diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7a2feb7..4f6c989 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -94,6 +94,17 @@ annotations:
   description: "Generated by: {{ .Expr }}"
 ```
 
+Use `humanizeDuration` to format a value in seconds. For example, a query value of
+`4800` renders as `1h 20m 0s`:
+
+```yaml
+annotations:
+  summary: "{{ $labels.service }}: last reading was {{ $value | humanizeDuration }} ago"
+```
+
+The helper also accepts `.Value`. Formatting changes only the annotation; the
+numeric value remains in seconds.
+
 ### Environment Variable Substitution
 
 Use `%{ENV_VAR}` syntax in rule files (same as vmalert):
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 58c2218..6bc0666 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ go 1.25.6
 require (
 	github.com/ClickHouse/clickhouse-go/v2 v2.43.0
 	github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.23.2
+	github.com/prometheus/common v0.66.1
 	github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go v0.40.0
 	github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/clickhouse v0.40.0
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1
@@ -58,7 +59,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/power-devops/perfstat v0.0.0-20240221224432-82ca36839d55 // indirect
 	github.com/prometheus/client_model v0.6.2 // indirect
-	github.com/prometheus/common v0.66.1 // indirect
 	github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.16.1 // indirect
 	github.com/segmentio/asm v1.2.1 // indirect
 	github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4 v4.25.6 // indirect
diff --git a/rule/rule.go b/rule/rule.go
index deb0d25..fb773fe 100644
--- a/rule/rule.go
+++ b/rule/rule.go
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ import (
 	"text/template"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/prometheus/common/helpers/templates"
+
 	"github.com/garbett1/chalert/config"
 	"github.com/garbett1/chalert/datasource"
 )
@@ -432,7 +434,9 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) renderAnnotations(m datasource.Metric, _ *AlertInstance)
 		// Rewrite legacy {{ $labels.X }} and {{ $value }} to Go template syntax.
 		normalized := normalizeLegacyTemplate(tpl)
 
-		t, err := template.New(k).Option("missingkey=zero").Parse(normalized)
+		t, err := template.New(k).Funcs(template.FuncMap{
+			"humanizeDuration": templates.HumanizeDuration,
+		}).Option("missingkey=zero").Parse(normalized)
 		if err != nil {
 			// Fall back to raw template on parse error.
 			slog.Warn("chalert annotation template parse error",
diff --git a/rule/rule_test.go b/rule/rule_test.go
index c5f744a..228ba15 100644
--- a/rule/rule_test.go
+++ b/rule/rule_test.go
@@ -552,3 +552,64 @@ func TestAnnotationTemplates_FullGoTemplate(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestAlertingRule_HumanizeDuration(t *testing.T) {
+	q := &fakeQuerier{
+		results: datasource.Result{
+			Data: []datasource.Metric{{
+				Labels: []datasource.Label{
+					{Name: "pod_site", Value: "buf101"},
+					{Name: "pod", Value: "pod1"},
+				},
+				Values: []float64{0},
+			}},
+		},
+	}
+	r := NewAlertingRule(&fakeQuerierBuilder{q: q}, "g", time.Minute, config.Rule{
+		Alert: "TPUCCPodDataStale",
+		Expr:  "SELECT 'buf101' AS pod_site, 'pod1' AS pod, 1200 AS value",
+		Annotations: map[string]string{
+			"summary": "{{ $labels.pod_site }} {{ $labels.pod }}: last inlet reading was {{ $value | humanizeDuration }} ago",
+			"native":  "{{ .Labels.pod_site }} {{ .Labels.pod }}: last inlet reading was {{ humanizeDuration .Value }} ago",
+		},
+		ID: 778,
+	})
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		seconds float64
+		want    string
+	}{
+		{name: "minutes", seconds: 1200, want: "20m 0s"},
+		{name: "hours", seconds: 4800, want: "1h 20m 0s"},
+		{name: "days", seconds: 93600, want: "1d 2h 0m 0s"},
+	}
+	var alertID uint64
+	now := time.Now()
+	for i, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			q.results.Data[0].Values[0] = tt.seconds
+			alerts, err := r.Exec(context.Background(), now.Add(time.Duration(i)*time.Minute), 0)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if len(alerts) != 1 {
+				t.Fatalf("expected 1 alert, got %d", len(alerts))
+			}
+			want := "buf101 pod1: last inlet reading was " + tt.want + " ago"
+			for _, key := range []string{"summary", "native"} {
+				if got := alerts[0].Annotations[key]; got != want {
+					t.Errorf("annotation %q: want %q, got %q", key, want, got)
+				}
+			}
+			if got := alerts[0].Value; got != tt.seconds {
+				t.Errorf("formatting changed value: want %v seconds, got %v", tt.seconds, got)
+			}
+			if i == 0 {
+				alertID = alerts[0].ID
+			} else if alerts[0].ID != alertID {
+				t.Errorf("duration change created a new alert: want ID %d, got %d", alertID, alerts[0].ID)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}