1. A computer-implemented method for generating an alert based on information associated with search results generated by a query, the method comprising: executing the query to generate the search results; obtaining configuration information for the alert, wherein the configuration information identifies information associated with the search results and also specifies a trigger condition for the alert; and when the trigger condition for the alert is met, using the configuration information to generate a payload containing the identified information associated with the search results; invoking alert-generating functionality; and providing the payload as input to the alert-generating functionality, wherein the alert-generating functionality uses the information from the search results contained in the payload to generate the alert.