Telemetry Instrumentation

Telemetry Instrumentation

How to instrument code in vscode-documentdb to produce actionable telemetry.

What the Framework Gives You for Free

The @microsoft/vscode-azext-utils library automatically captures these — never add them manually:

Do not re-measure duration, set result, or catch errors just for telemetry — the wrapper handles it.

Core API

callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling(eventId, callback)

The primary wrapper. Creates a telemetry event, runs the callback, reports result + duration + errors. The callback's return value is passed through, so you can wrap any function call directly:

import { callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling } from '@microsoft/vscode-azext-utils';

// Simple — wrap logic, telemetry is automatic
await callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myFeature.doSomething', async (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.someProperty = 'value';
  context.telemetry.measurements.itemCount = items.length;
  // ... your logic — errors are caught and reported automatically
});

// With return value — no need for intermediate variables
const result = await callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myFeature.query', async (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.queryType = 'find';
  return doWork(); // return value passes through to the caller
});

Event name convention: use dot-separated hierarchy: connect, connect.getmetadata, connect.promptForCredentials.

Command Registration (auto-telemetry)

Every registered command gets a telemetry event automatically. Prefer the correlation-wrapped variants:

import { registerCommandWithTreeNodeUnwrapping } from '@microsoft/vscode-azext-utils';
import { withTreeNodeCommandCorrelation, withCommandCorrelation } from '../../utils/commandTelemetry';

// Tree node commands — unwraps tree item + tracks journeyCorrelationId
registerCommandWithTreeNodeUnwrapping(
  'vscode-documentdb.command.connectionsView.myCommand',
  withTreeNodeCommandCorrelation(myCommandHandler),
);

// Plain commands — tracks journeyCorrelationId
registerCommand('vscode-documentdb.command.myCommand', withCommandCorrelation(myCommandHandler));

For critical commands where errors need modal dialogs:

import { registerCommandWithTreeNodeUnwrappingAndModalErrors } from '../../utils/commandErrorHandling';

tRPC Procedures (auto-telemetry)

Webview tRPC calls get telemetry automatically via publicProcedureWithTelemetry. Each call emits documentDB.rpc.{type}.{path} with result, error, abort tracking. The DocumentDB TelemetryRunner contributes the full IActionContext to ctx.actionContext (narrow ctx to WithTelemetry<RouterContext> to read it):

myProcedure: publicProcedureWithTelemetry.input(schema).query(async ({ ctx, input }) => {
    const myCtx = ctx as WithTelemetry<RouterContext>;
    myCtx.actionContext.telemetry.properties.someDetail = 'value';
    myCtx.actionContext.telemetry.measurements.resultCount = results.length;
    return results;
}),

Naming Conventions

Property & measurement names

• Default: use camelCase — authMethod, connectionMode, discoveryProviderId
• Namespaced metadata: when spreading a flat metadata object into telemetry (e.g., cluster metadata collected once and reused), use prefix_camelCase — domainInfo_isAzure, serverInfo_version. The prefix acts as a namespace. This pattern exists in getClusterMetadata.ts and is matched by dashboard queries.
• Never mix within one prefix: task_initializationCompleted (mixed snake + camelCase) is wrong — use task_initializationCompleted → taskInitializationCompleted or task_initialization_completed consistently.
• Correlation IDs: always use camelCase — journeyCorrelationId, connectionCorrelationId.

Boolean properties

Always use the ternary pattern — it makes the intent explicit:

// ✅ Correct — clear intent, consistent
context.telemetry.properties.hasFolders = totalFolders > 0 ? 'true' : 'false';
context.telemetry.properties.isFirstConnection = isFirst ? 'true' : 'false';

// ❌ Avoid — works but less readable, can accidentally stringify non-booleans
context.telemetry.properties.isWindows = isWindows.toString();

Numbers: property or measurement?

Rule: if you'd ever want to compute P50, average, sum, or max over it, use a measurement. Numbers stored as string properties can't be aggregated in analytics without casting.

// ✅ Measurement — enables P50(pageNumber), avg(itemCount)
context.telemetry.measurements.pageNumber = input.pageNumber;
context.telemetry.measurements.itemCount = items.length;

// ❌ Wrong — forces dashboard to todouble(Properties.pageNumber)
context.telemetry.properties.pageNumber = input.pageNumber.toString();

Exception: numeric values used purely as categories (e.g., an error code used for grouping, not aggregation) can be properties.

