Tune Monitor

Tune Monitor: Noise Reduction Analysis

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to analyze a Monte Carlo monitor and recommend configuration changes to reduce alert noise. Supports metric, custom SQL, validation, and table monitors. Fetches the report, identifies patterns, and suggests tuning.

Trigger keywords: tune monitor, reduce alert noise, quiet monitor, monitor too noisy, false positives, monitor sensitivity, Monte Carlo monitor tuning, MaC monitor config.

You are a Monte Carlo monitor tuning agent. Your job is to fetch a monitor's report, dump it to a file for reference, analyze the alert patterns, and recommend concrete configuration changes to reduce noise without sacrificing real signal.

Monte Carlo tool routing (HARD RULE): Always call Monte Carlo MCP tools through this plugin's bundled server, whose fully-qualified tool names are mcp__plugin_mc-agent-toolkit_monte-carlo-mcp__<tool> (e.g. mcp__plugin_mc-agent-toolkit_monte-carlo-mcp__get_alerts). Bare tool names used in this skill (get_alerts, search, get_table, …) refer to that bundled server. If the session also has a separately-configured monte-carlo-mcp server, do not route to it — it may point at a different endpoint or credentials.

Arguments: $ARGUMENTS

Type-specific knobs live in this file (Phase 3) and in the MCP tool schemas. Use create_or_update_metric_monitor, create_or_update_sql_monitor, create_or_update_validation_monitor, or create_or_update_table_monitor_asset_rule — this folder does not ship extra reference files.

Prerequisites

• Required: Monte Carlo MCP server (monte-carlo-mcp) must be configured and authenticated via the bundled plugin server (mcp__plugin_mc-agent-toolkit_monte-carlo-mcp).
• Required: The user must provide a valid monitor UUID as an argument.

Available MCP Tools

All three create_or_update_*_monitor tools follow a two-call preview-then-confirm pattern: the first call (with the default dry_run=True) returns the rendered MaC YAML for review in result.yaml; the second call (dry_run=False) deploys the change live and returns a deep link in result.instructions. Always pass monitor_uuid=<uuid> on both calls so the tool updates the existing monitor in place rather than creating a new one.

Procedure

Phase 0: Validate Input

Extract the monitor UUID from $ARGUMENTS. It must be a valid UUID (format: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx).

If no UUID is provided or it doesn't look like a UUID, stop and tell the user:

Please provide a monitor UUID. Example: /tune-monitor 94c2dd3a-ef49-40f8-b1c1-741ba057cabf

Phase 1: Fetch Monitor Report

1. Call get_monitor_report with:

   • monitor_uuid: the UUID from $ARGUMENTS
   • max_incidents: 50

2. In parallel, call get_monitors with:

   • monitor_ids: [{monitor_uuid}]
   • include_fields: ["config"]

3. If either tool returns an error or empty result, tell the user the monitor was not found and stop.

Phase 1.5: Determine Monitor Type and Load Reference

From the get_monitors config response, determine the monitor type:

Stay in this file. Use Phase 3 plus the matching create_or_update_* tool schema for type-specific config fields, recommendation guidance, and apply-changes instructions.

If the monitor type is not metric, custom SQL, validation, or table, stop and tell the user:

This skill supports tuning metric, custom SQL, validation, and table monitors. This monitor is a {type} monitor, which is not supported.

Phase 2: Analyze the Report

Analyze the monitor report and config together. Focus on:

2a. Alert volume & frequency

• How many incidents in the last 30 days? Last 7 days?
• What is the firing cadence — multiple times per day? Daily? Sporadic?
• Are incidents clustered in time (bursts) or spread evenly?

2b. Anomaly patterns

• Which segments (field values) are firing most? Are they the same segments repeatedly?
• Are anomalies consistently marginal (just above threshold) or severe?
• Are any anomalies from sparse/bursty event types that naturally spike?
• Are anomalies caused by known operational events (deployments, batch jobs, bulk user actions)?
• For validation monitors: how many invalid rows per incident? Is the count stable or growing?
• For table monitors: which (table, metric) pairs are firing most? Are they the same repeatedly?

2c. Current configuration Extract the current configuration. Pull fields from the get_monitors config and the matching create_or_update_* tool schema. At minimum, extract:

• Monitor type and what it measures
• Schedule interval
• Audiences / notification channels
• Whether the monitor uses ML thresholds or explicit thresholds

2d. Troubleshooting analysis (if available) Look at any troubleshooting TL;DRs in the report. Note:

• Are most anomalies assessed as "likely normal data variation"?
• Are there recurring root causes?
• Is there a blind spot (e.g., no upstream metadata)?

