Name: "rule", Value: "test"}, {Name: "tenant", Value: "0"}}, {{Name: "rule", Value: "test"}, {Name: "tenant", Value: "1"}}}, map[string]string{headerKey: "bar"}); err != nil {
+	}, map[string]string{headerKey: "bar"}); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
 	}

@@ -188,7 +187,7 @@ func TestAlertManager_Send(t *testing.T) {
 			Name:   "alert2",
 			Labels: map[string]string{},
 		},
-	}, [][]prompb.Label{{{Name: "rule", Value: "test"}}, {{}}}, map[string]string{}); err != nil {
+	}, map[string]string{}); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
 	}

--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/config.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/config.go
@@ -27,9 +27,15 @@ type Config struct {
 	// PathPrefix is added to URL path before adding alertManagerPath value
 	PathPrefix string `yaml:"path_prefix,omitempty"`

-	ConsulSDConfigs []ConsulSDConfigs `yaml:"consul_sd_configs,omitempty"`
-	DNSSDConfigs    []DNSSDConfigs    `yaml:"dns_sd_configs,omitempty"`
-	StaticConfigs   []StaticConfig    `yaml:"static_configs,omitempty"`
+	// ConsulSDConfigs contains list of settings for service discovery via Consul
+	// see https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#consul_sd_config
+	ConsulSDConfigs []consul.SDConfig `yaml:"consul_sd_configs,omitempty"`
+	// DNSSDConfigs contains list of settings for service discovery via DNS.
+	// See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#dns_sd_config
+	DNSSDConfigs []dns.SDConfig `yaml:"dns_sd_configs,omitempty"`
+
+	// StaticConfigs contains list of static targets
+	StaticConfigs []StaticConfig `yaml:"static_configs,omitempty"`

 	// HTTPClientConfig contains HTTP configuration for Notifier clients
 	HTTPClientConfig promauth.HTTPClientConfig `yaml:",inline"`
@@ -56,29 +62,14 @@ type Config struct {
 	parsedAlertRelabelConfigs *promrelabel.ParsedConfigs
 }

-// staticConfig contains list of static targets in the following form:
+// StaticConfig contains list of static targets in the following form:
 //
 //	targets:
 //	[ - '<host>' ]
 type StaticConfig struct {
 	Targets []string `yaml:"targets"`
 	// HTTPClientConfig contains HTTP configuration for the Targets
-	HTTPClientConfig    promauth.HTTPClientConfig   `yaml:",inline"`
-	AlertRelabelConfigs []promrelabel.RelabelConfig `yaml:"alert_relabel_configs,omitempty"`
-}
-
-// ConsulSDConfigs contains list of settings for service discovery via Consul,
-// see https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#consul_sd_config
-type ConsulSDConfigs struct {
-	consul.SDConfig     `yaml:",inline"`
-	AlertRelabelConfigs []promrelabel.RelabelConfig `yaml:"alert_relabel_configs,omitempty"`
-}
-
-// DNSSDConfigs contains list of settings for service discovery via DNS,
-// See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#dns_sd_config
-type DNSSDConfigs struct {
-	dns.SDConfig        `yaml:",inline"`
-	AlertRelabelConfigs []promrelabel.RelabelConfig `yaml:"alert_relabel_configs,omitempty"`
+	HTTPClientConfig promauth.HTTPClientConfig `yaml:",inline"`
 }

 // UnmarshalYAML implements the yaml.Unmarshaler interface.
@@ -104,31 +95,6 @@ func (cfg *Config) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(any) error) error {
 	}
 	cfg.parsedAlertRelabelConfigs = arCfg

-	for _, s := range cfg.StaticConfigs {
-		if len(s.AlertRelabelConfigs) > 0 {
-			_, err := promrelabel.ParseRelabelConfigs(s.AlertRelabelConfigs)
-			if err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse alert_relabel_configs in static_config: %w", err)
-			}
-		}
-	}
-	for _, s := range cfg.ConsulSDConfigs {
-		if len(s.AlertRelabelConfigs) > 0 {
-			_, err := promrelabel.ParseRelabelConfigs(s.AlertRelabelConfigs)
-			if err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse alert_relabel_configs in consul_sd_config: %w", err)
-			}
-		}
-	}
-	for _, s := range cfg.DNSSDConfigs {
-		if len(s.AlertRelabelConfigs) > 0 {
-			_, err := promrelabel.ParseRelabelConfigs(s.AlertRelabelConfigs)
-			if err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse alert_relabel_configs in dns_sd_config: %w", err)
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
 	b, err := yaml.Marshal(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal configuration for checksum: %w", err)
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/config_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/config_test.go
@@ -35,6 +35,4 @@ func TestParseConfig_Failure(t *testing.T) {

 	f("testdata/unknownFields.bad.yaml", "unknown field")
 	f("non-existing-file", "error reading")
-	f("testdata/consul.bad.yaml", "failed to parse alert_relabel_configs in consul_sd_config")
-	f("testdata/dns.bad.yaml", "failed to parse alert relabeling config")
 }
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/config_watcher.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/config_watcher.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promauth"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promrelabel"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promscrape/discovery/consul"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promscrape/discovery/dns"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promutil"
@@ -29,7 +28,11 @@ type configWatcher struct {
 	targets   map[TargetType][]Target
 }

-func newWatcher(cfg *Config, gen AlertURLGenerator) (*configWatcher, error) {
+func newWatcher(path string, gen AlertURLGenerator) (*configWatcher, error) {
+	cfg, err := parseConfig(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 	cw := &configWatcher{
 		cfg:       cfg,
 		wg:        sync.WaitGroup{},
@@ -85,15 +88,18 @@ func (cw *configWatcher) reload(path string) error {
 	return cw.start()
 }

-func (cw *configWatcher) add(typeK TargetType, interval time.Duration, targetsFn getTargets) error {
-	targetMetadata, errors := getTargetMetadata(targetsFn, cw.cfg)
+func (cw *configWatcher) add(typeK TargetType, interval time.Duration, labelsFn getLabels) error {
+	targetMetadata, errors := getTargetMetadata(labelsFn, cw.cfg)
 	for _, err := range errors {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to init notifier for %q: %w", typeK, err)
 	}

 	cw.updateTargets(typeK, targetMetadata, cw.cfg, cw.genFn)

-	cw.wg.Go(func() {
+	cw.wg.Add(1)
+	go func() {
+		defer cw.wg.Done()
+
 		ticker := time.NewTicker(interval)
 		defer ticker.Stop()

@@ -103,77 +109,62 @@ func (cw *configWatcher) add(typeK TargetType, interval time.Duration, targetsFn
 				return
 			case <-ticker.C:
 			}
-			targetMetadata, errors := getTargetMetadata(targetsFn, cw.cfg)
+			targetMetadata, errors := getTargetMetadata(labelsFn, cw.cfg)
 			for _, err := range errors {
 				logger.Errorf("failed to init notifier for %q: %w", typeK, err)
 			}
 			cw.updateTargets(typeK, targetMetadata, cw.cfg, cw.genFn)
 		}
-	})
+	}()
 	return nil
 }

-type targetMetadata struct {
-	*promutil.Labels
-	alertRelabelConfigs *promrelabel.ParsedConfigs
-}
-
-func getTargetMetadata(targetsFn getTargets, cfg *Config) (map[string]targetMetadata, []error) {
-	metaLabelsList, alertRelabelCfgs, err := targetsFn()
+func getTargetMetadata(labelsFn getLabels, cfg *Config) (map[string]*promutil.Labels, []error) {
+	metaLabels, err := labelsFn()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, []error{fmt.Errorf("failed to get labels: %w", err)}
 	}
-	targetMts := make(map[string]targetMetadata, len(metaLabelsList))
+	targetMetadata := make(map[string]*promutil.Labels, len(metaLabels))
 	var errors []error
 	duplicates := make(map[string]struct{})
-	for i := range metaLabelsList {
-		metaLabels := metaLabelsList[i]
-		alertRelabelCfg := alertRelabelCfgs[i]
-		for _, labels := range metaLabels {
-			target := labels.Get("__address__")
-			u, processedLabels, err := parseLabels(target, labels, cfg)
-			if err != nil {
-				errors = append(errors, err)
-				continue
-			}
-			if len(u) == 0 {
-				continue
-			}
-			// check for duplicated targets
-			// targets with same address but different alert_relabel_configs are still considered duplicates since it's mostly due to misconfiguration and could cause duplicated notifications.
-			if _, ok := duplicates[u]; ok {
-				if !*suppressDuplicateTargetErrors {
-					logger.Errorf("skipping duplicate target with identical address %q; "+
-						"make sure service discovery and relabeling is set up properly; "+
-						"original labels: %s; resulting labels: %s",
-						u, labels, processedLabels)
-				}
-				continue
-			}
-			duplicates[u] = struct{}{}
-			targetMts[u] = targetMetadata{
-				Labels:              processedLabels,
-				alertRelabelConfigs: alertRelabelCfg,
-			}
+	for _, labels := range metaLabels {
+		target := labels.Get("__address__")
+		u, processedLabels, err := parseLabels(target, labels, cfg)
+		if err != nil {
+			errors = append(errors, err)
+			continue
 		}
+		if len(u) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		if _, ok := duplicates[u]; ok { // check for duplicates
+			if !*suppressDuplicateTargetErrors {
+				logger.Errorf("skipping duplicate target with identical address %q; "+
+					"make sure service discovery and relabeling is set up properly; "+
+					"original labels: %s; resulting labels: %s",
+					u, labels, processedLabels)
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		duplicates[u] = struct{}{}
+		targetMetadata[u] = processedLabels
 	}
-	return targetMts, errors
+	return targetMetadata, errors
 }

-type getTargets func() ([][]*promutil.Labels, []*promrelabel.ParsedConfigs, error)
+type getLabels func() ([]*promutil.Labels, error)

 func (cw *configWatcher) start() error {
 	if len(cw.cfg.StaticConfigs) > 0 {
 		var targets []Target
-		for i, cfg := range cw.cfg.StaticConfigs {
-			alertRelabelConfig, _ := promrelabel.ParseRelabelConfigs(cw.cfg.StaticConfigs[i].AlertRelabelConfigs)
+		for _, cfg := range cw.cfg.StaticConfigs {
 			httpCfg := mergeHTTPClientConfigs(cw.cfg.HTTPClientConfig, cfg.HTTPClientConfig)
 			for _, target := range cfg.Targets {
 				address, labels, err := parseLabels(target, nil, cw.cfg)
 				if err != nil {
 					return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse labels for target %q: %w", target, err)
 				}
-				notifier, err := NewAlertManager(address, cw.genFn, httpCfg, alertRelabelConfig, cw.cfg.Timeout.Duration())
+				notifier, err := NewAlertManager(address, cw.genFn, httpCfg, cw.cfg.parsedAlertRelabelConfigs, cw.cfg.Timeout.Duration())
 				if err != nil {
 					return fmt.Errorf("failed to init alertmanager for addr %q: %w", address, err)
 				}
@@ -187,20 +178,17 @@ func (cw *configWatcher) start() error {
 	}

 	if len(cw.cfg.ConsulSDConfigs) > 0 {
-		err := cw.add(TargetConsul, *consul.SDCheckInterval, func() ([][]*promutil.Labels, []*promrelabel.ParsedConfigs, error) {
-			var labels [][]*promutil.Labels
-			var alertRelabelConfigs []*promrelabel.ParsedConfigs
+		err := cw.add(TargetConsul, *consul.SDCheckInterval, func() ([]*promutil.Labels, error) {
+			var labels []*promutil.Labels
 			for i := range cw.cfg.ConsulSDConfigs {
-				alertRelabelConfig, _ := promrelabel.ParseRelabelConfigs(cw.cfg.ConsulSDConfigs[i].AlertRelabelConfigs)
 				sdc := &cw.cfg.ConsulSDConfigs[i]
 				targetLabels, err := sdc.GetLabels(cw.cfg.baseDir)
 				if err != nil {
-					return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("got labels err: %w", err)
+					return nil, fmt.Errorf("got labels err: %w", err)
 				}
-				labels = append(labels, targetLabels)
-				alertRelabelConfigs = append(alertRelabelConfigs, alertRelabelConfig)
+				labels = append(labels, targetLabels...)
 			}
-			return labels, alertRelabelConfigs, nil
+			return labels, nil
 		})
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to start consulSD discovery: %w", err)
@@ -208,21 +196,17 @@ func (cw *configWatcher) start() error {
 	}

 	if len(cw.cfg.DNSSDConfigs) > 0 {
-		err := cw.add(TargetDNS, *dns.SDCheckInterval, func() ([][]*promutil.Labels, []*promrelabel.ParsedConfigs, error) {
-			var labels [][]*promutil.Labels
-			var alertRelabelConfigs []*promrelabel.ParsedConfigs
+		err := cw.add(TargetDNS, *dns.SDCheckInterval, func() ([]*promutil.Labels, error) {
+			var labels []*promutil.Labels
 			for i := range cw.cfg.DNSSDConfigs {
-				alertRelabelConfig, _ := promrelabel.ParseRelabelConfigs(cw.cfg.DNSSDConfigs[i].AlertRelabelConfigs)
 				sdc := &cw.cfg.DNSSDConfigs[i]
 				targetLabels, err := sdc.GetLabels(cw.cfg.baseDir)
 				if err != nil {
-					return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("got labels err: %w", err)
+					return nil, fmt.Errorf("got labels err: %w", err)
 				}
-				labels = append(labels, targetLabels)
-				alertRelabelConfigs = append(alertRelabelConfigs, alertRelabelConfig)
-
+				labels = append(labels, targetLabels...)
 			}
-			return labels, alertRelabelConfigs, nil
+			return labels, nil
 		})
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to start DNSSD discovery: %w", err)
@@ -256,30 +240,30 @@ func (cw *configWatcher) setTargets(key TargetType, targets []Target) {
 	cw.targetsMu.Unlock()
 }

-func (cw *configWatcher) updateTargets(key TargetType, targetMts map[string]targetMetadata, cfg *Config, genFn AlertURLGenerator) {
+func (cw *configWatcher) updateTargets(key TargetType, targetMetadata map[string]*promutil.Labels, cfg *Config, genFn AlertURLGenerator) {
 	cw.targetsMu.Lock()
 	defer cw.targetsMu.Unlock()
 	oldTargets := cw.targets[key]
 	var updatedTargets []Target
 	for _, ot := range oldTargets {
-		if _, ok := targetMts[ot.Addr()]; !ok {
+		if _, ok := targetMetadata[ot.Addr()]; !ok {
 			// if target not exists in currentTargets, close it
 			ot.Close()
 		} else {
 			updatedTargets = append(updatedTargets, ot)
-			delete(targetMts, ot.Addr())
+			delete(targetMetadata, ot.Addr())
 		}
 	}
 	// create new resources for the new targets
-	for addr, metadata := range targetMts {
-		am, err := NewAlertManager(addr, genFn, cfg.HTTPClientConfig, metadata.alertRelabelConfigs, cfg.Timeout.Duration())
+	for addr, labels := range targetMetadata {
+		am, err := NewAlertManager(addr, genFn, cfg.HTTPClientConfig, cfg.parsedAlertRelabelConfigs, cfg.Timeout.Duration())
 		if err != nil {
 			logger.Errorf("failed to init %s notifier with addr %q: %w", key, addr, err)
 			continue
 		}
 		updatedTargets = append(updatedTargets, Target{
 			Notifier: am,
-			Labels:   metadata.Labels,
+			Labels:   labels,
 		})
 	}

--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/config_watcher_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/config_watcher_test.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"os"
 	"sync"
-	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
 	"time"

@@ -29,11 +28,7 @@ static_configs:
      - localhost:9093
      - localhost:9094
 `)
-	cfg, err := parseConfig(f.Name())
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("failed to parse config: %s", err)
-	}
-	cw, err := newWatcher(cfg, nil)
+	cw, err := newWatcher(f.Name(), nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to start config watcher: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -88,64 +83,33 @@ consul_sd_configs:
  - server: %s
    services:
      - alertmanager
-  - server: %s
-    services:
-      - alertmanager
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-    - target_label: "foo"
-      replacement: "tar"
-`, consulSDServer.URL, consulSDServer.URL))
+`, consulSDServer.URL))

-	cfg, err := parseConfig(consulSDFile.Name())
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("failed to parse config: %s", err)
-	}
-	cw, err := newWatcher(cfg, nil)
+	cw, err := newWatcher(consulSDFile.Name(), nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to start config watcher: %s", err)
 	}
 	defer cw.mustStop()

-	if len(cw.notifiers()) != 3 {
-		t.Fatalf("expected to get 3 notifiers; got %d", len(cw.notifiers()))
+	if len(cw.notifiers()) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected to get 2 notifiers; got %d", len(cw.notifiers()))
 	}

 	expAddr1 := fmt.Sprintf("https://%s/proxy/api/v2/alerts", fakeConsulService1)
 	expAddr2 := fmt.Sprintf("https://%s/proxy/api/v2/alerts", fakeConsulService2)
-	expAddr3 := fmt.Sprintf("https://%s/proxy/api/v2/alerts", fakeConsulService3)

-	n1, n2, n3 := cw.notifiers()[0], cw.notifiers()[1], cw.notifiers()[2]
+	n1, n2 := cw.notifiers()[0], cw.notifiers()[1]
 	if n1.Addr() != expAddr1 {
 		t.Fatalf("exp address %q; got %q", expAddr1, n1.Addr())
 	}
 	if n2.Addr() != expAddr2 {
 		t.Fatalf("exp address %q; got %q", expAddr2, n2.Addr())
 	}
-	if n3.Addr() != expAddr3 {
-		t.Fatalf("exp address %q; got %q", expAddr3, n3.Addr())
-	}
-
-	if n1.(*AlertManager).relabelConfigs.String() != "" {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected relabel configs: %q", n1.(*AlertManager).relabelConfigs.String())
-	}
-	if n2.(*AlertManager).relabelConfigs.String() != "" {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected relabel configs: %q", n2.(*AlertManager).relabelConfigs.String())
-	}
-	if n3.(*AlertManager).relabelConfigs.String() != "- target_label: foo\n  replacement: tar\n" {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected relabel configs: %q", n3.(*AlertManager).relabelConfigs.String())
-	}

 	f := func() bool { return len(cw.notifiers()) == 1 }
 	if !waitFor(f, time.Second) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected to get 1 notifiers; got %d", len(cw.notifiers()))
 	}
-	n3 = cw.notifiers()[0]
-	if n3.Addr() != expAddr3 {
-		t.Fatalf("exp address %q; got %q", expAddr3, n3.Addr())
-	}
-	if n3.(*AlertManager).relabelConfigs.String() != "- target_label: foo\n  replacement: tar\n" {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected relabel configs: %q", n3.(*AlertManager).relabelConfigs.String())
-	}
 }

 // TestConfigWatcherReloadConcurrent supposed to test concurrent
@@ -200,11 +164,7 @@ consul_sd_configs:
 		"unknownFields.bad.yaml",
 	}

-	cfg, err := parseConfig(paths[0])
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("failed to parse config: %s", err)
-	}
-	cw, err := newWatcher(cfg, nil)
+	cw, err := newWatcher(paths[0], nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to start config watcher: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -242,11 +202,10 @@ func checkErr(t *testing.T, err error) {
 const (
 	fakeConsulService1 = "127.0.0.1:9093"
 	fakeConsulService2 = "127.0.0.1:9095"
-	fakeConsulService3 = "127.0.0.1:9097"
 )

 func newFakeConsulServer() *httptest.Server {
-	var requestCount atomic.Int32
+	requestCount := 0
 	mux := http.NewServeMux()
 	mux.HandleFunc("/v1/agent/self", func(rw http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
 		rw.Write([]byte(`{"Config": {"Datacenter": "dc1"}}`))
@@ -261,7 +220,7 @@ func newFakeConsulServer() *httptest.Server {
 }`))
 	})
 	mux.HandleFunc("/v1/health/service/alertmanager", func(rw http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
-		if requestCount.Load() == 0 {
+		if requestCount == 0 {
 			rw.Header().Set("X-Consul-Index", "1")
 			rw.Write([]byte(`
 [
@@ -401,7 +360,7 @@ func newFakeConsulServer() *httptest.Server {
    }
 ]`))
 		}
-		requestCount.Add(1)
+		requestCount++
 	})

 	return httptest.NewServer(mux)
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/faker.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/faker.go
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
-
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
 )

 // FakeNotifier is a mock notifier
@@ -17,32 +15,14 @@ type FakeNotifier struct {
 	counter int
 }

-// InitFakeNotifier initializes global notifier to FakeNotifier,
-// and returns a cleanup function to restore the original getActiveNotifiers.
-func InitFakeNotifier() (*FakeNotifier, func()) {
-	originalGetActiveNotifiers := getActiveNotifiers
-	fn := &FakeNotifier{}
-	getActiveNotifiers = func() []Notifier {
-		return []Notifier{fn}
-	}
-	return fn, func() {
-		getActiveNotifiers = originalGetActiveNotifiers
-	}
-}
-
 // Close does nothing
 func (*FakeNotifier) Close() {}

-// LastError returns last error message
-func (*FakeNotifier) LastError() string {
-	return ""
-}
-
 // Addr returns ""
 func (*FakeNotifier) Addr() string { return "" }

 // Send sets alerts and increases counter
-func (fn *FakeNotifier) Send(_ context.Context, alerts []Alert, _ [][]prompb.Label, _ map[string]string) error {
+func (fn *FakeNotifier) Send(_ context.Context, alerts []Alert, _ map[string]string) error {
 	fn.Lock()
 	defer fn.Unlock()
 	fn.counter += len(alerts)
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/init.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/init.go
@@ -1,22 +1,14 @@
 package notifier

 import (
-	"context"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
-	"strconv"
 	"strings"
-	"sync"
 	"time"

-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/datasource"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/vmalertutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/flagutil"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promauth"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promrelabel"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promutil"
 )

@@ -65,61 +57,11 @@ var (
 	sendTimeout = flagutil.NewArrayDuration("notifier.sendTimeout", 10*time.Second, "Timeout when sending alerts to the corresponding -notifier.url")
 )