Properties vs Measurements

Properties — what to capture

// Feature context — what variant/mode is being used
context.telemetry.properties.view = 'connectionsView';
context.telemetry.properties.experience = node.experience.api; // 'vCore' | 'RU'
context.telemetry.properties.authMethod = 'connectionString';

// Boolean flags — always use 'true'/'false' strings
context.telemetry.properties.hasFolders = totalFolders > 0 ? 'true' : 'false';
context.telemetry.properties.isFirstConnection = isFirst ? 'true' : 'false';

// Classification of inputs or results
context.telemetry.properties.connectionMode = 'documentdb'; // what was selected
context.telemetry.properties.terminalType = 'PowerShell'; // what environment

// Error classification beyond the auto-captured error
context.telemetry.properties.connectionErrorType = 'auth'; // error category
context.telemetry.properties.parseError = 'SyntaxError'; // specific error type

// View identification — set for user-initiated or view-specific operations
// Skip for background tasks, activation events, or cross-cutting concerns
context.telemetry.properties.view = Views.ConnectionsView;

Measurements — what to capture

// Counts — how many items were involved
context.telemetry.measurements.itemCount = results.length;
context.telemetry.measurements.totalConnections = connections.length;
context.telemetry.measurements.savedConnections = rootItems.length;

// Requested vs returned — reveals pagination, limits, empty results
context.telemetry.measurements.pageSize = input.pageSize;
context.telemetry.measurements.documentCount = docs.length;

// Sub-durations — where time is spent (the total is auto-captured)
context.telemetry.measurements.loadTimeMs = Date.now() - startTime;
context.telemetry.measurements.mainFileLoad = (loadEnd - loadStart) / 1000;

// Attempts/retries
context.telemetry.measurements.connectionViewActivationAttempts = attempt + 1;
context.telemetry.measurements.cleanupIterations = iteration;

// Breakdown counts — for multi-category results
context.telemetry.measurements.createRecommendationCount = createCount;
context.telemetry.measurements.dropRecommendationCount = dropCount;

// Structural complexity — depth, nesting
context.telemetry.measurements.maxFolderDepth = maxDepth;

Dynamic property/measurement names

When the set of categories is data-driven, use a prefix:

context.telemetry.measurements[`${zonePrefix}_Connections`] = connectionsInZone;
context.telemetry.measurements[`${zonePrefix}_Folders`] = foldersInZone;

Sub-step Telemetry

Use nested callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling inside a parent event to get fine-grained timing and success/failure per step:

await callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('connect', async (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.view = 'discoveryView';

  // Sub-step: prompting — gets its own duration, result, errors
  await callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('connect.promptForCredentials', async (subCtx) => {
    subCtx.errorHandling.rethrow = true; // let parent see failures
    await wizard.prompt();
  });

  // Sub-step: metadata collection (fire-and-forget, non-blocking)
  void callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('connect.getmetadata', async (metaCtx) => {
    const metadata = await collectMetadata();
    metaCtx.telemetry.properties = { ...metaCtx.telemetry.properties, ...metadata };
  });
});

When to use sub-steps:

• Operation has distinct phases (prompt → connect → collect metadata)
• You need per-phase duration/success data
• A sub-step can fail independently without failing the parent

Naming: use parent event as prefix: connect.promptForCredentials, connect.getmetadata, connect.staticmetadata.

Correlation IDs — Linking Related Events

journeyCorrelationId — user journey across commands

Links a chain of user actions that form a logical journey (e.g., discover → select → connect → browse). Generated once at the start and propagated through tree items:

// Generate at the journey start (e.g., when a discovery tree root is created)
this.journeyCorrelationId = randomUUID();

// Tree items carry it to children
new MongoRUResourceItem(this, account, this.journeyCorrelationId);

// Commands pick it up automatically via withTreeNodeCommandCorrelation/withCommandCorrelation
// OR manually in a callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling:
if (this.journeyCorrelationId) {
  context.telemetry.properties.journeyCorrelationId = this.journeyCorrelationId;
}

Use journeyCorrelationId when: a user flow spans multiple command invocations that should be analyzed together (discovery → connect → browse, folder operations in sequence).

connectionCorrelationId — linking connection sub-events

Links the connect, connect.staticmetadata, and connect.getmetadata events for a single connection attempt:

this.connectionCorrelationId = randomUUID();

void callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('connect.staticmetadata', async (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.connectionCorrelationId = this.connectionCorrelationId;
  // ...domain metadata
});

void callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('connect.getmetadata', async (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.connectionCorrelationId = this.connectionCorrelationId;
  // ...server metadata
});

Use connectionCorrelationId when: an operation emits multiple independent events that must be joined for analysis (especially fire-and-forget sub-events).

