1. A computer-implemented method for enabling a user to configure an alert based on search results generated by a query, the method comprising: presenting an alert user interface (UI) to a user, wherein the alert UI enables the user to configure one or more alert actions to be performed based on the search results, wherein the search results contain information related to performance problems or security issues in an information technology environment; executing the query across a plurality of events derived from raw data to generate the search results; receiving alert configuration information from the user through the alert UI, wherein the alert configuration information includes substitution tokens representing parameters associated with the query and the search results; generating an alert indicating that a performance problem or security issue has been detected in the search results when a trigger condition for the alert is met; and while generating the alert, performing a token substitution for the substitution tokens in the alert configuration information to generate a payload that is communicated to an alert-generating functionality, so that the parameters can be used by the alert-generating functionality in performing the one or more alert actions.