-// AlertURLGeneratorFn returns a URL to the passed alert object.
-// Call InitAlertURLGeneratorFn before using this function.
-var AlertURLGeneratorFn AlertURLGenerator
-
-// InitAlertURLGeneratorFn populates AlertURLGeneratorFn
-func InitAlertURLGeneratorFn(externalURL *url.URL, externalAlertSource string, validateTemplate bool) error {
-	if externalAlertSource == "" {
-		AlertURLGeneratorFn = func(a Alert) string {
-			gID, aID := strconv.FormatUint(a.GroupID, 10), strconv.FormatUint(a.ID, 10)
-			return fmt.Sprintf("%s/vmalert/alert?%s=%s&%s=%s", externalURL, "group_id", gID, "alert_id", aID)
-		}
-		return nil
-	}
-	if validateTemplate {
-		if err := ValidateTemplates(map[string]string{
-			"tpl": externalAlertSource,
-		}); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("error validating source template %s: %w", externalAlertSource, err)
-		}
-	}
-	m := map[string]string{
-		"tpl": externalAlertSource,
-	}
-	AlertURLGeneratorFn = func(alert Alert) string {
-		qFn := func(_ string) ([]datasource.Metric, error) {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("`query` template isn't supported for alert source template")
-		}
-		templated, err := alert.ExecTemplate(qFn, alert.Labels, m)
-		if err != nil {
-			logger.Errorf("cannot template alert source: %s", err)
-		}
-		return fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", externalURL, templated["tpl"])
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
-var (
-	// getActiveNotifiers returns the current list of Notifier objects.
-	getActiveNotifiers func() []Notifier
-	// globalRelabelCfg stores the parsed alert relabeling config from the config file if there is
-	globalRelabelCfg *promrelabel.ParsedConfigs
-
-	// cw holds a configWatcher for configPath configuration file
-	// configWatcher provides a list of Notifier objects discovered
-	// from static config or via service discovery.
-	// cw is not nil only if configPath is provided.
-	cw *configWatcher
-
-	// externalLabels is a global variable for holding external labels configured via flags
-	// It is supposed to be inited via Init function only.
-	externalLabels map[string]string
-	// externalURL is a global variable for holding external URL value configured via flag
-	// It is supposed to be inited via Init function only.
-	externalURL string
-)
+// cw holds a configWatcher for configPath configuration file
+// configWatcher provides a list of Notifier objects discovered
+// from static config or via service discovery.
+// cw is not nil only if configPath is provided.
+var cw *configWatcher

 // Reload checks the changes in configPath configuration file
 // and applies changes if any.
@@ -130,62 +72,66 @@ func Reload() error {
 	return cw.reload(*configPath)
 }

+var staticNotifiersFn func() []Notifier
+
+var (
+	// externalLabels is a global variable for holding external labels configured via flags
+	// It is supposed to be inited via Init function only.
+	externalLabels map[string]string
+	// externalURL is a global variable for holding external URL value configured via flag
+	// It is supposed to be inited via Init function only.
+	externalURL string
+)
+
+// Init returns a function for retrieving actual list of Notifier objects.
 // Init works in two mods:
 //   - configuration via flags (for backward compatibility). Is always static
 //     and don't support live reloads.
 //   - configuration via file. Supports live reloads and service discovery.
 //
 // Init returns an error if both mods are used.
-func Init(extLabels map[string]string, extURL string) error {
+func Init(gen AlertURLGenerator, extLabels map[string]string, extURL string) (func() []Notifier, error) {
 	externalURL = extURL
 	externalLabels = extLabels
 	_, err := url.Parse(externalURL)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse external URL: %w", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse external URL: %w", err)
 	}

 	if *blackHole {
 		if len(*addrs) > 0 || *configPath != "" {
-			return fmt.Errorf("only one of -notifier.blackhole, -notifier.url and -notifier.config flags must be specified")
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("only one of -notifier.blackhole, -notifier.url and -notifier.config flags must be specified")
 		}
 		notifier := newBlackHoleNotifier()
-		getActiveNotifiers = func() []Notifier {
+		staticNotifiersFn = func() []Notifier {
 			return []Notifier{notifier}
 		}
-		return nil
+		return staticNotifiersFn, nil
 	}

 	if *configPath == "" && len(*addrs) == 0 {
-		return nil
+		return nil, nil
 	}
 	if *configPath != "" && len(*addrs) > 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("only one of -notifier.config or -notifier.url flags must be specified")
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("only one of -notifier.config or -notifier.url flags must be specified")
 	}

 	if len(*addrs) > 0 {
-		notifiers, err := notifiersFromFlags(AlertURLGeneratorFn)
+		notifiers, err := notifiersFromFlags(gen)
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create notifier from flag values: %w", err)
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create notifier from flag values: %w", err)
 		}
-		getActiveNotifiers = func() []Notifier {
+		staticNotifiersFn = func() []Notifier {
 			return notifiers
 		}
-		return nil
+		return staticNotifiersFn, nil
 	}

-	cfg, err := parseConfig(*configPath)
+	cw, err = newWatcher(*configPath, gen)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to init config watcher: %w", err)
 	}
-	if cfg.AlertRelabelConfigs != nil {
-		globalRelabelCfg = cfg.parsedAlertRelabelConfigs
-	}
-	cw, err = newWatcher(cfg, AlertURLGeneratorFn)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to init config watcher: %w", err)
-	}
-	getActiveNotifiers = cw.notifiers
-	return nil
+	return cw.notifiers, nil
 }

 // InitSecretFlags must be called after flag.Parse and before any logging
@@ -260,57 +206,23 @@ const (

 // GetTargets returns list of static or discovered targets
 // via notifier configuration.
-//
-// Must be called after Init.
 func GetTargets() map[TargetType][]Target {
-	if getActiveNotifiers == nil {
-		return nil
-	}
 	var targets = make(map[TargetType][]Target)
-	// use cached targets from configWatcher instead of getActiveNotifiers for the extra target labels
+
+	if staticNotifiersFn != nil {
+		for _, ns := range staticNotifiersFn() {
+			targets[TargetStatic] = append(targets[TargetStatic], Target{
+				Notifier: ns,
+			})
+		}
+	}
+
 	if cw != nil {
 		cw.targetsMu.RLock()
 		for key, ns := range cw.targets {
 			targets[key] = append(targets[key], ns...)
 		}
 		cw.targetsMu.RUnlock()
-		return targets
-	}
-
-	// static notifiers don't have labels
-	for _, ns := range getActiveNotifiers() {
-		targets[TargetStatic] = append(targets[TargetStatic], Target{
-			Notifier: ns,
-		})
 	}
 	return targets
 }
-
-// Send sends alerts to all active notifiers
-func Send(ctx context.Context, alerts []Alert, notifierHeaders map[string]string) *vmalertutil.ErrGroup {
-	alertsToSend := make([]Alert, 0, len(alerts))
-	lblss := make([][]prompb.Label, 0, len(alerts))
-	// apply global relabel config first without modifying original alerts in alerts
-	for _, a := range alerts {
-		lbls := a.applyRelabelingIfNeeded(globalRelabelCfg)
-		if len(lbls) == 0 {
-			continue
-		}
-		alertsToSend = append(alertsToSend, a)
-		lblss = append(lblss, lbls)
-	}
-
-	errGr := new(vmalertutil.ErrGroup)
-	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
-	activeNotifiers := getActiveNotifiers()
-	for i := range activeNotifiers {
-		nt := activeNotifiers[i]
-		wg.Go(func() {
-			if err := nt.Send(ctx, alertsToSend, lblss, notifierHeaders); err != nil {
-				errGr.Add(fmt.Errorf("failed to send alerts to addr %q: %w", nt.Addr(), err))
-			}
-		})
-	}
-	wg.Wait()
-	return errGr
-}
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/init_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/init_test.go
@@ -1,17 +1,9 @@
 package notifier

 import (
-	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
-	"fmt"
-	"net/http"
-	"net/http/httptest"
-	"net/url"
-	"os"
 	"testing"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/flagutil"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/fs"
 )

 func TestInit(t *testing.T) {
@@ -20,13 +12,14 @@ func TestInit(t *testing.T) {

 	*addrs = flagutil.ArrayString{"127.0.0.1", "127.0.0.2"}

-	err := Init(nil, "")
+	fn, err := Init(nil, nil, "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("%s", err)
 	}

-	if len(getActiveNotifiers()) != 2 {
-		t.Fatalf("expected to get 2 notifiers; got %d", len(getActiveNotifiers()))
+	nfs := fn()
+	if len(nfs) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected to get 2 notifiers; got %d", len(nfs))
 	}

 	targets := GetTargets()
@@ -59,7 +52,7 @@ func TestInitNegative(t *testing.T) {
 		*configPath = path
 		*addrs = flagutil.ArrayString{addr}
 		*blackHole = bh
-		if err := Init(nil, ""); err == nil {
+		if _, err := Init(nil, nil, ""); err == nil {
 			t.Fatalf("expected to get error; got nil instead")
 		}
 	}
@@ -76,13 +69,14 @@ func TestBlackHole(t *testing.T) {

 	*blackHole = true

-	err := Init(nil, "")
+	fn, err := Init(nil, nil, "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("%s", err)
 	}

-	if len(getActiveNotifiers()) != 1 {
-		t.Fatalf("expected to get 1 notifier; got %d", len(getActiveNotifiers()))
+	nfs := fn()
+	if len(nfs) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected to get 1 notifier; got %d", len(nfs))
 	}

 	targets := GetTargets()
@@ -97,112 +91,3 @@ func TestBlackHole(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected to get \"blackhole\"; got %q instead", nf1.Addr())
 	}
 }
-
-func TestGetAlertURLGenerator(t *testing.T) {
-	oldAlertURLGeneratorFn := AlertURLGeneratorFn
-	defer func() { AlertURLGeneratorFn = oldAlertURLGeneratorFn }()
-
-	testAlert := Alert{GroupID: 42, ID: 2, Value: 4, Labels: map[string]string{"tenant": "baz"}}
-	u, _ := url.Parse("https://victoriametrics.com/path")
-	err := InitAlertURLGeneratorFn(u, "", false)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
-	}
-	exp := fmt.Sprintf("https://victoriametrics.com/path/vmalert/alert?%s=42&%s=2", "group_id", "alert_id")
-	if exp != AlertURLGeneratorFn(testAlert) {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected url want %s, got %s", exp, AlertURLGeneratorFn(testAlert))
-	}
-	err = InitAlertURLGeneratorFn(nil, "foo?{{invalid}}", true)
-	if err == nil {
-		t.Fatalf("expected template validation error got nil")
-	}
-	err = InitAlertURLGeneratorFn(u, "foo?query={{$value}}&ds={{ $labels.tenant }}", true)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
-	}
-	if exp := "https://victoriametrics.com/path/foo?query=4&ds=baz"; exp != AlertURLGeneratorFn(testAlert) {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected url want %s, got %s", exp, AlertURLGeneratorFn(testAlert))
-	}
-}
-
-func TestSendAlerts(t *testing.T) {
-	oldAlertURLGeneratorFn := AlertURLGeneratorFn
-	defer func() { AlertURLGeneratorFn = oldAlertURLGeneratorFn }()
-	AlertURLGeneratorFn = func(alert Alert) string {
-		return ""
-	}
-	mux := http.NewServeMux()
-	mux.HandleFunc("/", func(_ http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
-		t.Fatalf("should not be called")
-	})
-	mux.HandleFunc(alertManagerPath, func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		var a []struct {
-			Labels map[string]string `json:"labels"`
-		}
-		if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&a); err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("can not unmarshal data into alert %s", err)
-		}
-		if len(a) != 2 {
-			t.Fatalf("expected 2 alert in array got %d", len(a))
-		}
-		if len(a[0].Labels) != 4 {
-			t.Fatalf("expected 4 labels got %d", len(a[0].Labels))
-		}
-		if a[0].Labels["env"] != "prod" {
-			t.Fatalf("expected env label to be prod during relabeling, got %s", a[0].Labels["env"])
-		}
-		if a[0].Labels["c"] != "baz" {
-			t.Fatalf("expected c label to be baz during relabeling, got %s", a[0].Labels["c"])
-		}
-		if len(a[1].Labels) != 1 {
-			t.Fatalf("expected 1 labels got %d", len(a[1].Labels))
-		}
-	})
-	srv := httptest.NewServer(mux)
-	defer srv.Close()
-
-	f, err := os.CreateTemp("", "")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-	defer fs.MustRemovePath(f.Name())
-
-	rawConfig := `
-static_configs:
-  - targets:
-      - %s
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-    - source_labels: [b]
-      target_label: "c"
-alert_relabel_configs:
-  - source_labels: [a]
-    target_label: "b"
-  - target_label: "env"
-    replacement: "prod"
-`
-	config := fmt.Sprintf(rawConfig, srv.URL+alertManagerPath)
-	writeToFile(f.Name(), config)
-
-	oldConfigPath := configPath
-	defer func() { configPath = oldConfigPath }()
-	*configPath = f.Name()
-	err = Init(nil, "")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected error when parse notifier config: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	firingAlerts := []Alert{
-		{
-			Name:   "alert1",
-			Labels: map[string]string{"a": "baz"},
-		},
-		{
-			Name:   "alert2",
-			Labels: map[string]string{},
-		},
-	}
-	errG := Send(context.Background(), firingAlerts, nil)
-	if errG.Err() != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected error when sending alerts: %s", err)
-	}
-}
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/notifier.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/notifier.go
@@ -1,21 +1,15 @@
 package notifier

-import (
-	"context"
-
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
-)
+import "context"

 // Notifier is a common interface for alert manager provider
 type Notifier interface {
 	// Send sends the given list of alerts.
 	// Returns an error if fails to send the alerts.
 	// Must unblock if the given ctx is cancelled.
-	Send(ctx context.Context, alerts []Alert, alertLabels [][]prompb.Label, notifierHeaders map[string]string) error
+	Send(ctx context.Context, alerts []Alert, notifierHeaders map[string]string) error
 	// Addr returns address where alerts are sent.
 	Addr() string
-	// LastError returns error, that occured during last attempt to send data
-	LastError() string
 	// Close is a destructor for the Notifier
 	Close()
 }
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/notifier_blackhole.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/notifier_blackhole.go
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 package notifier

-import (
-	"context"
-
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
-)
+import "context"

 // blackHoleNotifier is a Notifier stub, used when no notifications need
 // to be sent.
@@ -14,7 +10,7 @@ type blackHoleNotifier struct {
 }

 // Send will send no notifications, but increase the metric.
-func (bh *blackHoleNotifier) Send(_ context.Context, alerts []Alert, _ [][]prompb.Label, _ map[string]string) error { //nolint:revive
+func (bh *blackHoleNotifier) Send(_ context.Context, alerts []Alert, _ map[string]string) error { //nolint:revive
 	bh.metrics.alertsSent.Add(len(alerts))
 	return nil
 }
@@ -29,11 +25,6 @@ func (bh *blackHoleNotifier) Close() {
 	bh.metrics.close()
 }

-// LastError return last notifier's error
-func (bh *blackHoleNotifier) LastError() string {
-	return ""
-}
-
 // newBlackHoleNotifier creates a new blackHoleNotifier
 func newBlackHoleNotifier() *blackHoleNotifier {
 	address := "blackhole"
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/notifier_blackhole_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/notifier_blackhole_test.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"

-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
 	metricset "github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
 )

@@ -17,7 +16,7 @@ func TestBlackHoleNotifier_Send(t *testing.T) {
 		Start:       time.Now().UTC(),
 		End:         time.Now().UTC(),
 		Annotations: map[string]string{"a": "b", "c": "d", "e": "f"},
-	}}, [][]prompb.Label{{}}, nil); err != nil {
+	}}, nil); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
 	}

@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ func TestBlackHoleNotifier_Close(t *testing.T) {
 		Start:       time.Now().UTC(),
 		End:         time.Now().UTC(),
 		Annotations: map[string]string{"a": "b", "c": "d", "e": "f"},
-	}}, [][]prompb.Label{{}}, nil); err != nil {
+	}}, nil); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %s", err)
 	}

--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/testdata/consul.bad.yaml
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/testdata/consul.bad.yaml
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-consul_sd_configs:
-  - server: localhost:8500
-    scheme: http
-    services:
-      - alertmanager
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-    - action: keep
-      source_labels: [env]
-      regex: "prod"
-  - server: localhost:8500
-    services:
-      - consul
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-    - action: keep
-      source_labels: [env]
-      regex: "(abc"
-alert_relabel_configs:
-  - target_label: "foo"
-    replacement: "aaa"
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/testdata/dns.bad.yaml
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/testdata/dns.bad.yaml
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-dns_sd_configs:
-  - names:
-      - cloudflare.com
-    type: 'A'
-    port: 9093
-relabel_configs:
-  - source_labels: [__meta_dns_name]
-    replacement: '${1}'
-    target_label: dns_name
-alert_relabel_configs:
-  - action: keep
-    source_labels: [env]
-    regex: "(abc"
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/testdata/mixed.good.yaml
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/testdata/mixed.good.yaml
@@ -2,19 +2,12 @@ static_configs:
  - targets:
      - localhost:9093
      - localhost:9095
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-      - action: keep
-        source_labels: [env]
-        regex: "static"
+
 consul_sd_configs:
  - server: localhost:8500
    scheme: http
    services:
      - alertmanager
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-      - action: keep
-        source_labels: [env]
-        regex: "consul"
  - server: localhost:8500
    services:
      - consul
@@ -24,10 +17,6 @@ dns_sd_configs:
      - cloudflare.com
    type: 'A'
    port: 9093
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-      - action: keep
-        source_labels: [env]
-        regex: "dns"

 relabel_configs:
  - source_labels: [__meta_consul_tags]
@@ -36,4 +25,4 @@ relabel_configs:
    target_label: __scheme__
  - source_labels: [__meta_dns_name]
    replacement: '${1}'
-    target_label: dns_name
+    target_label: dns_name
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/testdata/static.good.yaml
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/testdata/static.good.yaml
@@ -1,14 +1,22 @@
+headers:
+  - 'CustomHeader: foo'
+
 static_configs:
  - targets:
-      - http://192.168.0.101:9093
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-    - target_label: "foo"
-      replacement: "aaa"
+      - localhost:9093
+      - localhost:9095
+      - https://localhost:9093/test/api/v2/alerts
+    basic_auth:
+      username: foo
+      password: bar

  - targets:
-      - http://192.168.0.101:9093
-    alert_relabel_configs:
-    - target_label: "foo"
-      replacement: "ccc"
-
+      - localhost:9096
+      - localhost:9097
+    basic_auth:
+      username: foo
+      password: baz

+alert_relabel_configs:
+  - target_label: "foo"
+    replacement: "aaa"
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/web.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/web.go
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-package notifier
-
-// ApiNotifier represents a Notifier configuration for WEB view
-type ApiNotifier struct {
-	// Kind is a Notifier type
-	Kind TargetType `json:"kind"`
-	// Targets is a list of Notifier targets
-	Targets []*ApiTarget `json:"targets"`
-}
-
-// ApiTarget represents a specific Notifier target for WEB view
-type ApiTarget struct {
-	// Address is a URL for sending notifications
-	Address string `json:"address"`
-	// Labels is a list of labels to add to each sent notification
-	Labels map[string]string `json:"labels"`
-	// LastError contains the error faced while sending to notifier.
-	LastError string `json:"lastError"`
-}
--- a/app/vmalert/remoteread/init.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/remoteread/init.go
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ import (
 )

 var (
-	addr = flag.String("remoteRead.url", "", "Optional URL to datasource compatible with MetricsQL. It can be single node VictoriaMetrics or vmselect. "+
-		"Remote read is used to restore alerts state. "+
-		"This configuration makes sense only if vmalert was configured with '-remoteWrite.url' before and has been successfully persisted its state. "+
+	addr = flag.String("remoteRead.url", "", "Optional URL to datasource compatible with MetricsQL. It can be single node VictoriaMetrics or vmselect."+
+		"Remote read is used to restore alerts state."+
+		"This configuration makes sense only if `vmalert` was configured with `remoteWrite.url` before and has been successfully persisted its state. "+
 		"Supports address in the form of IP address with a port (e.g., http://127.0.0.1:8428) or DNS SRV record. "+
 		"See also '-remoteRead.disablePathAppend', '-remoteRead.showURL'.")