Session-scoped correlation — ongoing sessions

For features where a user session produces many events (e.g., shell, REPL, interactive query editing), generate a session-scoped correlation ID and attach it to every event in that session. This enables aggregation (total commands per session, session duration as max-min timestamps):

const sessionId = randomUUID();

// Each action within the session carries the same ID
context.telemetry.properties.shellSessionId = sessionId;
context.telemetry.measurements.commandIndex = commandCount++;

Controlling Telemetry Behavior

Suppressing noisy events

// High-frequency events (keystroke handlers, document change listeners)
context.telemetry.suppressIfSuccessful = true; // only emit on error/cancel

// Fully silent (internal bookkeeping)
context.telemetry.suppressAll = true;

Error handling control

// Don't show error notification to user (background/internal operations)
context.errorHandling.suppressDisplay = true;

// Re-throw so the parent caller sees the error
context.errorHandling.rethrow = true;

// Don't offer "Report Issue" button
context.errorHandling.suppressReportIssue = true;

Activation events

Mark startup/initialization telemetry so it can be filtered out of active-usage analysis:

context.telemetry.properties.isActivationEvent = 'true';

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Don't measure duration manually — the framework does it

The framework auto-captures measurements.duration for every callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling event. Never add Date.now() tracking for the same purpose:

// ❌ Wrong — redundant manual timing
const startTime = Date.now();
await callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myEvent', async (context) => {
  await doWork();
  context.telemetry.measurements.durationMs = Date.now() - startTime; // duplicates framework
});

// ✅ Correct — framework captures duration automatically
await callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myEvent', async (context) => {
  await doWork();
  // duration is auto-captured — no manual timing needed
});

Exception: sub-durations within a single event (e.g., "time spent on init vs. time on eval") are valid because they measure a phase, not the total.

❌ Don't create separate success/failure telemetry blocks

Wrap the operation in a single callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling. The framework sets result=Succeeded or result=Failed automatically:

// ❌ Wrong — two fire-and-forget blocks, error rethrow inside void is swallowed
try {
  const result = await doWork();
  void callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myEvent', async (ctx) => {
    ctx.telemetry.properties.isError = 'false';
  });
} catch (error) {
  void callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myEvent', async (ctx) => {
    ctx.telemetry.properties.isError = 'true';
    throw error; // ⚠️ swallowed — void discards the promise
  });
}

// ✅ Correct — single wrapper, framework handles success/failure
await callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myEvent', async (context) => {
  context.errorHandling.suppressDisplay = true;
  context.errorHandling.rethrow = true; // let caller handle display
  context.telemetry.properties.someProperty = 'value';
  const result = await doWork(); // errors auto-set result=Failed
  context.telemetry.properties.resultType = result.type;
});

❌ Don't use suppressIfSuccessful on events you want to measure

suppressIfSuccessful = true means the event is only emitted on error. Never use it on events where you need to count successful occurrences:

// ❌ Wrong — successful completions are silently dropped
registerCommand('completionAccepted', (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.category = category;
  context.telemetry.suppressIfSuccessful = true; // BUG: won't emit on success
});

// ✅ Correct — every acceptance is tracked
registerCommand('completionAccepted', (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.category = category;
  // no suppress — we want to count every acceptance
});

When suppressIfSuccessful IS correct: high-frequency background operations where you only care about failures (e.g., keystroke handlers, document change listeners, periodic health checks).

