# Observability

> >-

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-alisinadevelo-md-files-observability`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [AlisinaDevelo](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/alisinadevelo)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [AlisinaDevelo](https://github.com/AlisinaDevelo)
- **Source:** https://github.com/AlisinaDevelo/md-files/tree/main/plugins/forge/skills/observability

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-alisinadevelo-md-files-observability
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Observability

Observability is the ability to understand a system's internal state from its outputs.
You instrument so that when something breaks at 3 a.m., the signals already exist to
explain it — you can't add a log line after the incident.

## The three pillars

- **Logs** — discrete events with context. Use for the "what exactly happened" of a
  specific request.
- **Metrics** — aggregated numbers over time. Use for trends, rates, and alerting.
  Cheap to store, fast to query.
- **Traces** — the path of one request across services. Use to find *where* latency or
  errors originate in a distributed call.

Connect them: put a trace/request ID on every log line and metric exemplar so you can
pivot from a metric spike to the traces to the logs.

## Structured logging

Log structured key–value pairs (JSON), not interpolated prose — so logs are queryable.
Include request ID, user/tenant (non-PII), operation, duration, and outcome. Log at the
right level: ERROR = needs attention, WARN = unusual but handled, INFO = significant
state change, DEBUG = diagnostic detail. **Never log secrets, tokens, or PII.**

```text
log.info("payment.captured", order_id=o.id, amount=o.total, request_id=ctx.rid, latency_ms=dt)
```

## What to measure

- **RED** (request-driven services): **R**ate, **E**rrors, **D**uration per endpoint.
- **USE** (resources): **U**tilization, **S**aturation, **E**rrors per resource.
- Business signals that matter (signups, checkouts) alongside system signals.

Track distributions (p50/p95/p99), not just averages — the tail is where users feel pain.

## Alerting

Alert on **symptoms users feel** (error rate, latency SLO breach, saturation), not every
internal cause. Every alert must be actionable and point toward a runbook — a pager that
cries wolf gets ignored. Define SLOs (e.g. 99.9% of requests < 300ms) and alert on burn
rate against the error budget.

## Instrumenting new code

For each critical path: emit a metric (rate/error/duration), a span if it crosses a
service boundary, and structured logs at the decision points and failures. Make the
failure path as observable as the success path — that's the part you'll need most.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [AlisinaDevelo](https://github.com/AlisinaDevelo)
- **Source:** [AlisinaDevelo/md-files](https://github.com/AlisinaDevelo/md-files)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-alisinadevelo-md-files-observability
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/alisinadevelo
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.