--- a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/client.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/client.go
@@ -173,8 +173,9 @@ func (c *Client) run(ctx context.Context) {

 		cancel()
 	}
-
-	c.wg.Go(func() {
+	c.wg.Add(1)
+	go func() {
+		defer c.wg.Done()
 		defer ticker.Stop()
 		for {
 			select {
@@ -196,7 +197,7 @@ func (c *Client) run(ctx context.Context) {
 				}
 			}
 		}
-	})
+	}()
 }

 var (
--- a/app/vmalert/rule/alerting.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/rule/alerting.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package rule

 import (
 	"context"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"hash/fnv"
 	"math"
@@ -188,54 +187,6 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) ID() uint64 {
 	return ar.RuleID
 }

-// ToAPI returns ApiRule representation of ar
-func (ar *AlertingRule) ToAPI() ApiRule {
-	state := ar.state
-	lastState := state.getLast()
-	r := ApiRule{
-		Type:              TypeAlerting,
-		DatasourceType:    ar.Type.String(),
-		Name:              ar.Name,
-		Query:             ar.Expr,
-		Duration:          ar.For.Seconds(),
-		KeepFiringFor:     ar.KeepFiringFor.Seconds(),
-		Labels:            ar.Labels,
-		Annotations:       ar.Annotations,
-		LastEvaluation:    lastState.Time,
-		EvaluationTime:    lastState.Duration.Seconds(),
-		Health:            "ok",
-		State:             "inactive",
-		Alerts:            ar.AlertsToAPI(),
-		LastSamples:       lastState.Samples,
-		LastSeriesFetched: lastState.SeriesFetched,
-		MaxUpdates:        state.size(),
-		Updates:           state.getAll(),
-		Debug:             ar.Debug,
-
-		// encode as strings to avoid rounding in JSON
-		ID:        fmt.Sprintf("%d", ar.ID()),
-		GroupID:   fmt.Sprintf("%d", ar.GroupID),
-		GroupName: ar.GroupName,
-		File:      ar.File,
-	}
-	if lastState.Err != nil {
-		r.LastError = lastState.Err.Error()
-		r.Health = "err"
-	}
-	// satisfy apiRule.State logic
-	if len(r.Alerts) > 0 {
-		r.State = notifier.StatePending.String()
-		stateFiring := notifier.StateFiring.String()
-		for _, a := range r.Alerts {
-			if a.State == stateFiring {
-				r.State = stateFiring
-				break
-			}
-		}
-	}
-	return r
-}
-
 // GetAlerts returns active alerts of rule
 func (ar *AlertingRule) GetAlerts() []*notifier.Alert {
 	ar.alertsMu.RLock()
@@ -247,6 +198,16 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) GetAlerts() []*notifier.Alert {
 	return alerts
 }

+// GetAlert returns alert if id exists
+func (ar *AlertingRule) GetAlert(id uint64) *notifier.Alert {
+	ar.alertsMu.RLock()
+	defer ar.alertsMu.RUnlock()
+	if ar.alerts == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return ar.alerts[id]
+}
+
 func (ar *AlertingRule) logDebugf(at time.Time, a *notifier.Alert, format string, args ...any) {
 	if !ar.Debug {
 		return
@@ -312,11 +273,6 @@ type labelSet struct {
 // On k conflicts in origin set, the original value is preferred and copied
 // to processed with `exported_%k` key. The copy happens only if passed v isn't equal to origin[k] value.
 func (ls *labelSet) add(k, v string) {
-	// do not add label with empty value, since it has no meaning.
-	// see https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/9984
-	if v == "" {
-		return
-	}
 	ls.processed[k] = v
 	ov, ok := ls.origin[k]
 	if !ok {
@@ -351,6 +307,9 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) toLabels(m datasource.Metric, qFn templates.QueryFn) (*l
 		Value:  m.Values[0],
 		Expr:   ar.Expr,
 	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to expand labels: %w", err)
+	}
 	for k, v := range extraLabels {
 		ls.add(k, v)
 	}
@@ -361,7 +320,7 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) toLabels(m datasource.Metric, qFn templates.QueryFn) (*l
 	if !*disableAlertGroupLabel && ar.GroupName != "" {
 		ls.add(alertGroupNameLabel, ar.GroupName)
 	}
-	return ls, err
+	return ls, nil
 }

 // execRange executes alerting rule on the given time range similarly to exec.
@@ -382,7 +341,7 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) execRange(ctx context.Context, start, end time.Time) ([]
 		return []datasource.Metric{{Timestamps: []int64{0}, Values: []float64{math.NaN()}}}, nil
 	}
 	for _, s := range res.Data {
-		ls, err := ar.expandLabelTemplates(s, qFn)
+		ls, err := ar.expandLabelTemplates(s)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -454,7 +413,7 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) exec(ctx context.Context, ts time.Time, limit int) ([]pr

 	defer func() {
 		ar.state.add(curState)
-		if curState.Err != nil && !errors.Is(curState.Err, context.Canceled) {
+		if curState.Err != nil {
 			ar.metrics.errors.Inc()
 		}
 	}()
@@ -475,11 +434,10 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) exec(ctx context.Context, ts time.Time, limit int) ([]pr
 	expandedLabels := make([]*labelSet, len(res.Data))
 	expandedAnnotations := make([]map[string]string, len(res.Data))
 	for i, m := range res.Data {
-		ls, err := ar.expandLabelTemplates(m, qFn)
+		ls, err := ar.expandLabelTemplates(m)
 		if err != nil {
-			// only set error in current state, but do not break alert processing
 			curState.Err = err
-			logger.Errorf("got templating error in rule %s: %q", ar.Name, err)
+			return nil, curState.Err
 		}
 		at := ts
 		alertID := hash(ls.processed)
@@ -491,9 +449,8 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) exec(ctx context.Context, ts time.Time, limit int) ([]pr
 		}
 		as, err := ar.expandAnnotationTemplates(m, qFn, at, ls)
 		if err != nil {
-			// only set error in current state, but do not break alert processing
 			curState.Err = err
-			logger.Errorf("got templating error in rule %s: %q", ar.Name, err)
+			return nil, curState.Err
 		}
 		expandedLabels[i] = ls
 		expandedAnnotations[i] = as
@@ -599,10 +556,13 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) exec(ctx context.Context, ts time.Time, limit int) ([]pr
 	return append(tss, ar.toTimeSeries(ts.Unix())...), nil
 }

-func (ar *AlertingRule) expandLabelTemplates(m datasource.Metric, qFn templates.QueryFn) (*labelSet, error) {
+func (ar *AlertingRule) expandLabelTemplates(m datasource.Metric) (*labelSet, error) {
+	qFn := func(_ string) ([]datasource.Metric, error) {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("`query` template isn't supported in rule label")
+	}
 	ls, err := ar.toLabels(m, qFn)
 	if err != nil {
-		return ls, fmt.Errorf("failed to expand label templates: %s", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to expand label templates: %s", err)
 	}
 	return ls, nil
 }
@@ -620,7 +580,7 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) expandAnnotationTemplates(m datasource.Metric, qFn templ
 	}
 	as, err := notifier.ExecTemplate(qFn, ar.Annotations, tplData)
 	if err != nil {
-		return as, fmt.Errorf("failed to expand annotation templates: %s", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to expand annotation templates: %s", err)
 	}
 	return as, nil
 }
--- a/app/vmalert/rule/alerting_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/rule/alerting_test.go
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
-	"testing/synctest"
 	"time"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
@@ -827,9 +826,12 @@ func TestGroup_Restore(t *testing.T) {
 		fg := NewGroup(config.Group{Name: "TestRestore", Rules: rules}, fqr, time.Second, nil)
 		fg.Init()
 		wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
-		wg.Go(func() {
-			fg.Start(context.Background(), nil, fqr)
-		})
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func() {
+			nts := func() []notifier.Notifier { return []notifier.Notifier{&notifier.FakeNotifier{}} }
+			fg.Start(context.Background(), nts, nil, fqr)
+			wg.Done()
+		}()
 		fg.Close()
 		wg.Wait()

@@ -1370,10 +1372,8 @@ func TestAlertingRule_ToLabels(t *testing.T) {

 	ar := &AlertingRule{
 		Labels: map[string]string{
-			"instance":      "override", // this should override instance with new value
-			"group":         "vmalert",  // this shouldn't have effect since value in metric is equal
-			"invalid_label": "{{ .Values.mustRuntimeFail }}",
-			"empty_label":   "", // this should be dropped
+			"instance": "override", // this should override instance with new value
+			"group":    "vmalert",  // this shouldn't have effect since value in metric is equal
 		},
 		Expr:      "sum(vmalert_alerting_rules_error) by(instance, group, alertname) > 0",
 		Name:      "AlertingRulesError",
@@ -1381,11 +1381,10 @@ func TestAlertingRule_ToLabels(t *testing.T) {
 	}

 	expectedOriginLabels := map[string]string{
-		"instance":      "0.0.0.0:8800",
-		"group":         "vmalert",
-		"alertname":     "ConfigurationReloadFailure",
-		"alertgroup":    "vmalert",
-		"invalid_label": `error evaluating template: template: :1:268: executing "" at <.Values.mustRuntimeFail>: can't evaluate field Values in type notifier.tplData`,
+		"instance":   "0.0.0.0:8800",
+		"group":      "vmalert",
+		"alertname":  "ConfigurationReloadFailure",
+		"alertgroup": "vmalert",
 	}

 	expectedProcessedLabels := map[string]string{
@@ -1395,12 +1394,11 @@ func TestAlertingRule_ToLabels(t *testing.T) {
 		"exported_alertname": "ConfigurationReloadFailure",
 		"group":              "vmalert",
 		"alertgroup":         "vmalert",
-		"invalid_label":      `error evaluating template: template: :1:268: executing "" at <.Values.mustRuntimeFail>: can't evaluate field Values in type notifier.tplData`,
 	}

 	ls, err := ar.toLabels(metric, nil)
-	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "error evaluating template") {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected error %q", err.Error())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %s", err)
 	}

 	if !reflect.DeepEqual(ls.origin, expectedOriginLabels) {
@@ -1431,142 +1429,3 @@ func TestAlertingRuleExec_Partial(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %s", err)
 	}
 }
-
-func TestAlertingRule_QueryTemplateInLabels(t *testing.T) {
-	fq := &datasource.FakeQuerier{}
-	fakeGroup := Group{
-		Name: "TestQueryTemplateInLabels",
-	}
-
-	ar := &AlertingRule{
-		Name: "test_alert",
-		Labels: map[string]string{
-			"suppress_for_mass_alert": `{{ if (printf "ALERTS{alertname='SomeAlert', alertstate='firing', device='%s'} == 1" $labels.device | query) }}true{{ else }}false{{ end }}`,
-		},
-		Annotations: map[string]string{
-			"summary": "Test alert with query template in labels",
-		},
-		alerts: make(map[uint64]*notifier.Alert),
-	}
-	ar.GroupID = fakeGroup.GetID()
-	ar.q = fq
-	ar.state = &ruleState{
-		entries: make([]StateEntry, 10),
-	}
-
-	// Add a metric that should trigger the alert
-	fq.Add(metricWithValueAndLabels(t, 1, "device", "sda1"))
-
-	ts := time.Now()
-	_, err := ar.exec(context.TODO(), ts, 0)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected error with query template in labels: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	// Verify that the alert was created and the query template was executed
-	if len(ar.alerts) != 1 {
-		t.Fatalf("expected 1 alert, got %d", len(ar.alerts))
-	}
-
-	alert := ar.GetAlerts()[0]
-	suppressLabel, exists := alert.Labels["suppress_for_mass_alert"]
-	if !exists {
-		t.Fatalf("expected 'suppress_for_mass_alert' label to exist")
-	}
-	// The query template should have been executed (even if it returns false due to mock data)
-	if suppressLabel != "true" && suppressLabel != "false" {
-		t.Fatalf("expected 'suppress_for_mass_alert' label to be 'true' or 'false', got '%s'", suppressLabel)
-	}
-}
-
-// TestAlertingRule_ActiveAtPreservedInAnnotations ensures that the fix for
-// https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/9543 is preserved
-// while allowing query templates in labels (https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/9783)
-func TestAlertingRule_ActiveAtPreservedInAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
-	// wrap into synctest because of time manipulations
-	synctest.Test(t, func(t *testing.T) {
-		fq := &datasource.FakeQuerier{}
-
-		ar := &AlertingRule{
-			Name: "TestActiveAtPreservation",
-			Labels: map[string]string{
-				"test_query_in_label": `{{ "static_value" }}`,
-			},
-			Annotations: map[string]string{
-				"description": "Alert active since {{ $activeAt }}",
-			},
-			alerts: make(map[uint64]*notifier.Alert),
-			q:      fq,
-			state: &ruleState{
-				entries: make([]StateEntry, 10),
-			},
-		}
-
-		// Mock query result - return empty result to make suppress_for_mass_alert = false
-		// (no need to add anything to fq for empty result)
-
-		// Add a metric that should trigger the alert
-		fq.Add(metricWithValueAndLabels(t, 1, "instance", "server1"))
-
-		// First execution - creates new alert
-		ts1 := time.Now()
-		_, err := ar.exec(context.TODO(), ts1, 0)
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected error on first exec: %s", err)
-		}
-
-		if len(ar.alerts) != 1 {
-			t.Fatalf("expected 1 alert, got %d", len(ar.alerts))
-		}
-
-		firstAlert := ar.GetAlerts()[0]
-		// Verify first execution: activeAt should be ts1 and annotation should reflect it
-		if !firstAlert.ActiveAt.Equal(ts1) {
-			t.Fatalf("expected activeAt to be %v, got %v", ts1, firstAlert.ActiveAt)
-		}
-
-		// Extract time from annotation (format will be like "Alert active since 2025-09-30 08:55:13.638551611 -0400 EDT m=+0.002928464")
-		expectedTimeStr := ts1.Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05")
-		if !strings.Contains(firstAlert.Annotations["description"], expectedTimeStr) {
-			t.Fatalf("first exec annotation should contain time %s, got: %s", expectedTimeStr, firstAlert.Annotations["description"])
-		}
-
-		// Second execution - should preserve activeAt in annotation
-
-		// Ensure different timestamp with different seconds
-		// sleep is non-blocking thanks to synctest
-		time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
-		ts2 := time.Now()
-		_, err = ar.exec(context.TODO(), ts2, 0)
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected error on second exec: %s", err)
-		}
-
-		// Get the alert again (should be the same alert)
-		if len(ar.alerts) != 1 {
-			t.Fatalf("expected 1 alert, got %d", len(ar.alerts))
-		}
-		secondAlert := ar.GetAlerts()[0]
-
-		// Critical test: activeAt should still be ts1, not ts2
-		if !secondAlert.ActiveAt.Equal(ts1) {
-			t.Fatalf("activeAt should be preserved as %v, but got %v", ts1, secondAlert.ActiveAt)
-		}
-
-		// Critical test: annotation should still contain ts1 time, not ts2
-		if !strings.Contains(secondAlert.Annotations["description"], expectedTimeStr) {
-			t.Fatalf("second exec annotation should still contain original time %s, got: %s", expectedTimeStr, secondAlert.Annotations["description"])
-		}
-
-		// Additional verification: annotation should NOT contain ts2 time
-		ts2TimeStr := ts2.Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05")
-		if strings.Contains(secondAlert.Annotations["description"], ts2TimeStr) {
-			t.Fatalf("annotation should NOT contain new eval time %s, got: %s", ts2TimeStr, secondAlert.Annotations["description"])
-		}
-
-		// Verify query template in labels still works (this would fail if query templates were broken)
-		if firstAlert.Labels["test_query_in_label"] != "static_value" {
-			t.Fatalf("expected test_query_in_label=static_value, got %s", firstAlert.Labels["test_query_in_label"])
-		}
-	})
-}
--- a/app/vmalert/rule/group.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/rule/group.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package rule

 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
@@ -18,15 +19,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/datasource"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/notifier"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/remotewrite"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/vmalertutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
 )

 var (
-	ruleResultsLimit = flag.Int("rule.resultsLimit", 0, "Limits the number of alerts or recording results a single rule can produce. "+
-		"Can be overridden by the limit option under group if specified. "+
-		"If exceeded, the rule will be marked with an error and all its results will be discarded. "+
-		"0 means no limit.")
 	ruleUpdateEntriesLimit = flag.Int("rule.updateEntriesLimit", 20, "Defines the max number of rule's state updates stored in-memory. "+
 		"Rule's updates are available on rule's Details page and are used for debugging purposes. The number of stored updates can be overridden per rule via update_entries_limit param.")
 	resendDelay        = flag.Duration("rule.resendDelay", 0, "MiniMum amount of time to wait before resending an alert to notifier.")
@@ -38,8 +36,6 @@ var (
 	disableAlertGroupLabel = flag.Bool("disableAlertgroupLabel", false, "Whether to disable adding group's Name as label to generated alerts and time series.")
 	remoteReadLookBack     = flag.Duration("remoteRead.lookback", time.Hour, "Lookback defines how far to look into past for alerts timeseries. "+
 		"For example, if lookback=1h then range from now() to now()-1h will be scanned.")
-	maxStartDelay = flag.Duration("group.maxStartDelay", 5*time.Minute, "Defines the max delay before starting the group evaluation. Group's start is artificially delayed for random duration on interval"+
-		" [0..min(--group.maxStartDelay, group.interval)]. This helps smoothing out the load on the configured datasource, so evaluations aren't executed too close to each other.")
 )

 // Group is an entity for grouping rules
@@ -116,6 +112,7 @@ func NewGroup(cfg config.Group, qb datasource.QuerierBuilder, defaultInterval ti
 		Name:            cfg.Name,
 		File:            cfg.File,
 		Interval:        cfg.Interval.Duration(),
+		Limit:           cfg.Limit,
 		Concurrency:     cfg.Concurrency,
 		checksum:        cfg.Checksum,
 		Params:          cfg.Params,
@@ -132,11 +129,6 @@ func NewGroup(cfg config.Group, qb datasource.QuerierBuilder, defaultInterval ti
 	if g.Interval == 0 {
 		g.Interval = defaultInterval
 	}
-	if cfg.Limit != nil {
-		g.Limit = *cfg.Limit
-	} else {
-		g.Limit = *ruleResultsLimit
-	}
 	if g.Concurrency < 1 {
 		g.Concurrency = 1
 	}
@@ -297,7 +289,7 @@ func (g *Group) InterruptEval() {
 	}
 }

-// Close stops the group and its rules, unregisters group metrics
+// Close stops the group and it's rules, unregisters group metrics
 func (g *Group) Close() {
 	if g.doneCh == nil {
 		return
@@ -306,6 +298,10 @@ func (g *Group) Close() {
 	g.InterruptEval()
 	<-g.finishedCh

+	g.closeGroupMetrics()
+}
+
+func (g *Group) closeGroupMetrics() {
 	metrics.UnregisterSet(g.metrics.set, true)
 }

@@ -331,13 +327,13 @@ func (g *Group) Init() {
 }

 // Start starts group's evaluation
-func (g *Group) Start(ctx context.Context, rw remotewrite.RWClient, rr datasource.QuerierBuilder) {
+func (g *Group) Start(ctx context.Context, nts func() []notifier.Notifier, rw remotewrite.RWClient, rr datasource.QuerierBuilder) {
 	defer func() { close(g.finishedCh) }()
 	evalTS := time.Now()
 	// sleep random duration to spread group rules evaluation
-	// over maxStartDelay to reduce the load on datasource.
+	// over time in order to reduce load on datasource.
 	if !SkipRandSleepOnGroupStart {
-		sleepBeforeStart := g.delayBeforeStart(evalTS, *maxStartDelay)
+		sleepBeforeStart := delayBeforeStart(evalTS, g.GetID(), g.Interval, g.EvalOffset)
 		g.infof("will start in %v", sleepBeforeStart)

 		sleepTimer := time.NewTimer(sleepBeforeStart)
@@ -369,6 +365,7 @@ func (g *Group) Start(ctx context.Context, rw remotewrite.RWClient, rr datasourc

 	e := &executor{
 		Rw:              rw,
+		Notifiers:       nts,
 		notifierHeaders: g.NotifierHeaders,
 	}

@@ -475,31 +472,32 @@ func (g *Group) UpdateWith(newGroup *Group) {
 	g.updateCh <- newGroup
 }

-// delayBeforeStart returns duration for delaying the evaluation start
-// based on given ts and Group settings. The delay can't exceed maxDelay.
-// maxDelay is ignored if g.EvalOffset != nil.
-//
-// Delaying is important to smooth out the load on the datasource when all groups start at the same time.
-// delayBeforeStart calculates delay based on Group ID, so all groups will start at different moments of time.
-func (g *Group) delayBeforeStart(ts time.Time, maxDelay time.Duration) time.Duration {
-	if g.EvalOffset != nil {
-		// if offset is specified, ignore the maxDelay and return a duration aligned with offset
-		currentOffsetPoint := ts.Truncate(g.Interval).Add(*g.EvalOffset)
+// DeepCopy returns a deep copy of group
+func (g *Group) DeepCopy() *Group {
+	g.mu.RLock()
+	data, _ := json.Marshal(g)
+	g.mu.RUnlock()
+	newG := Group{}
+	_ = json.Unmarshal(data, &newG)
+	newG.Rules = g.Rules
+	newG.id = g.id
+	return &newG
+}
+
+// if offset is specified, delayBeforeStart returns a duration to help aligning timestamp with offset;
+// otherwise, it returns a random duration between [0..interval] based on group key.
+func delayBeforeStart(ts time.Time, key uint64, interval time.Duration, offset *time.Duration) time.Duration {
+	if offset != nil {
+		currentOffsetPoint := ts.Truncate(interval).Add(*offset)
 		if currentOffsetPoint.Before(ts) {
 			// wait until the next offset point
-			return currentOffsetPoint.Add(g.Interval).Sub(ts)
+			return currentOffsetPoint.Add(interval).Sub(ts)
 		}
 		return currentOffsetPoint.Sub(ts)
 	}

-	// otherwise, return a random duration between [0..min(interval, maxDelay)] based on group ID
-	interval := g.Interval
-	if interval > maxDelay {
-		// artificially limit interval, so groups with big intervals could start sooner.
-		interval = maxDelay
-	}
 	var randSleep time.Duration
-	randSleep = time.Duration(float64(interval) * (float64(g.GetID()) / (1 << 64)))
+	randSleep = time.Duration(float64(interval) * (float64(key) / (1 << 64)))
 	sleepOffset := time.Duration(ts.UnixNano() % interval.Nanoseconds())
 	if randSleep < sleepOffset {
 		randSleep += interval
@@ -561,13 +559,15 @@ func (g *Group) Replay(start, end time.Time, rw remotewrite.RWClient, maxDataPoi
 	if !disableProgressBar {
 		bar = pb.StartNew(iterations * len(g.Rules))
 	}
-	for i := range g.Rules {
-		rule := g.Rules[i]
+	for _, r := range g.Rules {
 		sem <- struct{}{}
-		wg.Go(func() {
-			res <- replayRuleRange(rule, ri, bar, rw, replayRuleRetryAttempts, ruleEvaluationConcurrency)
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func(r Rule, ri rangeIterator) {
+			// pass ri as a copy, so it can be modified within the replayRuleRange
+			res <- replayRuleRange(r, ri, bar, rw, replayRuleRetryAttempts, ruleEvaluationConcurrency)
 			<-sem
-		})
+			wg.Done()
+		}(r, ri)
 	}

 	wg.Wait()
@@ -597,10 +597,10 @@ func replayRuleRange(r Rule, ri rangeIterator, bar *pb.ProgressBar, rw remotewri
 	res := make(chan int, int(ri.end.Sub(ri.start)/ri.step)+1)
 	for ri.next() {
 		sem <- struct{}{}
-		start := ri.s
-		end := ri.e
-		wg.Go(func() {
-			n, err := replayRule(r, start, end, rw, replayRuleRetryAttempts)
+		wg.Add(1)
+
+		go func(s, e time.Time) {
+			n, err := replayRule(r, s, e, rw, replayRuleRetryAttempts)
 			if err != nil {
 				logger.Fatalf("rule %q: %s", r, err)
 			}
@@ -609,7 +609,8 @@ func replayRuleRange(r Rule, ri rangeIterator, bar *pb.ProgressBar, rw remotewri
 			}
 			res <- n
 			<-sem
-		})
+			wg.Done()
+		}(ri.s, ri.e)
 	}
 	wg.Wait()
 	close(res)
@@ -623,9 +624,10 @@ func replayRuleRange(r Rule, ri rangeIterator, bar *pb.ProgressBar, rw remotewri
 }

 // ExecOnce evaluates all the rules under group for once with given timestamp.
-func (g *Group) ExecOnce(ctx context.Context, rw remotewrite.RWClient, evalTS time.Time) chan error {
+func (g *Group) ExecOnce(ctx context.Context, nts func() []notifier.Notifier, rw remotewrite.RWClient, evalTS time.Time) chan error {
 	e := &executor{
 		Rw:              rw,
+		Notifiers:       nts,
 		notifierHeaders: g.NotifierHeaders,
 	}
 	if len(g.Rules) < 1 {
@@ -700,6 +702,7 @@ func (g *Group) getEvalDelay() time.Duration {

 // executor contains group's notify and rw configs
 type executor struct {
+	Notifiers       func() []notifier.Notifier
 	notifierHeaders map[string]string

 	Rw remotewrite.RWClient
@@ -720,13 +723,14 @@ func (e *executor) execConcurrently(ctx context.Context, rules []Rule, ts time.T
 	sem := make(chan struct{}, concurrency)
 	go func() {
 		wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
-		for i := range rules {
-			rule := rules[i]
+		for _, r := range rules {
 			sem <- struct{}{}
-			wg.Go(func() {
-				res <- e.exec(ctx, rule, ts, resolveDuration, limit)
+			wg.Add(1)
+			go func(r Rule) {
+				res <- e.exec(ctx, r, ts, resolveDuration, limit)
 				<-sem
-			})
+				wg.Done()
+			}(r)
 		}
 		wg.Wait()
 		close(res)
@@ -780,6 +784,17 @@ func (e *executor) exec(ctx context.Context, r Rule, ts time.Time, resolveDurati
 		return nil
 	}