❌ Don't throw errors inside void callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling

When using fire-and-forget (void) telemetry, thrown errors are swallowed because nobody awaits the promise. The framework captures the error in telemetry properties but the throw has no effect on the calling code:

// ❌ Wrong — throw inside void is swallowed, no effect on caller
void callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myEvent', async (context) => {
  throw error; // captured in telemetry but NOT re-thrown to caller
});
// code continues here regardless

// ✅ Correct for fire-and-forget — just set properties, don't throw
void callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myEvent', async (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.shellSessionId = sessionId;
  // fire-and-forget: no throw, no await needed
});

// ✅ Correct when you need error propagation — use await
await callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('myEvent', async (context) => {
  context.errorHandling.rethrow = true;
  await riskyOperation(); // error propagates to caller via rethrow
});

Masking Sensitive Data

Never let connection strings, passwords, tokens, or hostnames appear in telemetry.

import { maskSensitiveValuesInTelemetry } from '../../documentdb/utils/connectionStringHelpers';

// Mask all sensitive parts of a parsed connection string
maskSensitiveValuesInTelemetry(context, parsedConnectionString);

// Or mask individual values
context.valuesToMask.push(password, token);

Tree View Events

Tree getChildren calls emit telemetry. Always set context so analytics can distinguish navigation levels:

return callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling('getChildren', async (context) => {
  context.telemetry.properties.parentNodeContext = element ? (await element.getTreeItem()).contextValue : 'root';
  context.telemetry.measurements.childrenCount = children.length;
  return children;
});

Note: Root-level getChildren fires automatically when panels become visible (passive rendering). Analytics filters these with parentNodeContext != "root" — always set this property.

What Data Points to Capture — Decision Guide

When instrumenting a feature, consider these categories:

For any operation

• What variant/mode was used (property) — enables segmentation
• How many items were involved (measurement) — reveals usage scale
• Server/environment type when relevant (property) — different backends behave differently

For slow or async operations

• Sub-step durations (measurements) — total duration is auto-captured, but breakdowns show where time goes
• Retry/attempt counts (measurement) — reveals flakiness
• Timeout vs success (property) — important for polling patterns

For operations that return results

• Requested vs returned count — reveals empty results, pagination patterns, limit hits
• Result classification — category/type breakdown of what was returned

For multi-step flows

• Correlation ID — link events into a journey
• Step identification — which step succeeded/failed (sub-step events or lastStep property)
• Cancellation point — where the user abandoned the flow

For session-based features (shell, REPL, interactive editors)

• Session correlation ID — group all events from one session
• Command/action index — sequence number within the session (enables count-per-session aggregation since there's typically no "session end" event)
• Server type — what kind of server the session targets

For error recovery flows

• Recovery success flag — did the user successfully recover (e.g., reconnected = 'true')
• Error-then-recovery correlation — link the original error to the recovery action

When to Override result Manually

The wrapper auto-sets result to "Succeeded" / "Failed" / "Canceled". Manual override is required in two cases:

1. Early return on invalid state — function returns without throwing, but the operation logically failed:

if (!isValidFormat) {
  context.telemetry.properties.result = 'Failed';
  context.telemetry.properties.errorReason = 'invalidNodeIdFormat';
  return; // no throw → wrapper would report "Succeeded" without the override
}

2. Non-throwing error signals — e.g., tRPC returns { ok: false } instead of throwing:

if (!result.ok) {
  context.telemetry.properties.result = 'Failed';
  context.telemetry.properties.error = result.error.name;
}

Do NOT override result when you also throw — the wrapper handles that automatically.

Common Pitfalls

• Don't measure duration — callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling does this already
• Don't set result when throwing — the wrapper sets "Succeeded" / "Failed" / "Canceled" automatically from the throw. Only override result on early-return failures or non-throwing error paths (see above)
• Don't catch errors just for telemetry — the wrapper catches and records them
• Don't log sensitive data — use maskSensitiveValuesInTelemetry or context.valuesToMask
• Don't create a new callWithTelemetryAndErrorHandling for every minor step — only when you need separate duration/result tracking for a step
• Don't forget context.errorHandling.rethrow = true in sub-steps that should propagate failures to the parent
• Don't use suppressIfSuccessful on events you need to count — it drops successful events entirely
• Don't store numbers as string properties — use measurements for anything you'd want to aggregate (P50, sum, avg). Use .toString() only for numbers used as categorical grouping keys
• Don't use .toString() for booleans — use the explicit ternary: value ? 'true' : 'false'