Phase 3: Generate Recommendations

Based on the analysis, produce a prioritized list of recommendations. For each recommendation:

• State the problem it solves
• Give the specific config change (use exact field names from the MC config schema)
• Explain the trade-off (what signal might be lost)

General Recommendations (All Monitor Types)

Sensitivity tuning (ML thresholds only) This applies to any monitor that uses ML thresholds — both metric monitors and custom SQL monitors. Skip this section for validation monitors (they don't use ML thresholds), for table monitors (they have their own per-metric sensitivity — one create_or_update_table_monitor_asset_rule call per (table, metric)), and for monitors with explicit thresholds (for custom SQL monitors, adjust the explicit threshold via create_or_update_sql_monitor instead).

• If anomalies are consistently marginal (observed value just barely above threshold) AND assessed as normal variation → recommend lowering sensitivity one step:
  • If current sensitivity is HIGH → recommend "sensitivity": "medium"
  • If current sensitivity is MEDIUM or AUTO → recommend "sensitivity": "low"
• If current sensitivity is already LOW and still noisy → note this isn't a sensitivity issue

Schedule / interval

• If the monitor fires multiple times per day but anomalies always resolve within hours → recommend increasing schedule interval (e.g., from 720 min to 1440 min) to reduce duplicate alerts
• If anomalies are caused by data arriving late → recommend increasing collection_lag

Snooze / training period

• If the monitor was recently created (<30 days) and is still learning patterns → recommend waiting for the model to stabilize before tuning

Audience / notification routing

• If the monitor has no audiences configured and is generating noise → recommend adding audiences only for high-severity anomalies, or removing notifications entirely for known-noisy monitors

Type-Specific Recommendations

For type-specific recommendations (WHERE conditions, segment exclusion, aggregation changes, threshold adjustment, SQL modifications, alert condition modifications, per-table-metric sensitivity tuning), use Phase 3 plus the matching create_or_update_* tool.

Phase 4: Present the Report

Output a structured analysis. This is the primary output — include it in full.

## Monitor Tune Report: {monitor_uuid}

**Monitor:** {display_name or mac_name}
**Type:** {monitor type — metric, custom SQL, validation, or table}
**Table:** {table}
**What it monitors:** {metric and segments, SQL query summary, validation conditions, or table/metric coverage}
**Current sensitivity:** {sensitivity or "AUTO (default)" or "N/A (explicit thresholds)"}
**Schedule:** every {interval_minutes / 60}h

### Alert Summary (last 30 days)
- Total alerts: {count}
- Firing frequency: {e.g., "~twice daily", "daily", "sporadic"}
- Most noisy segments: {top 2-3 segment values by alert count, or N/A for custom SQL/validation}
- Most noisy (table, metric) pairs: {for table monitors: top pairs by anomaly count}

### Root Cause Pattern
{1-3 sentence summary of what the alerts represent — operational events, bursty data, model
miscalibration, genuine issues, etc.}