-	errGr := notifier.Send(ctx, alerts, e.notifierHeaders)
+	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
+	errGr := new(vmalertutil.ErrGroup)
+	for _, nt := range e.Notifiers() {
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func(nt notifier.Notifier) {
+			if err := nt.Send(ctx, alerts, e.notifierHeaders); err != nil {
+				errGr.Add(fmt.Errorf("rule %q: failed to send alerts to addr %q: %w", r, nt.Addr(), err))
+			}
+			wg.Done()
+		}(nt)
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
 	return errGr.Err()
 }
--- a/app/vmalert/rule/group_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/rule/group_test.go
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ func TestUpdateDuringRandSleep(t *testing.T) {
 		updateCh: make(chan *Group),
 	}
 	g.Init()
-	go g.Start(context.Background(), nil, nil)
+	go g.Start(context.Background(), nil, nil, nil)

 	rule1 := AlertingRule{
 		Name: "jobDown",
@@ -346,8 +346,7 @@ func TestGroupStart(t *testing.T) {
 	}

 	fs := &datasource.FakeQuerier{}
-	fn, cleanup := notifier.InitFakeNotifier()
-	defer cleanup()
+	fn := &notifier.FakeNotifier{}

 	const evalInterval = time.Millisecond
 	g := NewGroup(groups[0], fs, evalInterval, map[string]string{"cluster": "east-1"})
@@ -396,7 +395,7 @@ func TestGroupStart(t *testing.T) {
 	fs.Add(m2)
 	g.Init()
 	go func() {
-		g.Start(context.Background(), nil, fs)
+		g.Start(context.Background(), func() []notifier.Notifier { return []notifier.Notifier{fn} }, nil, fs)
 		close(finished)
 	}()

@@ -473,10 +472,15 @@ func TestFaultyNotifier(t *testing.T) {
 	r := newTestAlertingRule("instant", 0)
 	r.q = fq

-	fn, cleanup := notifier.InitFakeNotifier()
-	defer cleanup()
-
-	e := &executor{}
+	fn := &notifier.FakeNotifier{}
+	e := &executor{
+		Notifiers: func() []notifier.Notifier {
+			return []notifier.Notifier{
+				&notifier.FaultyNotifier{},
+				fn,
+			}
+		},
+	}
 	delay := 5 * time.Second
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), delay)
 	defer cancel()
@@ -549,7 +553,7 @@ func TestCloseWithEvalInterruption(t *testing.T) {
 	g := NewGroup(groups[0], fq, evalInterval, nil)
 	g.Init()

-	go g.Start(context.Background(), nil, nil)
+	go g.Start(context.Background(), nil, nil, nil)

 	time.Sleep(evalInterval * 20)

@@ -567,10 +571,9 @@ func TestCloseWithEvalInterruption(t *testing.T) {

 func TestGroupStartDelay(t *testing.T) {
 	g := &Group{}
-	g.id = uint64(math.MaxUint64 / 10)
 	// interval of 5min and key generate a static delay of 30s
 	g.Interval = time.Minute * 5
-	maxDelay := time.Minute * 5
+	key := uint64(math.MaxUint64 / 10)

 	f := func(atS, expS string) {
 		t.Helper()
@@ -582,7 +585,7 @@ func TestGroupStartDelay(t *testing.T) {
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}
-		delay := g.delayBeforeStart(at, maxDelay)
+		delay := delayBeforeStart(at, key, g.Interval, g.EvalOffset)
 		gotStart := at.Add(delay)
 		if expTS != gotStart {
 			t.Fatalf("expected to get %v; got %v instead", expTS, gotStart)
@@ -603,15 +606,6 @@ func TestGroupStartDelay(t *testing.T) {
 	f("2023-01-01T00:01:00.000+00:00", "2023-01-01T00:03:00.000+00:00")
 	f("2023-01-01T00:03:30.000+00:00", "2023-01-01T00:08:00.000+00:00")
 	f("2023-01-01T00:08:00.000+00:00", "2023-01-01T00:08:00.000+00:00")
-
-	maxDelay = time.Minute * 1
-	g.EvalOffset = nil
-
-	// test group with maxDelay, and offset disabled
-	f("2023-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00", "2023-01-01T00:00:06.000+00:00")
-	f("2023-01-01T00:00:01.000+00:00", "2023-01-01T00:00:06.000+00:00")
-	f("2023-01-01T00:00:06.100+00:00", "2023-01-01T00:01:06.000+00:00")
-	f("2023-01-01T00:00:11.000+00:00", "2023-01-01T00:01:06.000+00:00")
 }

 func TestGetPrometheusReqTimestamp(t *testing.T) {
--- a/app/vmalert/rule/recording.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/rule/recording.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package rule

 import (
 	"context"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -82,37 +81,6 @@ func (rr *RecordingRule) ID() uint64 {
 	return rr.RuleID
 }

-// ToAPI returns ApiRule representation of rr
-func (rr *RecordingRule) ToAPI() ApiRule {
-	state := rr.state
-	lastState := state.getLast()
-	r := ApiRule{
-		Type:              TypeRecording,
-		DatasourceType:    rr.Type.String(),
-		Name:              rr.Name,
-		Query:             rr.Expr,
-		Labels:            rr.Labels,
-		LastEvaluation:    lastState.Time,
-		EvaluationTime:    lastState.Duration.Seconds(),
-		Health:            "ok",
-		LastSamples:       lastState.Samples,
-		LastSeriesFetched: lastState.SeriesFetched,
-		MaxUpdates:        state.size(),
-		Updates:           state.getAll(),
-
-		// encode as strings to avoid rounding
-		ID:        fmt.Sprintf("%d", rr.ID()),
-		GroupID:   fmt.Sprintf("%d", rr.GroupID),
-		GroupName: rr.GroupName,
-		File:      rr.File,
-	}
-	if lastState.Err != nil {
-		r.LastError = lastState.Err.Error()
-		r.Health = "err"
-	}
-	return r
-}
-
 // NewRecordingRule creates a new RecordingRule
 func NewRecordingRule(qb datasource.QuerierBuilder, group *Group, cfg config.Rule) *RecordingRule {
 	debug := group.Debug
@@ -198,7 +166,7 @@ func (rr *RecordingRule) exec(ctx context.Context, ts time.Time, limit int) ([]p

 	defer func() {
 		rr.state.add(curState)
-		if curState.Err != nil && !errors.Is(curState.Err, context.Canceled) {
+		if curState.Err != nil {
 			rr.metrics.errors.Inc()
 		}
 	}()
@@ -237,8 +205,7 @@ func (rr *RecordingRule) exec(ctx context.Context, ts time.Time, limit int) ([]p
 			Labels: stringToLabels(k),
 			Samples: []prompb.Sample{
 				{Value: decimal.StaleNaN, Timestamp: ts.UnixNano() / 1e6},
-			},
-		})
+			}})
 	}
 	rr.lastEvaluation = curEvaluation
 	return tss, nil
@@ -293,11 +260,6 @@ func (rr *RecordingRule) toTimeSeries(m datasource.Metric) prompb.TimeSeries {
 	}
 	// add extra labels configured by user
 	for k := range rr.Labels {
-		// do not add label with empty value, since it has no meaning.
-		// see https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/9984
-		if rr.Labels[k] == "" {
-			continue
-		}
 		existingLabel := promrelabel.GetLabelByName(m.Labels, k)
 		if existingLabel != nil { // there is a conflict between extra and existing label
 			if existingLabel.Value == rr.Labels[k] {
--- a/app/vmalert/rule/rule.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/rule/rule.go
@@ -21,8 +21,6 @@ type Rule interface {
 	// ID returns unique ID that may be used for
 	// identifying this Rule among others.
 	ID() uint64
-	// ToAPI returns ApiRule representation of Rule
-	ToAPI() ApiRule
 	// exec executes the rule with given context at the given timestamp and limit.
 	// returns an err if number of resulting time series exceeds the limit.
 	exec(ctx context.Context, ts time.Time, limit int) ([]prompb.TimeSeries, error)
@@ -70,6 +68,39 @@ type StateEntry struct {
 	Curl string `json:"curl"`
 }

+// GetLastEntry returns latest stateEntry of rule
+func GetLastEntry(r Rule) StateEntry {
+	if rule, ok := r.(*AlertingRule); ok {
+		return rule.state.getLast()
+	}
+	if rule, ok := r.(*RecordingRule); ok {
+		return rule.state.getLast()
+	}
+	return StateEntry{}
+}
+
+// GetRuleStateSize returns size of rule stateEntry
+func GetRuleStateSize(r Rule) int {
+	if rule, ok := r.(*AlertingRule); ok {
+		return rule.state.size()
+	}
+	if rule, ok := r.(*RecordingRule); ok {
+		return rule.state.size()
+	}
+	return 0
+}
+
+// GetAllRuleState returns rule entire stateEntries
+func GetAllRuleState(r Rule) []StateEntry {
+	if rule, ok := r.(*AlertingRule); ok {
+		return rule.state.getAll()
+	}
+	if rule, ok := r.(*RecordingRule); ok {
+		return rule.state.getAll()
+	}
+	return []StateEntry{}
+}
+
 func (s *ruleState) size() int {
 	s.RLock()
 	defer s.RUnlock()
--- a/app/vmalert/static/css/custom.css
+++ b/app/vmalert/static/css/custom.css
@@ -34,12 +34,11 @@ body {
  padding-top: 4.5rem;
 }

-.vm-group {
+.group-items {
  cursor: pointer;
  padding: 5px;
  margin-top: 5px;
  position: relative;
-  display: none;
 }

 .btn svg, .dropdown-item svg {
@@ -56,22 +55,14 @@ body {
  height: 38px;
 }

-.vm-item:not(.vm-found) {
-  display: none;
+.group-items:not(:has(.sub-item:not(.d-none))) {
+  display: none !important;
 }

-.vm-group:has(.vm-item:is(.vm-found)), .vm-group:is(.vm-found) {
-  display: flex;
-}
-
-.vm-group:hover {
+.group-items:hover {
  background-color: #f8f9fa!important;
 }

-.vm-group:is(.vm-found) .vm-item {
-  display: table-row;
-}
-
 .table {
  table-layout: fixed;
 }
@@ -120,9 +111,3 @@ textarea.curl-area {
 .w-60 {
  width: 60%;
 }
-
-.annotations {
-  white-space: pre-wrap;
-  color: gray;
-  word-wrap: break-word;
-}
--- a/app/vmalert/static/js/custom.js
+++ b/app/vmalert/static/js/custom.js
@@ -65,34 +65,32 @@ function getParamURL(key) {
    return url.searchParams.get(key)
 }

-function matchText(search, item) {
-    const text = item.innerText.toLowerCase();
-    return text.indexOf(search) >= 0;
-}
-
 function filterRules(searchPhrase) {
-    document.querySelectorAll('.vm-group').forEach((group) => {
-        if (!searchPhrase) {
-            group.classList.add('vm-found');
-            return;
-        }
-        for (const item of group.querySelectorAll('.vm-group-search')) {
-            if (matchText(searchPhrase, item)) {
-                group.classList.add('vm-found');
-                return;
+    document.querySelectorAll('.sub-items').forEach((rules) => {
+        let found = false;
+        rules.querySelectorAll('.sub-item').forEach((rule) => {
+            if (searchPhrase) {
+                const ruleName = rule.innerText.toLowerCase();
+                const matches = []
+                const hasValue = ruleName.indexOf(searchPhrase) >= 0;
+                rule.querySelectorAll('.label').forEach((label) => {
+                    const text = label.innerText.toLowerCase();
+                    if (text.indexOf(searchPhrase) >= 0) {
+                        matches.push(text);
+                    }
+                });
+                if (!matches.length && !hasValue) {
+                    rule.classList.add('d-none');
+                    return;
+                }
            }
-        }
-        group.classList.remove('vm-found');
-        for (const item of group.querySelectorAll('.vm-item')) {
-            if (matchText(searchPhrase, item)) {
-                item.classList.add('vm-found');
-                continue;
-            }
-            if (Array.from(item.querySelectorAll('.label')).find(l => matchText(searchPhrase, l))) {
-                item.classList.add('vm-found');
-                continue;
-            }
-            item.classList.remove('vm-found');
+            rule.classList.remove('d-none');
+            found = true;
+        });
+        if (found && searchPhrase || !searchPhrase) {
+            rules.classList.remove('d-none');
+        } else {
+            rules.classList.add('d-none');
        }
    });
 }
--- a/app/vmalert/templates/template.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/templates/template.go
@@ -485,12 +485,6 @@ func templateFuncs() textTpl.FuncMap {

 		/* Helpers */

-		// now returns the Unix timestamp in seconds at the time of the template evaluation.
-		// For example: {{ (now | toTime).Sub $activeAt }} will return the duration the alert has been active.
-		"now": func() float64 {
-			return float64(time.Now().Unix())
-		},
-
 		// Converts a list of objects to a map with keys arg0, arg1 etc.
 		// This is intended to allow multiple arguments to be passed to templates.
 		"args": func(args ...any) map[string]any {
--- a/app/vmalert/web.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/web.go
@@ -29,9 +29,7 @@ var (
 		{"api/v1/rules", "list all loaded groups and rules"},
 		{"api/v1/alerts", "list all active alerts"},
 		{"api/v1/notifiers", "list all notifiers"},
-		{fmt.Sprintf("api/v1/alert?%s=<int>&%s=<int>", rule.ParamGroupID, rule.ParamAlertID), "get alert status by group and alert ID"},
-		{fmt.Sprintf("api/v1/rule?%s=<int>&%s=<int>", rule.ParamGroupID, rule.ParamRuleID), "get rule status by group and rule ID"},
-		{fmt.Sprintf("api/v1/group?%s=<int>", rule.ParamGroupID), "get group status by group ID"},
+		{fmt.Sprintf("api/v1/alert?%s=<int>&%s=<int>", paramGroupID, paramAlertID), "get alert status by group and alert ID"},
 	}
 	systemLinks = [][2]string{
 		{"vmalert/groups", "UI"},
@@ -47,8 +45,8 @@ var (
 		{Name: "Docs", URL: "https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/vmalert/"},
 	}
 	ruleTypeMap = map[string]string{
-		"alert":  rule.TypeAlerting,
-		"record": rule.TypeRecording,
+		"alert":  ruleTypeAlerting,
+		"record": ruleTypeRecording,
 	}
 )

@@ -114,7 +112,7 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) handler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 	case "/rules":
 		// Grafana makes an extra request to `/rules`
 		// handler in addition to `/api/v1/rules` calls in alerts UI
-		var data []*rule.ApiGroup
+		var data []*apiGroup
 		rf, err := newRulesFilter(r)
 		if err != nil {
 			httpserver.Errorf(w, r, "%s", err)
@@ -180,14 +178,14 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) handler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 		w.Write(data)
 		return true
 	case "/vmalert/api/v1/rule", "/api/v1/rule":
-		apiRule, err := rh.getRule(r)
+		rule, err := rh.getRule(r)
 		if err != nil {
 			httpserver.Errorf(w, r, "%s", err)
 			return true
 		}
-		rwu := rule.ApiRuleWithUpdates{
-			ApiRule:      apiRule,
-			StateUpdates: apiRule.Updates,
+		rwu := apiRuleWithUpdates{
+			apiRule:      rule,
+			StateUpdates: rule.Updates,
 		}
 		data, err := json.Marshal(rwu)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -197,20 +195,6 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) handler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 		w.Write(data)
 		return true
-	case "/vmalert/api/v1/group", "/api/v1/group":
-		group, err := rh.getGroup(r)
-		if err != nil {
-			httpserver.Errorf(w, r, "%s", err)
-			return true
-		}
-		data, err := json.Marshal(group)
-		if err != nil {
-			httpserver.Errorf(w, r, "failed to marshal group: %s", err)
-			return true
-		}
-		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-		w.Write(data)
-		return true
 	case "/-/reload":
 		if !httpserver.CheckAuthFlag(w, r, reloadAuthKey) {
 			return true
@@ -225,42 +209,30 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) handler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 	}
 }

-func (rh *requestHandler) getGroup(r *http.Request) (*rule.ApiGroup, error) {
-	groupID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(rule.ParamGroupID), 10, 64)
+func (rh *requestHandler) getRule(r *http.Request) (apiRule, error) {
+	groupID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(paramGroupID), 10, 64)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", rule.ParamGroupID, err)
+		return apiRule{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", paramGroupID, err)
 	}
-	obj, err := rh.m.groupAPI(groupID)
+	ruleID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(paramRuleID), 10, 64)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errResponse(err, http.StatusNotFound)
-	}
-	return obj, nil
-}
-
-func (rh *requestHandler) getRule(r *http.Request) (rule.ApiRule, error) {
-	groupID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(rule.ParamGroupID), 10, 64)
-	if err != nil {
-		return rule.ApiRule{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", rule.ParamGroupID, err)
-	}
-	ruleID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(rule.ParamRuleID), 10, 64)
-	if err != nil {
-		return rule.ApiRule{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", rule.ParamRuleID, err)
+		return apiRule{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", paramRuleID, err)
 	}
 	obj, err := rh.m.ruleAPI(groupID, ruleID)
 	if err != nil {
-		return rule.ApiRule{}, errResponse(err, http.StatusNotFound)
+		return apiRule{}, errResponse(err, http.StatusNotFound)
 	}
 	return obj, nil
 }

-func (rh *requestHandler) getAlert(r *http.Request) (*rule.ApiAlert, error) {
-	groupID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(rule.ParamGroupID), 10, 64)
+func (rh *requestHandler) getAlert(r *http.Request) (*apiAlert, error) {
+	groupID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(paramGroupID), 10, 64)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", rule.ParamGroupID, err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", paramGroupID, err)
 	}
-	alertID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(rule.ParamAlertID), 10, 64)
+	alertID, err := strconv.ParseUint(r.FormValue(paramAlertID), 10, 64)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", rule.ParamAlertID, err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q param: %w", paramAlertID, err)
 	}
 	a, err := rh.m.alertAPI(groupID, alertID)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -272,7 +244,7 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) getAlert(r *http.Request) (*rule.ApiAlert, error) {
 type listGroupsResponse struct {
 	Status string `json:"status"`
 	Data   struct {
-		Groups []*rule.ApiGroup `json:"groups"`
+		Groups []*apiGroup `json:"groups"`
 	} `json:"data"`
 }

@@ -338,19 +310,19 @@ func (rf *rulesFilter) matchesGroup(group *rule.Group) bool {
 	return true
 }

-func (rh *requestHandler) groups(rf *rulesFilter) []*rule.ApiGroup {
+func (rh *requestHandler) groups(rf *rulesFilter) []*apiGroup {
 	rh.m.groupsMu.RLock()
 	defer rh.m.groupsMu.RUnlock()

-	groups := make([]*rule.ApiGroup, 0)
+	groups := make([]*apiGroup, 0)
 	for _, group := range rh.m.groups {
 		if !rf.matchesGroup(group) {
 			continue
 		}
-		g := group.ToAPI()
+		g := groupToAPI(group)
 		// the returned list should always be non-nil
 		// https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/4221
-		filteredRules := make([]rule.ApiRule, 0)
+		filteredRules := make([]apiRule, 0)
 		for _, rule := range g.Rules {
 			if rf.ruleType != "" && rf.ruleType != rule.Type {
 				continue
@@ -378,7 +350,7 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) groups(rf *rulesFilter) []*rule.ApiGroup {
 		groups = append(groups, g)
 	}
 	// sort list of groups for deterministic output
-	slices.SortFunc(groups, func(a, b *rule.ApiGroup) int {
+	slices.SortFunc(groups, func(a, b *apiGroup) int {
 		if a.Name != b.Name {
 			return strings.Compare(a.Name, b.Name)
 		}
@@ -403,32 +375,32 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) listGroups(rf *rulesFilter) ([]byte, error) {
 type listAlertsResponse struct {
 	Status string `json:"status"`
 	Data   struct {
-		Alerts []*rule.ApiAlert `json:"alerts"`
+		Alerts []*apiAlert `json:"alerts"`
 	} `json:"data"`
 }

-func (rh *requestHandler) groupAlerts() []rule.GroupAlerts {
+func (rh *requestHandler) groupAlerts() []groupAlerts {
 	rh.m.groupsMu.RLock()
 	defer rh.m.groupsMu.RUnlock()

-	var gAlerts []rule.GroupAlerts
-	for _, group := range rh.m.groups {
-		var alerts []*rule.ApiAlert
-		g := group.ToAPI()
+	var gAlerts []groupAlerts
+	for _, g := range rh.m.groups {
+		var alerts []*apiAlert
 		for _, r := range g.Rules {
-			if r.Type != rule.TypeAlerting {
+			a, ok := r.(*rule.AlertingRule)
+			if !ok {
 				continue
 			}
-			alerts = append(alerts, r.Alerts...)
+			alerts = append(alerts, ruleToAPIAlert(a)...)
 		}
 		if len(alerts) > 0 {
-			gAlerts = append(gAlerts, rule.GroupAlerts{
-				Group:  g,
+			gAlerts = append(gAlerts, groupAlerts{
+				Group:  groupToAPI(g),
 				Alerts: alerts,
 			})
 		}
 	}
-	slices.SortFunc(gAlerts, func(a, b rule.GroupAlerts) int {
+	slices.SortFunc(gAlerts, func(a, b groupAlerts) int {
 		return strings.Compare(a.Group.Name, b.Group.Name)
 	})
 	return gAlerts
@@ -439,22 +411,22 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) listAlerts(rf *rulesFilter) ([]byte, error) {
 	defer rh.m.groupsMu.RUnlock()

 	lr := listAlertsResponse{Status: "success"}
-	lr.Data.Alerts = make([]*rule.ApiAlert, 0)
+	lr.Data.Alerts = make([]*apiAlert, 0)
 	for _, group := range rh.m.groups {
 		if !rf.matchesGroup(group) {
 			continue
 		}
-		g := group.ToAPI()
-		for _, r := range g.Rules {
-			if r.Type != rule.TypeAlerting {
+		for _, r := range group.Rules {
+			a, ok := r.(*rule.AlertingRule)
+			if !ok {
 				continue
 			}
-			lr.Data.Alerts = append(lr.Data.Alerts, r.Alerts...)
+			lr.Data.Alerts = append(lr.Data.Alerts, ruleToAPIAlert(a)...)
 		}
 	}

 	// sort list of alerts for deterministic output
-	slices.SortFunc(lr.Data.Alerts, func(a, b *rule.ApiAlert) int {
+	slices.SortFunc(lr.Data.Alerts, func(a, b *apiAlert) int {
 		return strings.Compare(a.ID, b.ID)
 	})

@@ -471,7 +443,7 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) listAlerts(rf *rulesFilter) ([]byte, error) {
 type listNotifiersResponse struct {
 	Status string `json:"status"`
 	Data   struct {
-		Notifiers []*notifier.ApiNotifier `json:"notifiers"`
+		Notifiers []*apiNotifier `json:"notifiers"`
 	} `json:"data"`
 }

