iii-observability

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Integrates OpenTelemetry tracing, metrics, and logging into iii workers. Use when setting up distributed tracing, Prometheus metrics, custom spans, or connecting to observability backends.

8installs

Sourceiii-hq/skills

Added on2026-04-21

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add iii-hq/skills iii-observability

SKILL.md Content

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Observability

Comparable to: Datadog, Grafana, Honeycomb, Jaeger

Key Concepts

Use the concepts below when they fit the task. Not every worker needs custom spans or metrics.

Built-in OpenTelemetry support across all SDKs — every function invocation is automatically traced
The engine exports traces, metrics, and logs via OTLP to any compatible collector
Workers propagate W3C trace context automatically across function invocations
Prometheus metrics are exposed on port 9464
```
registerWorker()
```
with
```
otel
```
config enables telemetry per worker
Custom spans via
```
withSpan(name, opts, fn)
```
wrap async work with trace context
Custom metrics via
```
getMeter()
```
create counters and histograms

Architecture

The worker SDK generates spans, metrics, and logs during function execution. These flow to the engine, which exports them via OTLP to a collector (Jaeger, Grafana, Datadog). The engine also exposes a Prometheus endpoint on port 9464 for scraping.

iii Primitives Used

Primitive	Purpose
`registerWorker(url, { otel })`	Connect worker with telemetry config
`withSpan(name, opts, fn)`	Create a custom trace span
`getTracer()`	Access OpenTelemetry Tracer directly
`getMeter()`	Access OpenTelemetry Meter for custom metrics
`currentTraceId()`	Get active trace ID for correlation
`injectTraceparent()`	Inject W3C trace context into outbound calls
`onLog(callback, { level })`	Subscribe to log events
`shutdown_otel()`	Graceful shutdown of telemetry pipeline

Reference Implementation

See ../references/observability.js for the full working example — a worker with custom spans,

Also available in Python: ../references/observability.py

Also available in Rust: ../references/observability.rs metrics counters, trace propagation, and log subscriptions connected to an OTel collector.

Common Patterns

Code using this pattern commonly includes, when relevant:

registerWorker('ws://localhost:49134', { otel: { enabled: true, serviceName: 'my-svc' } })

— enable telemetry

withSpan('validate-order', {}, async (span) => { span.setAttribute('order.id', id); ... })

— custom span

getMeter().createCounter('orders.processed')

— custom counter metric

getMeter().createHistogram('request.duration')

— custom histogram metric

onLog((log) => { ... }, { level: 'warn' })

— subscribe to warnings and above

```
currentTraceId()
```
— get active trace ID for correlation with external systems
```
injectTraceparent()
```
— propagate trace context to outbound HTTP calls

Disable telemetry:

registerWorker(url, { otel: { enabled: false } })

or

OTEL_ENABLED=false

Adapting This Pattern

Use the adaptations below when they apply to the task.

Enable
```
otel
```
in
```
registerWorker()
```
config to start collecting traces automatically
Add custom spans around expensive operations (DB queries, LLM calls, external APIs)
Create domain-specific metrics (orders processed, payment failures, queue depth)
Use
```
currentTraceId()
```
to correlate iii traces with external system logs
Configure
```
OtelModule
```
in iii-config.yaml for engine-side exporter, sampling ratio, and alerts
Point the OTLP endpoint at your collector (Jaeger, Grafana Tempo, Datadog Agent)

Engine Configuration

OtelModule must be enabled in iii-config.yaml for engine-side traces, metrics, and logs. See ../references/iii-config.yaml for the full annotated config reference.

Pattern Boundaries

For engine-side OtelModule YAML configuration, prefer
```
iii-engine-config
```
.
For SDK init options and function registration, prefer
```
iii-functions-and-triggers
```
.
Stay with
```
iii-observability
```
when the primary problem is SDK-level telemetry: spans, metrics, logs, and trace propagation.

When to Use

Use this skill when the task is primarily about
```
iii-observability
```
in the iii engine.
Triggers when the request directly asks for this pattern or an equivalent implementation.

Boundaries

Never use this skill as a generic fallback for unrelated tasks.
You must not apply this skill when a more specific iii skill is a better fit.
Always verify environment and safety constraints before applying examples from this skill.