# Monitoring Setup

> Set up observability with logs, metrics, and traces — know what your system is doing at all times.

- Skill: `rahulrachhoya/monitoring-setup` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add rahulrachhoya/monitoring-setup`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/rahulrachhoya/monitoring-setup/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: RahulRachhoya (https://skillmd.com/u/rahulrachhoya)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/rahulrachhoya/monitoring-setup

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# Monitoring Setup

## Three Pillars
1. **Logs** — structured, searchable records of events
2. **Metrics** — numerical measurements over time (latency, error rate, throughput)
3. **Traces** — end-to-end request flow across services

## What to Monitor
- **RED metrics**: Rate, Errors, Duration (for every service)
- **USE metrics**: Utilization, Saturation, Errors (for every resource)
- **Business metrics**: signups, orders, revenue — know if the business is working

## Alert Design
- Alert on symptoms (high error rate), not causes (high CPU)
- Set proper thresholds — too many alerts = ignored alerts
- Page for: user-facing errors, data loss, security incidents
- Email/Slack for: warnings, approaching thresholds
- Every alert must have a runbook link

## Logging Rules
- Structured format (JSON), not plain text
- Include: timestamp, level, service, trace_id, message
- No secrets in logs (PII, passwords, tokens)
- Log at the right level: DEBUG (dev), INFO (normal), WARN (concern), ERROR (broken)