@@ -479,20 +451,19 @@ func (rh *requestHandler) listNotifiers() ([]byte, error) {
 	targets := notifier.GetTargets()

 	lr := listNotifiersResponse{Status: "success"}
-	lr.Data.Notifiers = make([]*notifier.ApiNotifier, 0)
+	lr.Data.Notifiers = make([]*apiNotifier, 0)
 	for protoName, protoTargets := range targets {
-		nr := &notifier.ApiNotifier{
-			Kind:    protoName,
-			Targets: make([]*notifier.ApiTarget, 0, len(protoTargets)),
+		notifier := &apiNotifier{
+			Kind:    string(protoName),
+			Targets: make([]*apiTarget, 0, len(protoTargets)),
 		}
 		for _, target := range protoTargets {
-			nr.Targets = append(nr.Targets, &notifier.ApiTarget{
-				Address:   target.Addr(),
-				Labels:    target.Labels.ToMap(),
-				LastError: target.LastError(),
+			notifier.Targets = append(notifier.Targets, &apiTarget{
+				Address: target.Addr(),
+				Labels:  target.Labels.ToMap(),
 			})
 		}
-		lr.Data.Notifiers = append(lr.Data.Notifiers, nr)
+		lr.Data.Notifiers = append(lr.Data.Notifiers, notifier)
 	}

 	b, err := json.Marshal(lr)
--- a/app/vmalert/web.qtpl
+++ b/app/vmalert/web.qtpl
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
    "github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/tpl"
    "github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/vmalertutil"
    "github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/notifier"
-    "github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/rule"
 ) %}

 {% func Controls(prefix, currentIcon, currentText string, icons, filters map[string]string, search bool) %}
@@ -94,7 +93,7 @@
    {%= tpl.Footer(r) %}
 {% endfunc %}

-{% func ListGroups(r *http.Request, groups []*rule.ApiGroup, filter string) %}
+{% func ListGroups(r *http.Request, groups []*apiGroup, filter string) %}
    {%code
        prefix := vmalertutil.Prefix(r.URL.Path)
        filters := map[string]string{
@@ -114,17 +113,14 @@
        {%= Controls(prefix, currentIcon, currentText, icons, filters, true) %}
        {%  if len(groups) > 0 %}
            {% for _, g := range groups %}
-                <div id="group-{%s g.ID %}" class="w-100 border-0 flex-column vm-group{% if g.Unhealthy > 0 %} alert-danger{% endif %}">
+                <div id="group-{%s g.ID %}" class="d-flex w-100 border-0 flex-column group-items{% if g.Unhealthy > 0 %} alert-danger{% endif %}">
                    <span class="d-flex justify-content-between">
-                        <a
-                            class="vm-group-search"
-                            href="#group-{%s g.ID %}"
-                        >{%s g.Name %}{% if g.Type != "prometheus" %} ({%s g.Type %}){% endif %} (every {%f.0 g.Interval %}s) #</a>
+                        <a href="#group-{%s g.ID %}">{%s g.Name %}{% if g.Type != "prometheus" %} ({%s g.Type %}){% endif %} (every {%f.0 g.Interval %}s) #</a>
                        <span
                            class="flex-grow-1 d-flex justify-content-end"
                            role="button"
                            data-bs-toggle="collapse"
-                            data-bs-target="#item-{%s g.ID %}"
+                            data-bs-target="#sub-{%s g.ID %}"
                        >
                            <span class="d-flex gap-2">
                                {% if g.Unhealthy > 0 %}<span class="badge bg-danger" title="Number of rules with status Error">{%d g.Unhealthy %}</span> {% endif %}
@@ -137,9 +133,9 @@
                        class="d-flex flex-column row-gap-2 mb-2"
                        role="button"
                        data-bs-toggle="collapse"
-                        data-bs-target="#item-{%s g.ID %}"
+                        data-bs-target="#sub-{%s g.ID %}"
                    >
-                        <span class="fs-6 text-start vm-group-search w-100 fw-lighter">{%s g.File %}</span>
+                        <span class="fs-6 text-start w-100 fw-lighter">{%s g.File %}</span>
                        {% if len(g.Params) > 0 %}
                            <span class="fs-6 text-start w-100 d-flex justify-content-between fw-lighter">
                                <span>Extra params</span>
@@ -161,7 +157,7 @@
                            </span>
                        {% endif %}
                    </span>
-                    <div class="collapse" id="item-{%s g.ID %}">
+                    <div class="collapse sub-items" id="sub-{%s g.ID %}">
                        <table class="table table-striped table-hover table-sm">
                            <thead>
                                <tr>
@@ -172,7 +168,7 @@
                            </thead>
                            <tbody>
                                {% for _, r := range g.Rules %}
-                                    <tr class="vm-item{% if r.LastError != "" %} alert-danger{% endif %}">
+                                    <tr class="sub-item{% if r.LastError != "" %} alert-danger{% endif %}">
                                        <td>
                                            <div class="row">
                                                <div class="col-12 mb-2">
@@ -209,12 +205,7 @@
                                            </div>
                                        </td>
                                        <td class="text-center">{%d r.LastSamples %}</td>
-                                        <td class="text-center">{% if r.LastEvaluation.IsZero() %}
-                                             Never
-                                         {% else %}
-                                            {%f.3 time.Since(r.LastEvaluation).Seconds() %}s ago
-                                         {% endif %}
-                                        </td>
+                                        <td class="text-center">{%f.3 time.Since(r.LastEvaluation).Seconds() %}s ago</td>
                                    </tr>
                                {% endfor %}
                            </tbody>
@@ -231,7 +222,7 @@
 {% endfunc %}


-{% func ListAlerts(r *http.Request, groupAlerts []rule.GroupAlerts) %}
+{% func ListAlerts(r *http.Request, groupAlerts []groupAlerts) %}
    {%code prefix := vmalertutil.Prefix(r.URL.Path) %}
    {%= tpl.Header(r, navItems, "Alerts", getLastConfigError()) %}
    {%= Controls(prefix, "", "", nil, nil, true) %}
@@ -240,7 +231,7 @@
             {%code
                 g := ga.Group
                 var keys []string
-                 alertsByRule := make(map[string][]*rule.ApiAlert)
+                 alertsByRule := make(map[string][]*apiAlert)
                 for _, alert := range ga.Alerts {
                     if len(alertsByRule[alert.RuleID]) < 1 {
                         keys = append(keys, alert.RuleID)
@@ -249,14 +240,14 @@
                 }
                 sort.Strings(keys)
             %}
-             <div class="w-100 flex-column vm-group alert-danger">
+             <div class="d-flex w-100 flex-column group-items alert-danger">
                 <span id="group-{%s g.ID %}" class="d-flex justify-content-between">
                     <a href="#group-{%s g.ID %}">{%s g.Name %}{% if g.Type != "prometheus" %} ({%s g.Type %}){% endif %}</a>
                     <span
                         class="flex-grow-1 d-flex justify-content-end"
                         role="button"
                         data-bs-toggle="collapse"
-                         data-bs-target="#item-{%s g.ID %}"
+                         data-bs-target="#sub-{%s g.ID %}"
                     >
                         <span class="badge bg-danger" title="Number of active alerts">{%d len(ga.Alerts) %}</span>
                     </span>
@@ -266,10 +257,10 @@
                         class="fs-6 text-start w-100 fw-lighter"
                         role="button" 
                         data-bs-toggle="collapse"
-                         data-bs-target="#item-{%s g.ID %}"
+                         data-bs-target="#sub-{%s g.ID %}"
                     >{%s g.File %}</span>
                 </span>
-                 <div class="collapse" id="item-{%s g.ID %}">
+                 <div class="collapse sub-items" id="sub-{%s g.ID %}">
                     {% for _, ruleID := range keys %}
                         {%code
                             defaultAR := alertsByRule[ruleID][0]
@@ -280,7 +271,7 @@
                             sort.Strings(labelKeys)
                         %}
                         <br>
-                         <div class="vm-item">
+                         <div class="sub-item">
                             <b>alert:</b> {%s defaultAR.Name %} ({%d len(alertsByRule[ruleID]) %})
                             | <span><a target="_blank" href="{%s defaultAR.SourceLink %}">Source</a></span>
                             <br>
@@ -345,20 +336,20 @@
                typeK, ns := keys[i], targets[notifier.TargetType(keys[i])]
                count := len(ns)
            %}
-            <div class="w-100 flex-column vm-group">
+            <div class="d-flex w-100 flex-column group-items">
                <span class="d-flex justify-content-between" id="group-{%s typeK %}">
                    <a href="#group-{%s typeK %}">{%s typeK %} ({%d count %})</a>
                    <span
                        class="flex-grow-1"
                        role="button"
                        data-bs-toggle="collapse"
-                        data-bs-target="#item-{%s typeK %}"
+                        data-bs-target="#sub-{%s typeK %}"
                    ></span>
                </span>
-                <div id="item-{%s typeK %}" class="collapse show">
+                <div id="sub-{%s typeK %}" class="collapse show sub-items">
                    <table class="table table-striped table-hover table-sm">
                        <thead>
-                            <tr class="vm-item">
+                            <tr class="sub-item">
                                <th scope="col">Labels</th>
                                <th scope="col">Address</th>
                            </tr>
@@ -387,7 +378,7 @@
    {%= tpl.Footer(r) %}
 {% endfunc %}

-{% func Alert(r *http.Request, alert *rule.ApiAlert) %}
+{% func Alert(r *http.Request, alert *apiAlert) %}
    {%code prefix := vmalertutil.Prefix(r.URL.Path) %}
    {%= tpl.Header(r, navItems, "", getLastConfigError()) %}
    {%code
@@ -443,7 +434,7 @@
        <div class="col">
           {% for _, k := range annotationKeys %}
                <b>{%s k %}:</b><br>
-                <p class="annotations">{%s alert.Annotations[k] %}</p>
+                <p>{%s alert.Annotations[k] %}</p>
          {% endfor %}
        </div>
      </div>
@@ -473,7 +464,7 @@
 {% endfunc %}


-{% func RuleDetails(r *http.Request, rule rule.ApiRule) %}
+{% func RuleDetails(r *http.Request, rule apiRule) %}
    {%code prefix := vmalertutil.Prefix(r.URL.Path) %}
    {%= tpl.Header(r, navItems, "", getLastConfigError()) %}
    {%code
@@ -557,7 +548,7 @@
        <div class="col">
          {% for _, k := range annotationKeys %}
                <b>{%s k %}:</b><br>
-                <p class="annotations">{%s rule.Annotations[k] %}</p>
+                <p>{%s rule.Annotations[k] %}</p>
          {% endfor %}
        </div>
      </div>
@@ -602,11 +593,11 @@
        <table class="table table-striped table-hover table-sm">
            <thead>
                <tr>
-                    <th scope="col" title="The time when the rule was executed">Updated at</th>
+                    <th scope="col" title="The time when event was created">Updated at</th>
                    <th scope="col" class="w-10 text-center" title="How many series expression returns. Each series will represent an alert.">Series returned</th>
                    {% if seriesFetchedEnabled %}<th scope="col" class="w-10 text-center" title="How many series were scanned by datasource during the evaluation">Series fetched</th>{% endif %}
                    <th scope="col" class="w-10 text-center" title="How many seconds request took">Duration</th>
-                    <th scope="col" class="text-center" title="The time used in execution query request">Execution timestamp</th>
+                    <th scope="col" class="text-center" title="Time used for rule execution">Executed at</th>
                    <th scope="col" class="text-center" title="cURL command with request example">cURL</th>
                </tr>
            </thead>
@@ -658,7 +649,7 @@
 <span class="badge bg-warning text-dark" title="This firing state is kept because of `keep_firing_for`">stabilizing</span>
 {% endfunc %}

-{% func seriesFetchedWarn(prefix string, r rule.ApiRule) %}
+{% func seriesFetchedWarn(prefix string, r apiRule) %}
 {% if isNoMatch(r) %}
 <svg
    data-bs-toggle="tooltip"
@@ -672,7 +663,7 @@
 {% endfunc %}

 {%code
-  func isNoMatch (r rule.ApiRule) bool {
+  func isNoMatch (r apiRule) bool {
    return r.LastSamples == 0 && r.LastSeriesFetched != nil && *r.LastSeriesFetched == 0
  }
 %}
--- a/app/vmalert/web.qtpl.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/web.qtpl.go
--- a/app/vmalert/web_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/web_test.go
@@ -23,12 +23,8 @@ func TestHandler(t *testing.T) {
 		Timestamps: []int64{0},
 	})
 	m := &manager{groups: map[uint64]*rule.Group{}}
-	_, cleanup := notifier.InitFakeNotifier()
-	defer cleanup()
-
 	var ar *rule.AlertingRule
 	var rr *rule.RecordingRule
-	var groupIDs []uint64
 	for _, dsType := range []string{"prometheus", "", "graphite"} {
 		g := rule.NewGroup(config.Group{
 			Name:        "group",
@@ -48,10 +44,8 @@ func TestHandler(t *testing.T) {
 		}, fq, 1*time.Minute, nil)
 		ar = g.Rules[0].(*rule.AlertingRule)
 		rr = g.Rules[1].(*rule.RecordingRule)
-		g.ExecOnce(context.Background(), nil, time.Time{})
-		id := g.CreateID()
-		m.groups[id] = g
-		groupIDs = append(groupIDs, id)
+		g.ExecOnce(context.Background(), func() []notifier.Notifier { return nil }, nil, time.Time{})
+		m.groups[g.CreateID()] = g
 	}
 	rh := &requestHandler{m: m}

@@ -88,22 +82,22 @@ func TestHandler(t *testing.T) {
 	})

 	t.Run("/vmalert/rule", func(t *testing.T) {
-		a := ar.ToAPI()
+		a := ruleToAPI(ar)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/"+a.WebLink(), nil, 200)
-		r := rr.ToAPI()
+		r := ruleToAPI(rr)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/"+r.WebLink(), nil, 200)
 	})
 	t.Run("/vmalert/alert", func(t *testing.T) {
-		alerts := ar.AlertsToAPI()
+		alerts := ruleToAPIAlert(ar)
 		for _, a := range alerts {
 			getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/"+a.WebLink(), nil, 200)
 		}
 	})
 	t.Run("/vmalert/rule?badParam", func(t *testing.T) {
-		params := fmt.Sprintf("?%s=0&%s=1", rule.ParamGroupID, rule.ParamRuleID)
+		params := fmt.Sprintf("?%s=0&%s=1", paramGroupID, paramRuleID)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/rule"+params, nil, 404)

-		params = fmt.Sprintf("?%s=1&%s=0", rule.ParamGroupID, rule.ParamRuleID)
+		params = fmt.Sprintf("?%s=1&%s=0", paramGroupID, paramRuleID)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/rule"+params, nil, 404)
 	})

@@ -130,14 +124,14 @@ func TestHandler(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	})
 	t.Run("/api/v1/alert?alertID&groupID", func(t *testing.T) {
-		expAlert := rule.NewAlertAPI(ar, ar.GetAlerts()[0])
-		alert := &rule.ApiAlert{}
+		expAlert := newAlertAPI(ar, ar.GetAlerts()[0])
+		alert := &apiAlert{}
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/"+expAlert.APILink(), alert, 200)
 		if !reflect.DeepEqual(alert, expAlert) {
 			t.Fatalf("expected %v is equal to %v", alert, expAlert)
 		}

-		alert = &rule.ApiAlert{}
+		alert = &apiAlert{}
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/"+expAlert.APILink(), alert, 200)
 		if !reflect.DeepEqual(alert, expAlert) {
 			t.Fatalf("expected %v is equal to %v", alert, expAlert)
@@ -145,16 +139,16 @@ func TestHandler(t *testing.T) {
 	})

 	t.Run("/api/v1/alert?badParams", func(t *testing.T) {
-		params := fmt.Sprintf("?%s=0&%s=1", rule.ParamGroupID, rule.ParamAlertID)
+		params := fmt.Sprintf("?%s=0&%s=1", paramGroupID, paramAlertID)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/api/v1/alert"+params, nil, 404)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/api/v1/alert"+params, nil, 404)

-		params = fmt.Sprintf("?%s=1&%s=0", rule.ParamGroupID, rule.ParamAlertID)
+		params = fmt.Sprintf("?%s=1&%s=0", paramGroupID, paramAlertID)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/api/v1/alert"+params, nil, 404)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/api/v1/alert"+params, nil, 404)

 		// bad request, alertID is missing
-		params = fmt.Sprintf("?%s=1", rule.ParamGroupID)
+		params = fmt.Sprintf("?%s=1", paramGroupID)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/api/v1/alert"+params, nil, 400)
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/api/v1/alert"+params, nil, 400)
 	})
@@ -173,42 +167,27 @@ func TestHandler(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	})
 	t.Run("/api/v1/rule?ruleID&groupID", func(t *testing.T) {
-		expRule := ar.ToAPI()
-		gotRule := rule.ApiRule{}
+		expRule := ruleToAPI(ar)
+		gotRule := apiRule{}
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/"+expRule.APILink(), &gotRule, 200)

 		if expRule.ID != gotRule.ID {
 			t.Fatalf("expected to get Rule %q; got %q instead", expRule.ID, gotRule.ID)
 		}

-		gotRule = rule.ApiRule{}
+		gotRule = apiRule{}
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/"+expRule.APILink(), &gotRule, 200)

 		if expRule.ID != gotRule.ID {
 			t.Fatalf("expected to get Rule %q; got %q instead", expRule.ID, gotRule.ID)
 		}

-		gotRuleWithUpdates := rule.ApiRuleWithUpdates{}
+		gotRuleWithUpdates := apiRuleWithUpdates{}
 		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/"+expRule.APILink(), &gotRuleWithUpdates, 200)
 		if len(gotRuleWithUpdates.StateUpdates) < 1 {
 			t.Fatalf("expected %+v to have state updates field not empty", gotRuleWithUpdates.StateUpdates)
 		}
 	})
-	t.Run("/api/v1/group?groupID", func(t *testing.T) {
-		id := groupIDs[0]
-		g := m.groups[id]
-		expGroup := g.ToAPI()
-		gotGroup := rule.ApiGroup{}
-		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/"+expGroup.APILink(), &gotGroup, 200)
-		if expGroup.ID != gotGroup.ID {
-			t.Fatalf("expected to get Group %q; got %q instead", expGroup.ID, gotGroup.ID)
-		}
-		gotGroup = rule.ApiGroup{}
-		getResp(t, ts.URL+"/vmalert/"+expGroup.APILink(), &gotGroup, 200)
-		if expGroup.ID != gotGroup.ID {
-			t.Fatalf("expected to get Group %q; got %q instead", expGroup.ID, gotGroup.ID)
-		}
-	})

 	t.Run("/api/v1/rules&filters", func(t *testing.T) {
 		check := func(url string, statusCode, expGroups, expRules int) {
--- a/app/vmalert/web_types.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/web_types.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package rule
+package main

 import (
 	"fmt"
@@ -8,28 +8,79 @@ import (
 	"time"

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/notifier"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/rule"
 )

 const (
 	// ParamGroupID is group id key in url parameter
-	ParamGroupID = "group_id"
+	paramGroupID = "group_id"
 	// ParamAlertID is alert id key in url parameter
-	ParamAlertID = "alert_id"
+	paramAlertID = "alert_id"
 	// ParamRuleID is rule id key in url parameter
-	ParamRuleID = "rule_id"
-
-	// TypeRecording is a RecordingRule type
-	TypeRecording = "recording"
-	// TypeAlerting is an AlertingRule type
-	TypeAlerting = "alerting"
+	paramRuleID = "rule_id"
 )

-// ApiGroup represents a Group for web view
-type ApiGroup struct {
+type apiNotifier struct {
+	Kind    string       `json:"kind"`
+	Targets []*apiTarget `json:"targets"`
+}
+
+type apiTarget struct {
+	Address string            `json:"address"`
+	Labels  map[string]string `json:"labels"`
+}
+
+// apiAlert represents a notifier.AlertingRule state
+// for WEB view
+// https://github.com/prometheus/compliance/blob/main/alert_generator/specification.md#get-apiv1rules
+type apiAlert struct {
+	State       string            `json:"state"`
+	Name        string            `json:"name"`
+	Value       string            `json:"value"`
+	Labels      map[string]string `json:"labels,omitempty"`
+	Annotations map[string]string `json:"annotations"`
+	ActiveAt    time.Time         `json:"activeAt"`
+
+	// Additional fields
+
+	// ID is an unique Alert's ID within a group
+	ID string `json:"id"`
+	// RuleID is an unique Rule's ID within a group
+	RuleID string `json:"rule_id"`
+	// GroupID is an unique Group's ID
+	GroupID string `json:"group_id"`
+	// Expression contains the PromQL/MetricsQL expression
+	// for Rule's evaluation
+	Expression string `json:"expression"`
+	// SourceLink contains a link to a system which should show
+	// why Alert was generated
+	SourceLink string `json:"source"`
+	// Restored shows whether Alert's state was restored on restart
+	Restored bool `json:"restored"`
+	// Stabilizing shows when firing state is kept because of
+	// `keep_firing_for` instead of real alert
+	Stabilizing bool `json:"stabilizing"`
+}
+
+// WebLink returns a link to the alert which can be used in UI.
+func (aa *apiAlert) WebLink() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("alert?%s=%s&%s=%s",
+		paramGroupID, aa.GroupID, paramAlertID, aa.ID)
+}
+
+// APILink returns a link to the alert's JSON representation.
+func (aa *apiAlert) APILink() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("api/v1/alert?%s=%s&%s=%s",
+		paramGroupID, aa.GroupID, paramAlertID, aa.ID)
+}
+
+// apiGroup represents Group for web view
+// https://github.com/prometheus/compliance/blob/main/alert_generator/specification.md#get-apiv1rules
+type apiGroup struct {
 	// Name is the group name as present in the config
 	Name string `json:"name"`
 	// Rules contains both recording and alerting rules
-	Rules []ApiRule `json:"rules"`
+	Rules []apiRule `json:"rules"`
 	// Interval is the Group's evaluation interval in float seconds as present in the file.
 	Interval float64 `json:"interval"`
 	// LastEvaluation is the timestamp of the last time the Group was executed
@@ -65,20 +116,15 @@ type ApiGroup struct {
 	NoMatch int
 }

-// APILink returns a link to the group's JSON representation.
-func (ag *ApiGroup) APILink() string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("api/v1/group?%s=%s", ParamGroupID, ag.ID)
+// groupAlerts represents a group of alerts for WEB view
+type groupAlerts struct {
+	Group  *apiGroup
+	Alerts []*apiAlert
 }