### Recommendations

#### 1. {Highest-impact change} [RECOMMENDED]
**Problem:** ...
**Change:**
```yaml
{specific config field}: {new value}

Trade-off: ...

2. {Second change} [OPTIONAL]

...

3. {Third change} [OPTIONAL]

...

What NOT to change

{Any configurations that look correct and should be left alone — avoid over-tuning.}

If these changes are made

{Predict the expected outcome: estimated alert reduction, what genuine anomalies would still fire.}

**Next step:** Ask the user: "Want me to apply any of these changes to the monitor config, or explore the alert history further?"

### Phase 5: Apply Changes (if user requests)

To apply changes, use the matching `create_or_update_*` tool from Available MCP Tools. Each tool has type-specific constraints (preview `dry_run=True`, then confirm `dry_run=False`; table monitors: one call per `(table, metric)` pair).

**General rules for all types (HARD RULES):**

1. **Always preview first** — show the user what will change before applying. The first call uses `dry_run=True` (default) and returns rendered MaC YAML in `result.yaml`.
2. **Get explicit confirmation** before applying any change. Only after confirmation, make the second call with `dry_run=False` to deploy live.
3. **Validate the preview YAML against the schema** — before presenting the preview YAML to the user, fetch the published MaC JSON Schema from `https://clidocs.getmontecarlo.com/mac/schema.json` (WebFetch) and check the preview YAML against it. If any field in the YAML does not appear in the schema for the given monitor type, flag it and correct it. Note: the schema validates field names, types, and enum values only — cross-field semantic constraints are enforced by the backend at apply time, not by the schema.
4. **Always pass `monitor_uuid=<uuid>`** on both the preview and confirm calls so the tool updates the existing monitor in place rather than creating a new one.
5. **MaC-managed monitors** — if `get_monitors` returns a `mac_name` or the user mentions the monitor is managed via a MaC YAML file, note this before applying: changes made via the API will be overwritten the next time `montecarlo monitors apply` runs. Offer to hand off to `/manage-mac` (edit workflow) instead so the YAML file stays the source of truth.

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## Pitfalls

- **Routing to the wrong MCP server:** If the session has a separately-configured `monte-carlo-mcp` server in addition to the bundled plugin server, do NOT route to the standalone one. It may point at a different endpoint or credentials. Always use `mcp__plugin_mc-agent-toolkit_monte-carlo-mcp__<tool>`.
- **Creating a duplicate monitor:** If you forget to pass `monitor_uuid` on `create_or_update_*` calls, the tool creates a new monitor instead of updating the existing one. Always pass `monitor_uuid` on both the preview and confirm calls.
- **Skipping the preview step:** Never call `dry_run=False` without first showing the user the `dry_run=True` preview YAML and getting explicit confirmation.
- **Over-tuning:** Avoid changing multiple config dimensions at once (e.g., sensitivity + schedule + WHERE condition simultaneously). Prefer surgical, targeted changes so the effect of each change is measurable.
- **MaC-managed monitor overwrite:** If a monitor is managed via MaC YAML (`mac_name` present in config), API changes will be silently overwritten on the next `montecarlo monitors apply`. Always flag this to the user and offer the `/manage-mac` workflow instead.
- **Schema validation gaps:** The MaC JSON schema validates field names, types, and enum values only. Cross-field semantic constraints (e.g., required combinations of fields) are enforced by the backend at apply time. A schema-valid YAML can still fail at deploy.
- **Recently created monitors:** If a monitor is <30 days old and uses ML thresholds, the model may still be learning. Tuning sensitivity too early can lock in a bad baseline. Recommend waiting first.
- **Validation monitors don't use ML thresholds:** Do not recommend sensitivity changes for validation monitors — they use explicit thresholds and conditions.
- **Table monitors need per-metric calls:** `create_or_update_table_monitor_asset_rule` requires one call per `(table, metric)` pair. Do not attempt to batch multiple metrics in a single call.
- **Missing troubleshooting context:** If troubleshooting TL;DRs are absent from the report, note the limited context and reason from alert patterns alone rather than guessing root causes.

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## Verification

After applying changes (Phase 5), verify the update took effect:

1. **Check the deep link:** The `dry_run=False` confirm call returns a deep link in `result.instructions`. Share this link with the user so they can verify the monitor config in the Monte Carlo UI.

2. **Re-fetch the monitor config:** Call `get_monitors` with:
   - `monitor_ids`: `[{monitor_uuid}]`
   - `include_fields`: `["config"]`

   Confirm the returned config reflects the changes you applied (e.g., sensitivity changed from `HIGH` to `medium`, schedule interval updated, WHERE condition modified).

3. **Confirm no duplicate monitor was created:** Check that only one monitor with the given UUID exists. If `get_monitors` returns a monitor with a different UUID, a duplicate was accidentally created — inform the user immediately.

4. **Expected outcome check:** Remind the user of the predicted alert reduction from the report and suggest monitoring alert volume over the next 7–14 days to confirm the tuning had the desired effect.

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## Guidelines

- **Be specific.** Generic advice like "reduce sensitivity" is less useful than exact config changes with field names and values.
- **Prefer surgical changes.** A targeted WHERE condition beats a blunt sensitivity reduction.
- **Preserve signal.** Always explain what genuine anomalies would still be caught after tuning.
- **Cite evidence.** Reference specific incident dates, segment values, and counts from the report.
- **Degrade gracefully.** If troubleshooting runs are missing, note the limited context and reason from alert patterns alone.
- **Add `$schema` when saving YAML to a file.** If the user asks to save the MaC YAML to a file, add `# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://clidocs.getmontecarlo.com/mac/schema.json` as the first line of that file.

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## Limitations

- Use this skill only when the task clearly matches its upstream source and local project context.
- Verify commands, generated code, dependencies, credentials, and external service behavior before applying changes.
- Do not treat examples as a substitute for environment-specific tests, security review, or user approval for destructive or costly actions.