iii-observability

star 18.2k

OpenTelemetry-backed tracing, structured logs, metrics with rollups, alerts, sampling, and baggage for the engine — emit and query telemetry through `engine::*` functions and react to logs with a `log` trigger.

iii-hq By iii-hq schedule Updated 6/16/2026

name: iii-observability description: >- OpenTelemetry-backed tracing, structured logs, metrics with rollups, alerts, sampling, and baggage for the engine — emit and query telemetry through engine::* functions and react to logs with a log trigger.

iii-observability

The iii-observability worker provides OpenTelemetry-backed observability for the iii engine: distributed tracing, structured logs, metrics with rollups, alert rules, sampling configuration, and baggage propagation. Every surface is a callable engine::* function, plus a single log reactive trigger that fires on every ingested log entry. Functions span nine sub-namespaces — emit, query stored telemetry, inspect configuration, and propagate context.

The worker is on by default (enabled: true). When disabled, the emit and read functions still register but become no-ops and the trigger never fires. Core config: service_name/service_version/service_namespace (OTel resource attributes), exporter (memory | otlp | both), endpoint (OTLP collector URL, default http://localhost:4317), sampling_ratio (0.01.0), memory_max_spans, and per-pillar toggles/limits (metrics_enabled, logs_enabled, retention and count caps). Most fields accept OTEL_* env overrides. The in-memory query functions (logs, traces) require the memory or both exporter.

When to Use

  • Emit structured logs or read back stored logs/spans/metrics from inside a function instead of shelling out to a collector.
  • React in real time to log entries (page on errors, archive everything) without polling.
  • Inspect engine health, active sampling rules, or alert state operationally.
  • Propagate OpenTelemetry baggage across calls for cross-cutting context.

Boundaries

  • engine::baggage::set does not propagate back to the caller — baggage propagation happens at the SDK/invocation level via headers.
  • The in-memory query functions return nothing useful unless the memory (or both) exporter is configured; with otlp-only the data lives in your collector.
  • When logs_enabled is off the log pipeline is dormant and the log trigger never fires; the ingest level sets the minimum severity stored.
  • This worker observes telemetry — it is not a general event bus (iii-pubsub) or durable queue (iii-queue).

Functions

  • engine::log::info, engine::log::warn, engine::log::error, engine::log::debug, engine::log::trace — emit a log entry at the named severity; same input shape, only the level differs.
  • engine::logs::list — read stored OTel logs, filtered by time, trace correlation, or severity.
  • engine::logs::clear — wipe the in-memory log store.
  • engine::traces::list — list stored spans.
  • engine::traces::tree — walk a single trace as a parent/child tree.
  • engine::traces::group_by — aggregate stored spans by an attribute value (counts, duration, errors per group).
  • engine::traces::clear — wipe stored spans.
  • engine::metrics::list — list metrics with aggregated stats and optional time bucketing.
  • engine::rollups::list — list metric rollup aggregations across 1-minute, 5-minute, and 1-hour windows.
  • engine::baggage::get, engine::baggage::get_all — read one or all OpenTelemetry baggage keys.
  • engine::baggage::set — set a baggage key locally (does not propagate to the caller).
  • engine::sampling::rules — list the active sampling rules.
  • engine::health::check — return engine health (status, per-component breakdown, version).
  • engine::alerts::list — inspect configured alert rules and current state.
  • engine::alerts::evaluate — manually run an alert evaluation pass.

Reactive triggers

Bind a log trigger when a function should run every time a log entry lands in the engine's OTel log pipeline — emitted via engine::log::*, ingested via OTLP, or recorded by any worker using structured logging. Each subscription receives the same OTel-shaped record, so handlers can route by severity, attribute, or trace correlation.

Reach for it when:

  • A specific severity (typically error) should page a human, post to Slack, or open a ticket.
  • You want real-time fan-out of log entries to a downstream sink (archive, analytics, transformer) without polling engine::logs::list.

Use engine::logs::list instead when you need to query stored entries on demand rather than react to each as it arrives.

How to bind

  1. Register a handler: iii.registerFunction('monitoring::on-error', handler).
  2. Register the trigger:
iii.registerTrigger({
  type: 'log',
  function_id: 'monitoring::on-error',
  config: {
    level: 'error',  // optional. trace|debug|info|warn|error. Omit to fire on every level.
  },
})

The log trigger only fires when the logs pipeline is enabled, and level filters to that minimum severity. The handler's return value is ignored; invocations are spawned asynchronously after each entry is stored.

For the OTel log record shape, call iii get function info on the trigger type or handler function id.

Install via CLI
npx skills add https://github.com/iii-hq/iii --skill iii-observability
Repository Details
star Stars 18,222
call_split Forks 1,213
navigation Branch main
article Path SKILL.md
More from Creator