-// GroupAlerts represents a Group with its Alerts for web view
-type GroupAlerts struct {
-	Group  *ApiGroup
-	Alerts []*ApiAlert
-}
-
-// ApiRule represents a Rule for web view
+// apiRule represents a Rule for web view
 // see https://github.com/prometheus/compliance/blob/main/alert_generator/specification.md#get-apiv1rules
-type ApiRule struct {
+type apiRule struct {
 	// State must be one of these under following scenarios
 	//  "pending": at least 1 alert in the rule in pending state and no other alert in firing ruleState.
 	//  "firing": at least 1 alert in the rule in firing state.
@@ -100,7 +146,7 @@ type ApiRule struct {
 	// LastEvaluation is the timestamp of the last time the rule was executed
 	LastEvaluation time.Time `json:"lastEvaluation"`
 	// Alerts  is the list of all the alerts in this rule that are currently pending or firing
-	Alerts []*ApiAlert `json:"alerts,omitempty"`
+	Alerts []*apiAlert `json:"alerts,omitempty"`
 	// Health is the health of rule evaluation.
 	// It MUST be one of "ok", "err", "unknown"
 	Health string `json:"health"`
@@ -131,87 +177,143 @@ type ApiRule struct {
 	// MaxUpdates is the max number of recorded ruleStateEntry objects
 	MaxUpdates int `json:"max_updates_entries"`
 	// Updates contains the ordered list of recorded ruleStateEntry objects
-	Updates []StateEntry `json:"-"`
+	Updates []rule.StateEntry `json:"-"`
 }

-// ApiAlert represents a notifier.AlertingRule state
-// for WEB view
-// https://github.com/prometheus/compliance/blob/main/alert_generator/specification.md#get-apiv1rules
-type ApiAlert struct {
-	State       string            `json:"state"`
-	Name        string            `json:"name"`
-	Value       string            `json:"value"`
-	Labels      map[string]string `json:"labels,omitempty"`
-	Annotations map[string]string `json:"annotations"`
-	ActiveAt    time.Time         `json:"activeAt"`
-
-	// Additional fields
-
-	// ID is an unique Alert's ID within a group
-	ID string `json:"id"`
-	// RuleID is an unique Rule's ID within a group
-	RuleID string `json:"rule_id"`
-	// GroupID is an unique Group's ID
-	GroupID string `json:"group_id"`
-	// Expression contains the PromQL/MetricsQL expression
-	// for Rule's evaluation
-	Expression string `json:"expression"`
-	// SourceLink contains a link to a system which should show
-	// why Alert was generated
-	SourceLink string `json:"source"`
-	// Restored shows whether Alert's state was restored on restart
-	Restored bool `json:"restored"`
-	// Stabilizing shows when firing state is kept because of
-	// `keep_firing_for` instead of real alert
-	Stabilizing bool `json:"stabilizing"`
-}
-
-// WebLink returns a link to the alert which can be used in UI.
-func (aa *ApiAlert) WebLink() string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("alert?%s=%s&%s=%s",
-		ParamGroupID, aa.GroupID, ParamAlertID, aa.ID)
-}
-
-// APILink returns a link to the alert's JSON representation.
-func (aa *ApiAlert) APILink() string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("api/v1/alert?%s=%s&%s=%s",
-		ParamGroupID, aa.GroupID, ParamAlertID, aa.ID)
-}
-
-// ApiRuleWithUpdates represents ApiRule but with extra fields for marshalling
-type ApiRuleWithUpdates struct {
-	ApiRule
+// apiRuleWithUpdates represents apiRule but with extra fields for marshalling
+type apiRuleWithUpdates struct {
+	apiRule
 	// Updates contains the ordered list of recorded ruleStateEntry objects
-	StateUpdates []StateEntry `json:"updates,omitempty"`
+	StateUpdates []rule.StateEntry `json:"updates,omitempty"`
 }

 // APILink returns a link to the rule's JSON representation.
-func (ar ApiRule) APILink() string {
+func (ar apiRule) APILink() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("api/v1/rule?%s=%s&%s=%s",
-		ParamGroupID, ar.GroupID, ParamRuleID, ar.ID)
+		paramGroupID, ar.GroupID, paramRuleID, ar.ID)
 }

 // WebLink returns a link to the alert which can be used in UI.
-func (ar ApiRule) WebLink() string {
+func (ar apiRule) WebLink() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("rule?%s=%s&%s=%s",
-		ParamGroupID, ar.GroupID, ParamRuleID, ar.ID)
+		paramGroupID, ar.GroupID, paramRuleID, ar.ID)
 }

-// AlertsToAPI returns list of ApiAlert objects from existing alerts
-func (ar *AlertingRule) AlertsToAPI() []*ApiAlert {
-	var alerts []*ApiAlert
+func ruleToAPI(r any) apiRule {
+	if ar, ok := r.(*rule.AlertingRule); ok {
+		return alertingToAPI(ar)
+	}
+	if rr, ok := r.(*rule.RecordingRule); ok {
+		return recordingToAPI(rr)
+	}
+	return apiRule{}
+}
+
+const (
+	ruleTypeRecording = "recording"
+	ruleTypeAlerting  = "alerting"
+)
+
+func recordingToAPI(rr *rule.RecordingRule) apiRule {
+	lastState := rule.GetLastEntry(rr)
+	r := apiRule{
+		Type:              ruleTypeRecording,
+		DatasourceType:    rr.Type.String(),
+		Name:              rr.Name,
+		Query:             rr.Expr,
+		Labels:            rr.Labels,
+		LastEvaluation:    lastState.Time,
+		EvaluationTime:    lastState.Duration.Seconds(),
+		Health:            "ok",
+		LastSamples:       lastState.Samples,
+		LastSeriesFetched: lastState.SeriesFetched,
+		MaxUpdates:        rule.GetRuleStateSize(rr),
+		Updates:           rule.GetAllRuleState(rr),
+
+		// encode as strings to avoid rounding
+		ID:        fmt.Sprintf("%d", rr.ID()),
+		GroupID:   fmt.Sprintf("%d", rr.GroupID),
+		GroupName: rr.GroupName,
+		File:      rr.File,
+	}
+	if lastState.Err != nil {
+		r.LastError = lastState.Err.Error()
+		r.Health = "err"
+	}
+	return r
+}
+
+// alertingToAPI returns Rule representation in form of apiRule
+func alertingToAPI(ar *rule.AlertingRule) apiRule {
+	lastState := rule.GetLastEntry(ar)
+	r := apiRule{
+		Type:              ruleTypeAlerting,
+		DatasourceType:    ar.Type.String(),
+		Name:              ar.Name,
+		Query:             ar.Expr,
+		Duration:          ar.For.Seconds(),
+		KeepFiringFor:     ar.KeepFiringFor.Seconds(),
+		Labels:            ar.Labels,
+		Annotations:       ar.Annotations,
+		LastEvaluation:    lastState.Time,
+		EvaluationTime:    lastState.Duration.Seconds(),
+		Health:            "ok",
+		State:             "inactive",
+		Alerts:            ruleToAPIAlert(ar),
+		LastSamples:       lastState.Samples,
+		LastSeriesFetched: lastState.SeriesFetched,
+		MaxUpdates:        rule.GetRuleStateSize(ar),
+		Updates:           rule.GetAllRuleState(ar),
+		Debug:             ar.Debug,
+
+		// encode as strings to avoid rounding in JSON
+		ID:        fmt.Sprintf("%d", ar.ID()),
+		GroupID:   fmt.Sprintf("%d", ar.GroupID),
+		GroupName: ar.GroupName,
+		File:      ar.File,
+	}
+	if lastState.Err != nil {
+		r.LastError = lastState.Err.Error()
+		r.Health = "err"
+	}
+	// satisfy apiRule.State logic
+	if len(r.Alerts) > 0 {
+		r.State = notifier.StatePending.String()
+		stateFiring := notifier.StateFiring.String()
+		for _, a := range r.Alerts {
+			if a.State == stateFiring {
+				r.State = stateFiring
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return r
+}
+
+// ruleToAPIAlert generates list of apiAlert objects from existing alerts
+func ruleToAPIAlert(ar *rule.AlertingRule) []*apiAlert {
+	var alerts []*apiAlert
 	for _, a := range ar.GetAlerts() {
 		if a.State == notifier.StateInactive {
 			continue
 		}
-		alerts = append(alerts, NewAlertAPI(ar, a))
+		alerts = append(alerts, newAlertAPI(ar, a))
 	}
 	return alerts
 }

+// alertToAPI generates apiAlert object from alert by its id(hash)
+func alertToAPI(ar *rule.AlertingRule, id uint64) *apiAlert {
+	a := ar.GetAlert(id)
+	if a == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return newAlertAPI(ar, a)
+}
+
 // NewAlertAPI creates apiAlert for notifier.Alert
-func NewAlertAPI(ar *AlertingRule, a *notifier.Alert) *ApiAlert {
-	aa := &ApiAlert{
+func newAlertAPI(ar *rule.AlertingRule, a *notifier.Alert) *apiAlert {
+	aa := &apiAlert{
 		// encode as strings to avoid rounding
 		ID:      fmt.Sprintf("%d", a.ID),
 		GroupID: fmt.Sprintf("%d", a.GroupID),
@@ -226,8 +328,8 @@ func NewAlertAPI(ar *AlertingRule, a *notifier.Alert) *ApiAlert {
 		Restored:    a.Restored,
 		Value:       strconv.FormatFloat(a.Value, 'f', -1, 32),
 	}
-	if notifier.AlertURLGeneratorFn != nil {
-		aa.SourceLink = notifier.AlertURLGeneratorFn(*a)
+	if alertURLGeneratorFn != nil {
+		aa.SourceLink = alertURLGeneratorFn(*a)
 	}
 	if a.State == notifier.StateFiring && !a.KeepFiringSince.IsZero() {
 		aa.Stabilizing = true
@@ -235,11 +337,9 @@ func NewAlertAPI(ar *AlertingRule, a *notifier.Alert) *ApiAlert {
 	return aa
 }

-// ToAPI returns ApiGroup representation of g
-func (g *Group) ToAPI() *ApiGroup {
-	g.mu.RLock()
-	defer g.mu.RUnlock()
-	ag := ApiGroup{
+func groupToAPI(g *rule.Group) *apiGroup {
+	g = g.DeepCopy()
+	ag := apiGroup{
 		// encode as string to avoid rounding
 		ID:              strconv.FormatUint(g.GetID(), 10),
 		Name:            g.Name,
@@ -259,9 +359,9 @@ func (g *Group) ToAPI() *ApiGroup {
 	if g.EvalDelay != nil {
 		ag.EvalDelay = g.EvalDelay.Seconds()
 	}
-	ag.Rules = make([]ApiRule, 0)
+	ag.Rules = make([]apiRule, 0)
 	for _, r := range g.Rules {
-		ag.Rules = append(ag.Rules, r.ToAPI())
+		ag.Rules = append(ag.Rules, ruleToAPI(r))
 	}
 	return &ag
 }
--- a/app/vmalert/web_types_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/web_types_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package rule
+package main

 import (
 	"fmt"
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (

 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/config"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/datasource"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/rule"
 )

 func TestRecordingToApi(t *testing.T) {
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ func TestRecordingToApi(t *testing.T) {
 		Values: []float64{1}, Timestamps: []int64{0},
 	})
 	entriesLimit := 44
-	g := NewGroup(config.Group{
+	g := rule.NewGroup(config.Group{
 		Name:        "group",
 		File:        "rules.yaml",
 		Concurrency: 1,
@@ -30,24 +31,24 @@ func TestRecordingToApi(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 	}, fq, 1*time.Minute, nil)
-	rr := g.Rules[0].(*RecordingRule)
+	rr := g.Rules[0].(*rule.RecordingRule)

-	expectedRes := ApiRule{
+	expectedRes := apiRule{
 		Name:           "record_name",
 		Query:          "up",
 		Labels:         map[string]string{"label": "value"},
 		Health:         "ok",
-		Type:           TypeRecording,
+		Type:           ruleTypeRecording,
 		DatasourceType: "prometheus",
 		ID:             "1248",
 		GroupID:        fmt.Sprintf("%d", g.CreateID()),
 		GroupName:      "group",
 		File:           "rules.yaml",
 		MaxUpdates:     44,
-		Updates:        make([]StateEntry, 0),
+		Updates:        make([]rule.StateEntry, 0),
 	}

-	res := rr.ToAPI()
+	res := recordingToAPI(rr)

 	if !reflect.DeepEqual(res, expectedRes) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected to have: \n%v;\ngot: \n%v", expectedRes, res)
--- a/app/vmauth/Makefile
+++ b/app/vmauth/Makefile
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@ vmauth-linux-ppc64le-prod:
 vmauth-linux-386-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmauth $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-386

-vmauth-linux-s390x-prod:
-	APP_NAME=vmauth $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-s390x
-
 vmauth-darwin-amd64-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmauth $(MAKE) app-via-docker-darwin-amd64

--- a/app/vmauth/auth_config.go
+++ b/app/vmauth/auth_config.go
@@ -41,9 +41,6 @@ var (
 		"See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/vmauth/#load-balancing for details")
 	defaultLoadBalancingPolicy = flag.String("loadBalancingPolicy", "least_loaded", "The default load balancing policy to use for backend urls specified inside url_prefix section. "+
 		"Supported policies: least_loaded, first_available. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/vmauth/#load-balancing")
-	defaultMergeQueryArgs = flagutil.NewArrayString("mergeQueryArgs", "An optional list of client query arg names, which must be merged with args at backend urls. "+
-		"The rest of client query args are replaced by the corresponding query args from backend urls for security reasons; "+
-		"see https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/vmauth/#query-args-handling")
 	discoverBackendIPsGlobal = flag.Bool("discoverBackendIPs", false, "Whether to discover backend IPs via periodic DNS queries to hostnames specified in url_prefix. "+
 		"This may be useful when url_prefix points to a hostname with dynamically scaled instances behind it. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/vmauth/#discovering-backend-ips")
 	discoverBackendIPsInterval = flag.Duration("discoverBackendIPsInterval", 10*time.Second, "The interval for re-discovering backend IPs if -discoverBackendIPs command-line flag is set. "+
@@ -78,7 +75,6 @@ type UserInfo struct {
 	DefaultURL             *URLPrefix  `yaml:"default_url,omitempty"`
 	RetryStatusCodes       []int       `yaml:"retry_status_codes,omitempty"`
 	LoadBalancingPolicy    string      `yaml:"load_balancing_policy,omitempty"`
-	MergeQueryArgs         []string    `yaml:"merge_query_args,omitempty"`
 	DropSrcPathPrefixParts *int        `yaml:"drop_src_path_prefix_parts,omitempty"`
 	TLSCAFile              string      `yaml:"tls_ca_file,omitempty"`
 	TLSCertFile            string      `yaml:"tls_cert_file,omitempty"`
@@ -127,22 +123,6 @@ func (ui *UserInfo) getMaxConcurrentRequests() int {
 	return mcr
 }

-func (ui *UserInfo) stopHealthChecks() {
-	if ui == nil {
-		return
-	}
-	if ui.URLPrefix == nil {
-		return
-	}
-
-	pbus := ui.URLPrefix.bus.Load()
-	if *pbus != nil {
-		for _, bu := range *pbus {
-			bu.stopHealthCheck()
-		}
-	}
-}
-
 // Header is `Name: Value` http header, which must be added to the proxied request.
 type Header struct {
 	Name  string
@@ -202,11 +182,6 @@ type URLMap struct {
 	// LoadBalancingPolicy is load balancing policy among UrlPrefix backends.
 	LoadBalancingPolicy string `yaml:"load_balancing_policy,omitempty"`

-	// MergeQueryArgs is a list of client query args, which must be merged with the existing backend query args.
-	//
-	// The rest of client query args are replaced with the corresponding backend query args for security reasons.
-	MergeQueryArgs []string `yaml:"merge_query_args,omitempty"`
-
 	// DropSrcPathPrefixParts is the number of `/`-delimited request path prefix parts to drop before proxying the request to backend.
 	DropSrcPathPrefixParts *int `yaml:"drop_src_path_prefix_parts,omitempty"`
 }
@@ -253,7 +228,7 @@ func (qa *QueryArg) MarshalYAML() (any, error) {
 	return qa.sOriginal, nil
 }

-// URLPrefix represents the `url_prefix` from auth config.
+// URLPrefix represents passed `url_prefix`
 type URLPrefix struct {
 	// requests are re-tried on other backend urls for these http response status codes
 	retryStatusCodes []int
@@ -261,11 +236,6 @@ type URLPrefix struct {
 	// load balancing policy used
 	loadBalancingPolicy string

-	// the list of client query args, which must be merged with backend query args.
-	//
-	// By default backend query args replace all the client query args for security reasons.
-	mergeQueryArgs []string
-
 	// how many request path prefix parts to drop before routing the request to backendURL
 	dropSrcPathPrefixParts int

@@ -303,69 +273,20 @@ func (up *URLPrefix) setLoadBalancingPolicy(loadBalancingPolicy string) error {
 }

 type backendURL struct {
-	broken              atomic.Bool
-	stopHealthCheckCh   chan struct{}
-	stopHealthCheckOnce sync.Once
-
+	brokenDeadline     atomic.Uint64
 	concurrentRequests atomic.Int32

 	url *url.URL
 }

 func (bu *backendURL) isBroken() bool {
-	return bu.broken.Load()
+	ct := fasttime.UnixTimestamp()
+	return ct < bu.brokenDeadline.Load()
 }

 func (bu *backendURL) setBroken() {
-	if !bu.broken.Load() && bu.broken.CompareAndSwap(false, true) {
-		bu.startHealthCheck()
-	}
-}
-
-func (bu *backendURL) startHealthCheck() {
-	go func() {
-		port := bu.url.Port()
-		if port == "" {
-			port = "80"
-		}
-		addr := net.JoinHostPort(bu.url.Hostname(), port)
-
-		t := time.NewTimer(*failTimeout)
-		for {
-			select {
-			case <-t.C:
-				// Do not perform tcp probe for https urls as
-				// - the network unavailability is less probable for https urls
-				// - it will pollute logs on server side with SSL handshake errors.
-				if bu.url.Scheme == "https" {
-					bu.broken.Store(false)
-					return
-				}
-
-				// Verify network connectivity via TCP dial before marking backend healthy.
-				// Previously, backends were auto-restored after failTimeout without validation,
-				// causing requests to repeatedly hang on unreachable backends.
-				// See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/9890
-				c, err := net.DialTimeout(`tcp`, addr, time.Second)
-				if err != nil {
-					t.Reset(*failTimeout)
-					continue
-				}
-				_ = c.Close()
-				bu.broken.Store(false)
-				return
-			case <-bu.stopHealthCheckCh:
-				t.Stop()
-				return
-			}
-		}
-	}()
-}
-
-func (bu *backendURL) stopHealthCheck() {
-	bu.stopHealthCheckOnce.Do(func() {
-		close(bu.stopHealthCheckCh)
-	})
+	deadline := fasttime.UnixTimestamp() + uint64((*failTimeout).Seconds())
+	bu.brokenDeadline.Store(deadline)
 }

 func (bu *backendURL) get() {
@@ -479,8 +400,7 @@ func (up *URLPrefix) discoverBackendAddrsIfNeeded() {
 			buCopy := *bu
 			buCopy.Host = addr
 			busNew = append(busNew, &backendURL{
-				url:               &buCopy,
-				stopHealthCheckCh: make(chan struct{}),
+				url: &buCopy,
 			})
 		}
 	}
@@ -492,12 +412,6 @@ func (up *URLPrefix) discoverBackendAddrsIfNeeded() {

 	// Store new backend urls
 	up.bus.Store(&busNew)
-
-	if *pbus != nil {
-		for _, bu := range *pbus {
-			bu.stopHealthCheck()
-		}
-	}
 }

 func areEqualBackendURLs(a, b []*backendURL) bool {
@@ -554,34 +468,27 @@ func getLeastLoadedBackendURL(bus []*backendURL, atomicCounter *atomic.Uint32) *
 		if bu.isBroken() {
 			continue
 		}
-
-		// The Load() in front of CompareAndSwap() avoids CAS overhead for items with values bigger than 0.
-		if bu.concurrentRequests.Load() == 0 && bu.concurrentRequests.CompareAndSwap(0, 1) {
-			atomicCounter.CompareAndSwap(n+1, idx+1)
-			// There is no need in the call bu.get(), because we already incremented bu.concrrentRequests above.
+		if bu.concurrentRequests.Load() == 0 {
+			// Fast path - return the backend with zero concurrently executed requests.
+			// Do not use CompareAndSwap() instead of Load(), since it is much slower on systems with many CPU cores.
+			bu.concurrentRequests.Add(1)
 			return bu
 		}
 	}

 	// Slow path - return the backend with the minimum number of concurrently executed requests.
-	buMinIdx := n % uint32(len(bus))
-	minRequests := bus[buMinIdx].concurrentRequests.Load()
-	for i := uint32(0); i < uint32(len(bus)); i++ {
-		idx := (n + i) % uint32(len(bus))
-		bu := bus[idx]
+	buMin := bus[n%uint32(len(bus))]
+	minRequests := buMin.concurrentRequests.Load()
+	for _, bu := range bus {
 		if bu.isBroken() {
 			continue
 		}
-
-		reqs := bu.concurrentRequests.Load()
-		if reqs < minRequests || bus[buMinIdx].isBroken() {
-			buMinIdx = idx
-			minRequests = reqs
+		if n := bu.concurrentRequests.Load(); n < minRequests || buMin.isBroken() {
+			buMin = bu
+			minRequests = n
 		}
 	}
-	buMin := bus[buMinIdx]
 	buMin.get()
-	atomicCounter.CompareAndSwap(n+1, buMinIdx+1)
 	return buMin
 }

@@ -804,11 +711,6 @@ func reloadAuthConfigData(data []byte) (bool, error) {

 	acPrev := authConfig.Load()
 	if acPrev != nil {
-		acPrev.UnauthorizedUser.stopHealthChecks()
-		for i := range acPrev.Users {
-			acPrev.Users[i].stopHealthChecks()
-		}
-
 		metrics.UnregisterSet(acPrev.ms, true)
 	}
 	metrics.RegisterSet(ac.ms)
@@ -954,7 +856,6 @@ func (ui *UserInfo) getMetricLabels() (string, error) {
 func (ui *UserInfo) initURLs() error {
 	retryStatusCodes := defaultRetryStatusCodes.Values()
 	loadBalancingPolicy := *defaultLoadBalancingPolicy
-	mergeQueryArgs := *defaultMergeQueryArgs
 	dropSrcPathPrefixParts := 0
 	discoverBackendIPs := *discoverBackendIPsGlobal
 	if ui.RetryStatusCodes != nil {
@@ -963,9 +864,6 @@ func (ui *UserInfo) initURLs() error {
 	if ui.LoadBalancingPolicy != "" {
 		loadBalancingPolicy = ui.LoadBalancingPolicy
 	}
-	if len(ui.MergeQueryArgs) != 0 {
-		mergeQueryArgs = ui.MergeQueryArgs
-	}
 	if ui.DropSrcPathPrefixParts != nil {
 		dropSrcPathPrefixParts = *ui.DropSrcPathPrefixParts
 	}
@@ -973,18 +871,16 @@ func (ui *UserInfo) initURLs() error {
 		discoverBackendIPs = *ui.DiscoverBackendIPs
 	}

