# Perplexity Observability

> Set up comprehensive observability for Perplexity integrations with metrics, traces, and alerts. Use when implementing monitoring for Perplexity operations, setting up dashboards, or configuring alerting for Perplexity integration health. Trigger with phrases like "perplexity monitoring", "perplexity metrics", "perplexity observability", "monitor perplexity", "perplexity alerts", "perplexity tracing".

- Skill: `tools-only/perplexity-observability` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add tools-only/perplexity-observability`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tools-only/perplexity-observability/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Integrations & APIs
- License: MIT
- Author: tools-only (https://skillmd.com/u/tools-only)
- Updated: 2026-09-08
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tools-only/perplexity-observability

---


# Perplexity Observability

## Overview
Set up comprehensive observability for Perplexity integrations.

## Prerequisites
- Prometheus or compatible metrics backend
- OpenTelemetry SDK installed
- Grafana or similar dashboarding tool
- AlertManager configured

## Metrics Collection

### Key Metrics
| Metric | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `perplexity_requests_total` | Counter | Total API requests |
| `perplexity_request_duration_seconds` | Histogram | Request latency |
| `perplexity_errors_total` | Counter | Error count by type |
| `perplexity_rate_limit_remaining` | Gauge | Rate limit headroom |

### Prometheus Metrics

```typescript
import { Registry, Counter, Histogram, Gauge } from 'prom-client';

const registry = new Registry();

const requestCounter = new Counter({
  name: 'perplexity_requests_total',
  help: 'Total Perplexity API requests',
  labelNames: ['method', 'status'],
  registers: [registry],
});

const requestDuration = new Histogram({
  name: 'perplexity_request_duration_seconds',
  help: 'Perplexity request duration',
  labelNames: ['method'],
  buckets: [0.05, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5],
  registers: [registry],
});

const errorCounter = new Counter({
  name: 'perplexity_errors_total',
  help: 'Perplexity errors by type',
  labelNames: ['error_type'],
  registers: [registry],
});
```

### Instrumented Client

```typescript
async function instrumentedRequest<T>(
  method: string,
  operation: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
  const timer = requestDuration.startTimer({ method });

  try {
    const result = await operation();
    requestCounter.inc({ method, status: 'success' });
    return result;
  } catch (error: any) {
    requestCounter.inc({ method, status: 'error' });
    errorCounter.inc({ error_type: error.code || 'unknown' });
    throw error;
  } finally {
    timer();
  }
}
```

## Distributed Tracing

### OpenTelemetry Setup

```typescript
import { trace, SpanStatusCode } from '@opentelemetry/api';

const tracer = trace.getTracer('perplexity-client');

async function tracedPerplexityCall<T>(
  operationName: string,
  operation: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
  return tracer.startActiveSpan(`perplexity.${operationName}`, async (span) => {
    try {
      const result = await operation();
      span.setStatus({ code: SpanStatusCode.OK });
      return result;
    } catch (error: any) {
      span.setStatus({ code: SpanStatusCode.ERROR, message: error.message });
      span.recordException(error);
      throw error;
    } finally {
      span.end();
    }
  });
}
```

## Logging Strategy

### Structured Logging

```typescript
import pino from 'pino';

const logger = pino({
  name: 'perplexity',
  level: process.env.LOG_LEVEL || 'info',
});

function logPerplexityOperation(
  operation: string,
  data: Record<string, any>,
  duration: number
) {
  logger.info({
    service: 'perplexity',
    operation,
    duration_ms: duration,
    ...data,
  });
}
```

## Alert Configuration

### Prometheus AlertManager Rules

```yaml
# perplexity_alerts.yaml
groups:
  - name: perplexity_alerts
    rules:
      - alert: PerplexityHighErrorRate
        expr: |
          rate(perplexity_errors_total[5m]) /
          rate(perplexity_requests_total[5m]) > 0.05
        for: 5m
        labels:
          severity: warning
        annotations:
          summary: "Perplexity error rate > 5%"

      - alert: PerplexityHighLatency
        expr: |
          histogram_quantile(0.95,
            rate(perplexity_request_duration_seconds_bucket[5m])
          ) > 2
        for: 5m
        labels:
          severity: warning
        annotations:
          summary: "Perplexity P95 latency > 2s"

      - alert: PerplexityDown
        expr: up{job="perplexity"} == 0
        for: 1m
        labels:
          severity: critical
        annotations:
          summary: "Perplexity integration is down"
```

## Dashboard

### Grafana Panel Queries

```json
{
  "panels": [
    {
      "title": "Perplexity Request Rate",
      "targets": [{
        "expr": "rate(perplexity_requests_total[5m])"
      }]
    },
    {
      "title": "Perplexity Latency P50/P95/P99",
      "targets": [{
        "expr": "histogram_quantile(0.5, rate(perplexity_request_duration_seconds_bucket[5m]))"
      }]
    }
  ]
}
```

## Instructions

### Step 1: Set Up Metrics Collection
Implement Prometheus counters, histograms, and gauges for key operations.

### Step 2: Add Distributed Tracing
Integrate OpenTelemetry for end-to-end request tracing.

### Step 3: Configure Structured Logging
Set up JSON logging with consistent field names.

### Step 4: Create Alert Rules
Define Prometheus alerting rules for error rates and latency.

## Output
- Metrics collection enabled
- Distributed tracing configured
- Structured logging implemented
- Alert rules deployed

## Error Handling
| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|-------|-------|----------|
| Missing metrics | No instrumentation | Wrap client calls |
| Trace gaps | Missing propagation | Check context headers |
| Alert storms | Wrong thresholds | Tune alert rules |
| High cardinality | Too many labels | Reduce label values |

## Examples

### Quick Metrics Endpoint
```typescript
app.get('/metrics', async (req, res) => {
  res.set('Content-Type', registry.contentType);
  res.send(await registry.metrics());
});
```

## Resources
- [Prometheus Best Practices](https://prometheus.io/docs/practices/naming/)
- [OpenTelemetry Documentation](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/)
- [Perplexity Observability Guide](https://docs.perplexity.com/observability)

## Next Steps
For incident response, see `perplexity-incident-runbook`.