-	up := ui.URLPrefix
-	if up != nil {
-		if err := up.sanitizeAndInitialize(); err != nil {
+	if ui.URLPrefix != nil {
+		if err := ui.URLPrefix.sanitizeAndInitialize(); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		up.retryStatusCodes = retryStatusCodes
-		up.dropSrcPathPrefixParts = dropSrcPathPrefixParts
-		up.discoverBackendIPs = discoverBackendIPs
-		if err := up.setLoadBalancingPolicy(loadBalancingPolicy); err != nil {
+		ui.URLPrefix.retryStatusCodes = retryStatusCodes
+		ui.URLPrefix.dropSrcPathPrefixParts = dropSrcPathPrefixParts
+		ui.URLPrefix.discoverBackendIPs = discoverBackendIPs
+		if err := ui.URLPrefix.setLoadBalancingPolicy(loadBalancingPolicy); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		up.mergeQueryArgs = mergeQueryArgs
 	}
 	if ui.DefaultURL != nil {
 		if err := ui.DefaultURL.sanitizeAndInitialize(); err != nil {
@@ -1003,7 +899,6 @@ func (ui *UserInfo) initURLs() error {
 		}
 		rscs := retryStatusCodes
 		lbp := loadBalancingPolicy
-		mqa := mergeQueryArgs
 		dsp := dropSrcPathPrefixParts
 		dbd := discoverBackendIPs
 		if e.RetryStatusCodes != nil {
@@ -1012,9 +907,6 @@ func (ui *UserInfo) initURLs() error {
 		if e.LoadBalancingPolicy != "" {
 			lbp = e.LoadBalancingPolicy
 		}
-		if len(e.MergeQueryArgs) != 0 {
-			mqa = e.MergeQueryArgs
-		}
 		if e.DropSrcPathPrefixParts != nil {
 			dsp = *e.DropSrcPathPrefixParts
 		}
@@ -1025,7 +917,6 @@ func (ui *UserInfo) initURLs() error {
 		if err := e.URLPrefix.setLoadBalancingPolicy(lbp); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		e.URLPrefix.mergeQueryArgs = mqa
 		e.URLPrefix.dropSrcPathPrefixParts = dsp
 		e.URLPrefix.discoverBackendIPs = dbd
 	}
@@ -1140,8 +1031,7 @@ func (up *URLPrefix) sanitizeAndInitialize() error {
 	bus := make([]*backendURL, len(up.busOriginal))
 	for i, bu := range up.busOriginal {
 		bus[i] = &backendURL{
-			url:               bu,
-			stopHealthCheckCh: make(chan struct{}),
+			url: bu,
 		}
 	}
 	up.bus.Store(&bus)
--- a/app/vmauth/auth_config_test.go
+++ b/app/vmauth/auth_config_test.go
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ users:
 }

 func TestParseAuthConfigSuccess(t *testing.T) {
-	f := func(s string, expectedAuthConfig map[string]*UserInfo, expectedUnauthorizedUserConfig *UserInfo) {
+	f := func(s string, expectedAuthConfig map[string]*UserInfo) {
 		t.Helper()
 		ac, err := parseAuthConfig([]byte(s))
 		if err != nil {
@@ -294,19 +294,15 @@ func TestParseAuthConfigSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 		if err := areEqualConfigs(m, expectedAuthConfig); err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}
-
-		if err := areEqualConfigs(ac.UnauthorizedUser, expectedUnauthorizedUserConfig); err != nil {
-			t.Fatal(err)
-		}
 	}

 	insecureSkipVerifyTrue := true

 	// Empty config
-	f(``, map[string]*UserInfo{}, nil)
+	f(``, map[string]*UserInfo{})

 	// Empty users
-	f(`users: []`, map[string]*UserInfo{}, nil)
+	f(`users: []`, map[string]*UserInfo{})

 	// Single user
 	f(`
@@ -324,7 +320,7 @@ users:
 			MaxConcurrentRequests: 5,
 			TLSInsecureSkipVerify: &insecureSkipVerifyTrue,
 		},
-	}, nil)
+	})

 	// Single user with auth_token
 	f(`
@@ -348,7 +344,7 @@ users:
 			TLSCertFile:           "foo/baz",
 			TLSKeyFile:            "foo/foo",
 		},
-	}, nil)
+	})

 	// Multiple url_prefix entries
 	insecureSkipVerifyFalse := false
@@ -363,7 +359,6 @@ users:
  tls_insecure_skip_verify: false
  retry_status_codes: [500, 501]
  load_balancing_policy: first_available
-  merge_query_args: [foo, bar]
  drop_src_path_prefix_parts: 1
  discover_backend_ips: true
 `, map[string]*UserInfo{
@@ -377,11 +372,10 @@ users:
 			TLSInsecureSkipVerify:  &insecureSkipVerifyFalse,
 			RetryStatusCodes:       []int{500, 501},
 			LoadBalancingPolicy:    "first_available",
-			MergeQueryArgs:         []string{"foo", "bar"},
 			DropSrcPathPrefixParts: intp(1),
 			DiscoverBackendIPs:     &discoverBackendIPsTrue,
 		},
-	}, nil)
+	})

 	// Multiple users
 	f(`
@@ -399,7 +393,7 @@ users:
 			Username:  "bar",
 			URLPrefix: mustParseURL("https://bar/x/"),
 		},
-	}, nil)
+	})

 	// non-empty URLMap
 	sharedUserInfo := &UserInfo{
@@ -449,7 +443,7 @@ users:
 `, map[string]*UserInfo{
 		getHTTPAuthBearerToken("foo"):    sharedUserInfo,
 		getHTTPAuthBasicToken("foo", ""): sharedUserInfo,
-	}, nil)
+	})

 	// Multiple users with the same name - this should work, since these users have different passwords
 	f(`
@@ -471,7 +465,7 @@ users:
 			Password:  "bar",
 			URLPrefix: mustParseURL("https://bar/x"),
 		},
-	}, nil)
+	})

 	// with default url
 	keepOriginalHost := true
@@ -487,8 +481,6 @@ users:
    - "foo: bar"
    - "xxx: y"
    keep_original_host: true
-    load_balancing_policy: first_available
-    merge_query_args: [foo, bar]
  default_url:
  - http://default1/select/0/prometheus
  - http://default2/select/0/prometheus
@@ -513,8 +505,6 @@ users:
 						},
 						KeepOriginalHost: &keepOriginalHost,
 					},
-					LoadBalancingPolicy: "first_available",
-					MergeQueryArgs:      []string{"foo", "bar"},
 				},
 			},
 			DefaultURL: mustParseURLs([]string{
@@ -542,8 +532,6 @@ users:
 						},
 						KeepOriginalHost: &keepOriginalHost,
 					},
-					LoadBalancingPolicy: "first_available",
-					MergeQueryArgs:      []string{"foo", "bar"},
 				},
 			},
 			DefaultURL: mustParseURLs([]string{
@@ -551,7 +539,7 @@ users:
 				"http://default2/select/0/prometheus",
 			}),
 		},
-	}, nil)
+	})

 	// With metric_labels
 	f(`
@@ -603,23 +591,6 @@ users:
 				},
 			},
 		},
-	}, nil)
-
-	// unauthorized_user
-	f(`
-unauthorized_user:
-  merge_query_args: [extra_filters]
-  url_map:
-  - src_paths: ["/select/.+"]
-    url_prefix: 'http://victoria-logs:9428/?extra_filters={env="prod"}'
-`, nil, &UserInfo{
-		MergeQueryArgs: []string{"extra_filters"},
-		URLMaps: []URLMap{
-			{
-				SrcPaths:  getRegexs([]string{"/select/.+"}),
-				URLPrefix: mustParseURL(`http://victoria-logs:9428/?extra_filters={env="prod"}`),
-			},
-		},
 	})
 }

@@ -752,12 +723,10 @@ func TestGetLeastLoadedBackendURL(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 	up.loadBalancingPolicy = "least_loaded"

-	pbus := up.bus.Load()
-	bus := *pbus
-
 	fn := func(ns ...int) {
 		t.Helper()
-
+		pbus := up.bus.Load()
+		bus := *pbus
 		for i, b := range bus {
 			got := int(b.concurrentRequests.Load())
 			exp := ns[i]
@@ -769,52 +738,45 @@ func TestGetLeastLoadedBackendURL(t *testing.T) {

 	up.getBackendURL()
 	fn(1, 0, 0)
-
 	up.getBackendURL()
 	fn(1, 1, 0)
-
 	up.getBackendURL()
 	fn(1, 1, 1)

-	bus[1].put()
-	bus[2].put()
-	fn(1, 0, 0)
+	up.getBackendURL()
+	up.getBackendURL()
+	fn(2, 2, 1)
+
+	bus := up.bus.Load()
+	pbus := *bus
+	pbus[0].concurrentRequests.Add(2)
+	pbus[2].concurrentRequests.Add(5)
+	fn(4, 2, 6)

 	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(1, 1, 0)
+	fn(4, 3, 6)

-	bus[1].put()
 	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(1, 0, 1)
+	fn(4, 4, 6)
+
+	up.getBackendURL()
+	fn(4, 5, 6)
+
+	up.getBackendURL()
+	fn(5, 5, 6)
+
+	up.getBackendURL()
+	fn(6, 5, 6)
+
+	up.getBackendURL()
+	fn(6, 6, 6)
+
+	up.getBackendURL()
+	fn(6, 6, 7)

 	up.getBackendURL()
 	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(1, 1, 2)
-
-	bus[0].concurrentRequests.Add(2)
-	bus[2].concurrentRequests.Add(2)
-	fn(3, 1, 4)
-
-	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(3, 2, 4)
-
-	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(3, 3, 4)
-
-	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(4, 3, 4)
-
-	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(4, 4, 4)
-
-	bus[0].put()
-	bus[2].put()
-
-	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(3, 4, 4)
-
-	up.getBackendURL()
-	fn(4, 4, 4)
+	fn(7, 7, 7)
 }

 func TestBrokenBackend(t *testing.T) {
@@ -922,7 +884,7 @@ func removeMetrics(m map[string]*UserInfo) {
 	}
 }

-func areEqualConfigs(a, b any) error {
+func areEqualConfigs(a, b map[string]*UserInfo) error {
 	aData, err := yaml.Marshal(a)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot marshal a: %w", err)
@@ -950,8 +912,7 @@ func mustParseURLs(us []string) *URLPrefix {
 			panic(fmt.Errorf("BUG: cannot parse %q: %w", u, err))
 		}
 		bus[i] = &backendURL{
-			url:               pu,
-			stopHealthCheckCh: make(chan struct{}),
+			url: pu,
 		}
 		urls[i] = pu
 	}
--- a/app/vmauth/main.go
+++ b/app/vmauth/main.go
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ func processRequest(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, ui *UserInfo) {
 			query.Set("request_path", u.String())
 			targetURL.RawQuery = query.Encode()
 		} else { // Update path for regular routes.
-			targetURL = mergeURLs(targetURL, u, up.dropSrcPathPrefixParts, up.mergeQueryArgs)
+			targetURL = mergeURLs(targetURL, u, up.dropSrcPathPrefixParts)
 		}

 		wasLocalRetry := false
@@ -310,21 +310,14 @@ func tryProcessingRequest(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, targetURL *url

 	rtb, rtbOK := req.Body.(*readTrackingBody)
 	res, err := ui.rt.RoundTrip(req)
-
-	if ctxErr := r.Context().Err(); ctxErr != nil {
-		// Override the error returned by the RoundTrip with the context error if it isn't non-nil
-		// This makes sure the proper logging for canceled and timed out requests - log the real cause of the error
-		// instead of the random error, which could be returned from RoundTrip because of canceled or timed out request.
-		err = ctxErr
-	}
 	if err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) || errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
 			// Do not retry canceled or timed out requests
 			remoteAddr := httpserver.GetQuotedRemoteAddr(r)
 			requestURI := httpserver.GetRequestURI(r)
+			logger.Warnf("remoteAddr: %s; requestURI: %s; error when proxying response body from %s: %s", remoteAddr, requestURI, targetURL, err)
 			if errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
 				// Timed out request must be counted as errors, since this usually means that the backend is slow.
-				logger.Warnf("remoteAddr: %s; requestURI: %s; timeout while proxying the response from %s: %s", remoteAddr, requestURI, targetURL, err)
 				ui.backendErrors.Inc()
 			}
 			return false, false
@@ -379,54 +372,20 @@ func tryProcessingRequest(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, targetURL *url
 	updateHeadersByConfig(w.Header(), hc.ResponseHeaders)
 	w.WriteHeader(res.StatusCode)

-	err = copyStreamToClient(w, res.Body)
+	copyBuf := copyBufPool.Get()
+	copyBuf.B = bytesutil.ResizeNoCopyNoOverallocate(copyBuf.B, 16*1024)
+	_, err = io.CopyBuffer(w, res.Body, copyBuf.B)
+	copyBufPool.Put(copyBuf)
 	_ = res.Body.Close()
-	if err != nil && !netutil.IsTrivialNetworkError(err) && !errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
+	if err != nil && !netutil.IsTrivialNetworkError(err) {
 		remoteAddr := httpserver.GetQuotedRemoteAddr(r)
 		requestURI := httpserver.GetRequestURI(r)
-
 		logger.Warnf("remoteAddr: %s; requestURI: %s; error when proxying response body from %s: %s", remoteAddr, requestURI, targetURL, err)
 		return true, false
 	}
 	return true, false
 }

-func copyStreamToClient(client io.Writer, backend io.Reader) error {
-	copyBuf := copyBufPool.Get()
-	copyBuf.B = bytesutil.ResizeNoCopyNoOverallocate(copyBuf.B, 16*1024)
-	defer copyBufPool.Put(copyBuf)
-	buf := copyBuf.B
-
-	flusher, ok := client.(http.Flusher)
-	if !ok {
-		logger.Panicf("BUG: client must implement net/http.Flusher interface; got %T", client)
-	}
-
-	for {
-		n, backendErr := backend.Read(buf)
-		if n > 0 {
-			data := buf[:n]
-			n, clientErr := client.Write(data)
-			if clientErr != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("cannot write data to client: %w", clientErr)
-			}
-			if n != len(data) {
-				logger.Panicf("BUG: unexpected number of bytes written returned by client.Write; got %d; want %d", n, len(data))
-			}
-			// Flush the read data from the backend to the client as fast as possible
-			// in order to reduce delays for data propagation.
-			// See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/667
-			flusher.Flush()
-		}
-		if backendErr != nil {
-			if backendErr == io.EOF {
-				return nil
-			}
-			return fmt.Errorf("cannot read data from backend: %w", backendErr)
-		}
-	}
-}
-
 var copyBufPool bytesutil.ByteBufferPool

 func copyHeader(dst, src http.Header) {
--- a/app/vmauth/main_test.go
+++ b/app/vmauth/main_test.go
@@ -514,11 +514,6 @@ func (w *fakeResponseWriter) getResponse() string {
 	return w.bb.String()
 }

-// Flush implements net/http.Flusher
-func (w *fakeResponseWriter) Flush() {
-	// Nothing to do.
-}
-
 func (w *fakeResponseWriter) Header() http.Header {
 	if w.h == nil {
 		w.h = http.Header{}
--- a/app/vmauth/target_url.go
+++ b/app/vmauth/target_url.go
@@ -8,42 +8,29 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 )

-func mergeURLs(uiURL, requestURI *url.URL, dropSrcPathPrefixParts int, mergeQueryArgs []string) *url.URL {
+func mergeURLs(uiURL, requestURI *url.URL, dropSrcPathPrefixParts int) *url.URL {
 	targetURL := *uiURL
-
 	srcPath := dropPrefixParts(requestURI.Path, dropSrcPathPrefixParts)
 	if strings.HasPrefix(srcPath, "/") {
 		targetURL.Path = strings.TrimSuffix(targetURL.Path, "/")
 	}
 	targetURL.Path += srcPath
 	requestParams := requestURI.Query()
-
+	// fast path
 	if len(requestParams) == 0 {
 		return &targetURL
 	}
-
-	// Merge client query args with backend query args
-	targetParams := targetURL.Query()
-	uiParams := url.Values{}
-
-	// Copy all the target query args
-	for k, v := range targetParams {
-		for i := range v {
-			uiParams.Add(k, v[i])
-		}
-	}
-
-	// Copy the client query args if they do not clash with target args.
+	// merge query parameters from requests.
+	uiParams := targetURL.Query()
 	for k, v := range requestParams {
-		if targetParams.Has(k) && !slices.Contains(mergeQueryArgs, k) {
-			// Skip clashed client query params for security reasons
+		// skip clashed query params from original request
+		if exist := uiParams.Get(k); len(exist) > 0 {
 			continue
 		}
 		for i := range v {
 			uiParams.Add(k, v[i])
 		}
 	}
-
 	targetURL.RawQuery = uiParams.Encode()
 	return &targetURL
 }
--- a/app/vmauth/target_url_test.go
+++ b/app/vmauth/target_url_test.go
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func TestCreateTargetURLSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 			return
 		}
 		bu := up.getBackendURL()
-		target := mergeURLs(bu.url, u, up.dropSrcPathPrefixParts, up.mergeQueryArgs)
+		target := mergeURLs(bu.url, u, up.dropSrcPathPrefixParts)
 		bu.put()

 		gotTarget := target.String()
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ func TestUserInfoGetBackendURL_SRV(t *testing.T) {
 			return
 		}
 		bu := up.getBackendURL()
-		target := mergeURLs(bu.url, u, up.dropSrcPathPrefixParts, up.mergeQueryArgs)
+		target := mergeURLs(bu.url, u, up.dropSrcPathPrefixParts)
 		bu.put()

 		gotTarget := target.String()
@@ -528,43 +528,3 @@ func (r *fakeResolver) LookupIPAddr(_ context.Context, host string) ([]net.IPAdd
 func (r *fakeResolver) LookupMX(_ context.Context, _ string) ([]*net.MX, error) {
 	return nil, nil
 }
-
-func TestMergeURLs(t *testing.T) {
-	f := func(clientURL, backendURL string, dropSrcPathPrefixParts int, mergeQueryArgs []string, resultURLExpected string) {
-		t.Helper()
-
-		cu, err := url.Parse(clientURL)
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("cannot parse client url %q: %s", clientURL, err)
-		}
-		cu = normalizeURL(cu)
-
-		bu, err := url.Parse(backendURL)
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("cannot parse backend url %q: %s", backendURL, err)
-		}
-
-		ru := mergeURLs(bu, cu, dropSrcPathPrefixParts, mergeQueryArgs)
-		resultURL := ru.String()
-		if resultURL != resultURLExpected {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected resultURL\ngot\n%s\nwant\n%s", resultURL, resultURLExpected)
-		}
-	}
-
-	f("http://foo:1234", "https://backend/foo/bar?baz=abc&de", 0, nil, "https://backend/foo/bar?baz=abc&de")
-	f("http://foo:1234", "https://backend/foo/bar/?baz=abc&de", 0, nil, "https://backend/foo/bar/?baz=abc&de")
-	f("https://foo:1234/", "https://backend/foo/bar?baz=abc&de", 0, nil, "https://backend/foo/bar?baz=abc&de")
-	f("https://foo:1234/", "http://backend:8888/foo/bar/?baz=abc&de", 0, nil, "http://backend:8888/foo/bar/?baz=abc&de")
-
-	// merge paths
-	f("http://foo:1234/x/y?z=xxx", "https://backend/foo/bar?baz=abc&de", 0, nil, "https://backend/foo/bar/x/y?baz=abc&de=&z=xxx")
-
-	// "hacky" url
-	f("http://foo:1234/../../x/../y?z=xxx", "https://backend/foo/bar?baz=abc&de", 0, nil, "https://backend/foo/bar/y?baz=abc&de=&z=xxx")
-
-	// make sure that the client args are overridden by server args by default
-	f("http://foo:1234/x/y?password=hack&qqq=www", "https://backend/foo/bar?password=abc", 0, nil, "https://backend/foo/bar/x/y?password=abc&qqq=www")
-
-	// allow overriding the selected query args
-	f("http://foo:1234/x/y?baz=xxx&qqq=www", "https://backend/foo/bar?baz=abc", 0, []string{"baz"}, "https://backend/foo/bar/x/y?baz=abc&baz=xxx&qqq=www")
-}
--- a/app/vmbackup/Makefile
+++ b/app/vmbackup/Makefile
@@ -31,9 +31,6 @@ vmbackup-linux-ppc64le-prod:
 vmbackup-linux-386-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmbackup EXTRA_GO_BUILD_TAGS=$(VMBACKUP_GO_BUILD_TAGS) $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-386

-vmbackup-linux-s390x-prod:
-	APP_NAME=vmbackup EXTRA_GO_BUILD_TAGS=$(VMBACKUP_GO_BUILD_TAGS) $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-s390x
-
 vmbackup-darwin-amd64-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmbackup EXTRA_GO_BUILD_TAGS=$(VMBACKUP_GO_BUILD_TAGS) $(MAKE) app-via-docker-darwin-amd64

--- a/app/vmbackup/main.go
+++ b/app/vmbackup/main.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func main() {
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Fatalf("cannot create backup: %s", err)
 	}
-	pushmetrics.StopAndPush()
+	pushmetrics.Stop()

 	startTime := time.Now()
 	logger.Infof("gracefully shutting down http server for metrics at %q", listenAddrs)
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ func newSrcFS() (*fslocal.FS, error) {
 }

 func newDstFS(ctx context.Context) (common.RemoteFS, error) {
-	fs, err := actions.NewRemoteFS(ctx, *dst, nil)
+	fs, err := actions.NewRemoteFS(ctx, *dst)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse `-dst`=%q: %w", *dst, err)
 	}
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ func newOriginFS(ctx context.Context) (common.OriginFS, error) {
 	if len(*origin) == 0 {
 		return &fsnil.FS{}, nil
 	}
-	fs, err := actions.NewRemoteFS(ctx, *origin, nil)
+	fs, err := actions.NewRemoteFS(ctx, *origin)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse `-origin`=%q: %w", *origin, err)
 	}
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ func newRemoteOriginFS(ctx context.Context) (common.RemoteFS, error) {
 	if len(*origin) == 0 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("-origin cannot be empty when -snapshotName and -snapshot.createURL aren't set")
 	}
-	fs, err := actions.NewRemoteFS(ctx, *origin, nil)
+	fs, err := actions.NewRemoteFS(ctx, *origin)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse `-origin`=%q: %w", *origin, err)
 	}
--- a/app/vmctl/Makefile
+++ b/app/vmctl/Makefile
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@ vmctl-linux-ppc64le-prod:
 vmctl-linux-386-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmctl $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-386

-vmctl-linux-s390x-prod:
-	APP_NAME=vmctl $(MAKE) app-via-docker-linux-s390x
-
 vmctl-darwin-amd64-prod:
 	APP_NAME=vmctl $(MAKE) app-via-docker-darwin-amd64

--- a/app/vmctl/flags.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/flags.go
@@ -689,15 +689,15 @@ var (
 			Usage:  "The time filter in RFC3339 format to select timeseries with timestamp equal or lower than provided value. E.g. '2020-01-01T20:07:00Z'",
 			Layout: time.RFC3339,
 		},
-		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
-			Name:        remoteReadFilterLabel,
-			Usage:       "Prometheus label name to filter timeseries by. E.g. '__name__' will filter timeseries by name.",
-			DefaultText: "__name__",
+		&cli.StringFlag{
+			Name:  remoteReadFilterLabel,
+			Usage: "Prometheus label name to filter timeseries by. E.g. '__name__' will filter timeseries by name.",
+			Value: "__name__",
 		},
-		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
-			Name:        remoteReadFilterLabelValue,
-			Usage:       fmt.Sprintf("Prometheus regular expression to filter label from %q flag.", remoteReadFilterLabelValue),
-			DefaultText: ".*",
+		&cli.StringFlag{
+			Name:  remoteReadFilterLabelValue,
+			Usage: fmt.Sprintf("Prometheus regular expression to filter label from %q flag.", remoteReadFilterLabelValue),
+			Value: ".*",
 		},
 		&cli.BoolFlag{
 			Name:  remoteRead,
--- a/app/vmctl/influx.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/influx.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package main

 import (
-	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"log"
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ func newInfluxProcessor(ic *influx.Client, im *vm.Importer, cc int, separator st
 	}
 }

-func (ip *influxProcessor) run(ctx context.Context) error {
+func (ip *influxProcessor) run() error {
 	series, err := ip.ic.Explore()
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("explore query failed: %s", err)
@@ -48,7 +47,7 @@ func (ip *influxProcessor) run(ctx context.Context) error {
 	}

 	question := fmt.Sprintf("Found %d timeseries to import. Continue?", len(series))
-	if !prompt(ctx, question) {
+	if !prompt(question) {
 		return nil
 	}

--- a/app/vmctl/main.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/main.go
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ func main() {
 					}

 					otsdbProcessor := newOtsdbProcessor(otsdbClient, importer, c.Int(otsdbConcurrency), c.Bool(globalVerbose))
-					return otsdbProcessor.run(ctx)
+					return otsdbProcessor.run()
 				},
 			},
 			{
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ func main() {
 						c.Bool(influxSkipDatabaseLabel),
 						c.Bool(influxPrometheusMode),
 						c.Bool(globalVerbose))
-					return processor.run(ctx)
+					return processor.run()
 				},
 			},
 			{
@@ -192,14 +192,6 @@ func main() {
 						return fmt.Errorf("failed to create transport for -%s=%q: %s", remoteReadSrcAddr, addr, err)
 					}

-					// Backwards compatible default values if none provided by user
-					rrLabelNames := c.StringSlice(remoteReadFilterLabel)
-					rrLabelValues := c.StringSlice(remoteReadFilterLabelValue)
-					if len(rrLabelNames) == 0 && len(rrLabelValues) == 0 {
-						rrLabelNames = []string{"__name__"}
-						rrLabelValues = []string{".*"}
-					}
-
 					rr, err := remoteread.NewClient(remoteread.Config{
 						Addr:              addr,
 						Transport:         tr,
@@ -208,8 +200,8 @@ func main() {
 						Timeout:           c.Duration(remoteReadHTTPTimeout),
 						UseStream:         c.Bool(remoteReadUseStream),
 						Headers:           c.String(remoteReadHeaders),
-						LabelNames:        rrLabelNames,
-						LabelValues:       rrLabelValues,
+						LabelName:         c.String(remoteReadFilterLabel),
+						LabelValue:        c.String(remoteReadFilterLabelValue),
 						DisablePathAppend: c.Bool(remoteReadDisablePathAppend),
 					})
 					if err != nil {
@@ -279,7 +271,7 @@ func main() {
 						cc:        c.Int(promConcurrency),
 						isVerbose: c.Bool(globalVerbose),
 					}
-					return pp.run(ctx)
+					return pp.run()
 				},
 			},
 			{
--- a/app/vmctl/opentsdb.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/opentsdb.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package main

 import (
-	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"sync"
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ func newOtsdbProcessor(oc *opentsdb.Client, im *vm.Importer, otsdbcc int, verbos
 	}
 }

-func (op *otsdbProcessor) run(ctx context.Context) error {
+func (op *otsdbProcessor) run() error {
 	log.Println("Loading all metrics from OpenTSDB for filters: ", op.oc.Filters)
 	var metrics []string
 	for _, filter := range op.oc.Filters {
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ func (op *otsdbProcessor) run(ctx context.Context) error {
 	}

 	question := fmt.Sprintf("Found %d metrics to import. Continue?", len(metrics))
-	if !prompt(ctx, question) {
+	if !prompt(question) {
 		return nil
 	}
 	op.im.ResetStats()
--- a/app/vmctl/prometheus.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/prometheus.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package main

 import (
-	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"sync"
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ type prometheusProcessor struct {
 	isVerbose bool
 }

-func (pp *prometheusProcessor) run(ctx context.Context) error {
+func (pp *prometheusProcessor) run() error {
 	blocks, err := pp.cl.Explore()
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("explore failed: %s", err)
@@ -40,7 +39,7 @@ func (pp *prometheusProcessor) run(ctx context.Context) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("found no blocks to import")
 	}
 	question := fmt.Sprintf("Found %d blocks to import. Continue?", len(blocks))
-	if !prompt(ctx, question) {
+	if !prompt(question) {
 		return nil
 	}

--- a/app/vmctl/remoteread.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/remoteread.go
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ func (rrp *remoteReadProcessor) run(ctx context.Context) error {

 	question := fmt.Sprintf("Selected time range %q - %q will be split into %d ranges according to %q step. Continue?",
 		rrp.filter.timeStart.String(), rrp.filter.timeEnd.String(), len(ranges), rrp.filter.chunk)
-	if !prompt(ctx, question) {
+	if !prompt(question) {
 		return nil
 	}

--- a/app/vmctl/remoteread/remoteread.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/remoteread/remoteread.go
@@ -11,15 +11,14 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"

+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmctl/vm"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/bytesutil"
 	"github.com/gogo/protobuf/proto"
 	"github.com/golang/snappy"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/config"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/prompb"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/storage/remote"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/tsdb/chunkenc"
-
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmctl/vm"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/bytesutil"
 )

 const (
@@ -64,9 +63,9 @@ type Config struct {
 	UseStream bool
 	// Headers optional HTTP headers to send with each request to the corresponding remote storage
 	Headers string
-	// LabelNames, LabelValues stands for label=~value pair used for read requests.
+	// LabelName, LabelValue stands for label=~value pair used for read requests.
 	// Is optional.
-	LabelNames, LabelValues []string
+	LabelName, LabelValue string
 }

 // Filter defines a list of filters applied to requested data
@@ -95,22 +94,12 @@ func NewClient(cfg Config) (*Client, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}

-	var matchers []*prompb.LabelMatcher
-	if len(cfg.LabelNames) > 0 || len(cfg.LabelValues) > 0 {
-		if len(cfg.LabelNames) != len(cfg.LabelValues) {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("the number of label names and label values must be the same")
-		}
-
-		for i := range cfg.LabelNames {
-			if cfg.LabelNames[i] == "" {
-				return nil, fmt.Errorf("label name cannot be empty")
-			}
-			matcher := &prompb.LabelMatcher{
-				Type:  prompb.LabelMatcher_RE,
-				Name:  cfg.LabelNames[i],
-				Value: cfg.LabelValues[i],
-			}
-			matchers = append(matchers, matcher)
+	var m *prompb.LabelMatcher
+	if cfg.LabelName != "" && cfg.LabelValue != "" {
+		m = &prompb.LabelMatcher{
+			Type:  prompb.LabelMatcher_RE,
+			Name:  cfg.LabelName,
+			Value: cfg.LabelValue,
 		}
 	}

@@ -127,7 +116,7 @@ func NewClient(cfg Config) (*Client, error) {
 		password:          cfg.Password,
 		useStream:         cfg.UseStream,
 		headers:           headers,
-		matchers:          matchers,
+		matchers:          []*prompb.LabelMatcher{m},
 	}

 	return c, nil
--- a/app/vmctl/utils.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/utils.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package main

 import (
 	"bufio"
-	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
@@ -16,7 +15,7 @@ const barTpl = `{{ blue "%s:" }} {{ counters . }} {{ bar . "[" "█" (cycle . "
 // isSilent should be inited in main
 var isSilent bool

-func prompt(ctx context.Context, question string) bool {
+func prompt(question string) bool {
 	if isSilent {
 		return true
 	}
@@ -26,32 +25,15 @@ func prompt(ctx context.Context, question string) bool {
 	}
 	reader := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin)
 	fmt.Print(question, " [Y/n] ")
-
-	answerCh := make(chan string, 1)
-	errCh := make(chan error, 1)
-
-	go func() {
-		answer, err := reader.ReadString('\n')
-		if err != nil {
-			errCh <- err
-			return
-		}
-		answerCh <- answer
-	}()
-
-	select {
-	case <-ctx.Done():
-		fmt.Println("\nCanceled.")
-		return false
-	case err := <-errCh:
+	answer, err := reader.ReadString('\n')
+	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
-	case answer := <-answerCh:
-		answer = strings.TrimSpace(strings.ToLower(answer))
-		if answer == "" || answer == "yes" || answer == "y" {
-			return true
-		}
-		return false
 	}
+	answer = strings.TrimSpace(strings.ToLower(answer))
+	if answer == "" || answer == "yes" || answer == "y" {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
 }

 func wrapErr(vmErr *vm.ImportError, verbose bool) error {
--- a/app/vmctl/vm/timeseries.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/vm/timeseries.go
@@ -63,7 +63,10 @@ func (ts *TimeSeries) write(w io.Writer) (int, error) {
 		// Split long lines with more than 10K samples into multiple JSON lines.
 		// This should limit memory usage at VictoriaMetrics during data ingestion,
 		// since it allocates memory for the whole JSON line and processes it in one go.
-		batchSize := min(10000, len(timestamps))
+		batchSize := 10000
+		if batchSize > len(timestamps) {
+			batchSize = len(timestamps)
+		}
 		timestampsBatch := timestamps[:batchSize]
 		valuesBatch := values[:batchSize]
 		timestamps = timestamps[batchSize:]
--- a/app/vmctl/vm_native.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/vm_native.go
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ func (p *vmNativeProcessor) run(ctx context.Context) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to get tenants: %w", err)
 		}
 		question := fmt.Sprintf("The following tenants were discovered: %s.\n Continue?", tenants)
-		if !prompt(ctx, question) {
+		if !prompt(question) {
 			return nil
 		}
 	}
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ func (p *vmNativeProcessor) runSingle(ctx context.Context, f native.Filter, srcU
 		pr := bar.NewProxyReader(reader)
 		if pr != nil {
 			reader = pr
-			fmt.Fprintf(log.Writer(), "Continue import process with filter %s:\n", f.String())
+			fmt.Printf("Continue import process with filter %s:\n", f.String())
 		}
 	}

@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ func (p *vmNativeProcessor) runBackfilling(ctx context.Context, tenantID string,
 		initParams = []any{srcURL, dstURL, p.filter.String(), tenantID}
 	}

-	fmt.Fprintln(log.Writer(), "") // extra line for better output formatting
+	fmt.Println("") // extra line for better output formatting
 	log.Printf(initMessage, initParams...)
 	if len(ranges) > 1 {
 		log.Printf("Selected time range will be split into %d ranges according to %q step", len(ranges), p.filter.Chunk)
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ func (p *vmNativeProcessor) runBackfilling(ctx context.Context, tenantID string,
 		// do not prompt for intercluster because there could be many tenants,
 		// and we don't want to interrupt the process when moving to the next tenant.
 		question := foundSeriesMsg + ". Continue?"
-		if !prompt(ctx, question) {
+		if !prompt(question) {
 			return nil
 		}
 	} else {
--- a/app/vminsert/common/insert_ctx.go
+++ b/app/vminsert/common/insert_ctx.go
@@ -11,11 +11,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/bytesutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/httpserver"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/prometheus"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/ratelimiter"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/slicesutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/storage"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/storage/metricsmetadata"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/timeserieslimits"
 )

@@ -52,9 +50,8 @@ var (
 type InsertCtx struct {
 	Labels sortedLabels

-	mrs           []storage.MetricRow
-	mms           []metricsmetadata.Row
-	metricNameBuf []byte
+	mrs            []storage.MetricRow
+	metricNamesBuf []byte

 	relabelCtx    relabel.Ctx
 	streamAggrCtx streamAggrCtx
@@ -76,13 +73,8 @@ func (ctx *InsertCtx) Reset(rowsLen int) {
 	}
 	mrs = slicesutil.SetLength(mrs, rowsLen)
 	ctx.mrs = mrs[:0]
-	mms := ctx.mms
-	for i := range mms {
-		cleanMetricMetadata(&mms[i])
-	}
-	ctx.mms = mms[:0]

-	ctx.metricNameBuf = ctx.metricNameBuf[:0]
+	ctx.metricNamesBuf = ctx.metricNamesBuf[:0]
 	ctx.relabelCtx.Reset()
 	ctx.streamAggrCtx.Reset()
 	ctx.skipStreamAggr = false
@@ -92,20 +84,11 @@ func cleanMetricRow(mr *storage.MetricRow) {
 	mr.MetricNameRaw = nil
 }

-func cleanMetricMetadata(mm *metricsmetadata.Row) {
-	mm.MetricFamilyName = nil
-	mm.Unit = nil
-	mm.Help = nil
-	mm.Type = 0
-	mm.ProjectID = 0
-	mm.AccountID = 0
-}
-
 func (ctx *InsertCtx) marshalMetricNameRaw(prefix []byte, labels []prompb.Label) []byte {
-	start := len(ctx.metricNameBuf)
-	ctx.metricNameBuf = append(ctx.metricNameBuf, prefix...)
-	ctx.metricNameBuf = storage.MarshalMetricNameRaw(ctx.metricNameBuf, labels)
-	metricNameRaw := ctx.metricNameBuf[start:]
+	start := len(ctx.metricNamesBuf)
+	ctx.metricNamesBuf = append(ctx.metricNamesBuf, prefix...)
+	ctx.metricNamesBuf = storage.MarshalMetricNameRaw(ctx.metricNamesBuf, labels)
+	metricNameRaw := ctx.metricNamesBuf[start:]
 	return metricNameRaw[:len(metricNameRaw):len(metricNameRaw)]
 }

@@ -160,7 +143,7 @@ func (ctx *InsertCtx) addRow(metricNameRaw []byte, timestamp int64, value float6
 	mr.MetricNameRaw = metricNameRaw
 	mr.Timestamp = timestamp
 	mr.Value = value
-	if len(ctx.metricNameBuf) > 16*1024*1024 {
+	if len(ctx.metricNamesBuf) > 16*1024*1024 {
 		if err := ctx.FlushBufs(); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -168,55 +151,6 @@ func (ctx *InsertCtx) addRow(metricNameRaw []byte, timestamp int64, value float6
 	return nil
 }

-// WriteMetadata writes given prometheus protobuf  metadata into the storage.
-func (ctx *InsertCtx) WriteMetadata(mmpbs []prompb.MetricMetadata) error {
-	if len(mmpbs) == 0 {
-		return nil
-	}
-	mms := ctx.mms
-	mms = slicesutil.SetLength(mms, len(mmpbs))
-	for idx, mmpb := range mmpbs {
-		mm := &mms[idx]
-		mm.MetricFamilyName = bytesutil.ToUnsafeBytes(mmpb.MetricFamilyName)
-		mm.Help = bytesutil.ToUnsafeBytes(mmpb.Help)
-		mm.Type = mmpb.Type
-		mm.Unit = bytesutil.ToUnsafeBytes(mmpb.Unit)
-	}
-
-	err := vmstorage.AddMetadataRows(mms)
-	if err != nil {
-		return &httpserver.ErrorWithStatusCode{
-			Err:        fmt.Errorf("cannot store metrics metadata: %w", err),
-			StatusCode: http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
-		}
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
-// WritePromMetadata writes given prometheus metric metadata into the storage
-func (ctx *InsertCtx) WritePromMetadata(mmps []prometheus.Metadata) error {
-	if len(mmps) == 0 {
-		return nil
-	}
-	mms := ctx.mms
-	mms = slicesutil.SetLength(mms, len(mmps))
-	for idx, mmpb := range mmps {
-		mm := &mms[idx]
-		mm.MetricFamilyName = bytesutil.ToUnsafeBytes(mmpb.Metric)
-		mm.Help = bytesutil.ToUnsafeBytes(mmpb.Help)
-		mm.Type = mmpb.Type
-	}
-
-	err := vmstorage.AddMetadataRows(mms)
-	if err != nil {
-		return &httpserver.ErrorWithStatusCode{
-			Err:        fmt.Errorf("cannot store prometheus metrics metadata: %w", err),
-			StatusCode: http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
-		}
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
 // AddLabelBytes adds (name, value) label to ctx.Labels.
 //
 // name and value must exist until ctx.Labels is used.
@@ -287,7 +221,7 @@ func (ctx *InsertCtx) FlushBufs() error {
 	}
 }

-func (ctx *InsertCtx) dropAggregatedRows(matchIdxs []uint32) {
+func (ctx *InsertCtx) dropAggregatedRows(matchIdxs []byte) {
 	dst := ctx.mrs[:0]
 	src := ctx.mrs
 	if !*streamAggrDropInput {
@@ -305,4 +239,4 @@ func (ctx *InsertCtx) dropAggregatedRows(matchIdxs []uint32) {
 	ctx.mrs = dst
 }

-var matchIdxsPool slicesutil.BufferPool[uint32]
+var matchIdxsPool bytesutil.ByteBufferPool
--- a/app/vminsert/common/streamaggr.go
+++ b/app/vminsert/common/streamaggr.go
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/procutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompb"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/slicesutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/storage"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/streamaggr"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
@@ -23,11 +22,11 @@ var (
 	streamAggrConfig = flag.String("streamAggr.config", "", "Optional path to file with stream aggregation config. "+
 		"See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/ . "+
 		"See also -streamAggr.keepInput, -streamAggr.dropInput and -streamAggr.dedupInterval")
-	streamAggrKeepInput = flag.Bool("streamAggr.keepInput", false, "Whether to keep input samples that match any rule in -streamAggr.config. "+
-		"By default, matched raw samples are aggregated and dropped, while unmatched samples are written to the remote storage. "+
+	streamAggrKeepInput = flag.Bool("streamAggr.keepInput", false, "Whether to keep all the input samples after the aggregation with -streamAggr.config. "+
+		"By default, only aggregated samples are dropped, while the remaining samples are stored in the database. "+
 		"See also -streamAggr.dropInput and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/")
-	streamAggrDropInput = flag.Bool("streamAggr.dropInput", false, "Whether to drop input samples that not matching any rule in -streamAggr.config. "+
-		"By default, only matched raw samples are dropped, while unmatched samples are written to the remote storage."+
+	streamAggrDropInput = flag.Bool("streamAggr.dropInput", false, "Whether to drop all the input samples after the aggregation with -streamAggr.config. "+
+		"By default, only aggregated samples are dropped, while the remaining samples are stored in the database. "+
 		"See also -streamAggr.keepInput and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/")
 	streamAggrDedupInterval = flag.Duration("streamAggr.dedupInterval", 0, "Input samples are de-duplicated with this interval before optional aggregation with -streamAggr.config . "+
 		"See also -streamAggr.dropInputLabels and -dedup.minScrapeInterval and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/#deduplication")
@@ -190,7 +189,7 @@ func (ctx *streamAggrCtx) Reset() {
 	ctx.buf = ctx.buf[:0]
 }

-func (ctx *streamAggrCtx) push(mrs []storage.MetricRow, matchIdxs []uint32) []uint32 {
+func (ctx *streamAggrCtx) push(mrs []storage.MetricRow, matchIdxs []byte) []byte {
 	mn := &ctx.mn
 	tss := ctx.tss
 	labels := ctx.labels
@@ -249,7 +248,7 @@ func (ctx *streamAggrCtx) push(mrs []storage.MetricRow, matchIdxs []uint32) []ui
 	if sas.IsEnabled() {
 		matchIdxs = sas.Push(tss, matchIdxs)
 	} else if deduplicator != nil {
-		matchIdxs = slicesutil.SetLength(matchIdxs, len(tss))
+		matchIdxs = bytesutil.ResizeNoCopyMayOverallocate(matchIdxs, len(tss))
 		for i := range matchIdxs {
 			matchIdxs[i] = 1
 		}
--- a/app/vminsert/main.go
+++ b/app/vminsert/main.go
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vminsert/promremotewrite"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vminsert/relabel"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vminsert/vmimport"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vminsert/zabbixconnector"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/auth"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/bytesutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/flagutil"
@@ -232,17 +231,6 @@ func RequestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 		}
 		firehose.WriteSuccessResponse(w, r)
 		return true
-	case "zabbixconnector/api/v1/history":
-		zabbixconnectorHistoryRequests.Inc()
-		if err := zabbixconnector.InsertHandlerForHTTP(r); err != nil {
-			zabbixconnectorHistoryErrors.Inc()
-			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
-			fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"error":%q}`, err.Error())
-			return true
-		}
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusAccepted)
-		return true
 	case "/newrelic":
 		newrelicCheckRequest.Inc()
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
@@ -435,9 +423,6 @@ var (
 	opentelemetryPushRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vm_http_requests_total{path="/opentelemetry/v1/metrics", protocol="opentelemetry"}`)
 	opentelemetryPushErrors   = metrics.NewCounter(`vm_http_request_errors_total{path="/opentelemetry/v1/metrics", protocol="opentelemetry"}`)

-	zabbixconnectorHistoryRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vm_http_requests_total{path="/zabbixconnector/api/v1/history", protocol="zabbixconnector"}`)
-	zabbixconnectorHistoryErrors   = metrics.NewCounter(`vm_http_request_errors_total{path="/zabbixconnector/api/v1/history", protocol="zabbixconnector"}`)
-
 	newrelicWriteRequests = metrics.NewCounter(`vm_http_requests_total{path="/newrelic/infra/v2/metrics/events/bulk", protocol="newrelic"}`)
 	newrelicWriteErrors   = metrics.NewCounter(`vm_http_request_errors_total{path="/newrelic/infra/v2/metrics/events/bulk", protocol="newrelic"}`)

--- a/Show More
+++ b/Show More