/aws-observability

name: aws-observability
description: >-
  Builds, configures, debugs, and optimizes AWS observability with CloudWatch (Log Insights,
  Metrics, Alarms, Dashboards, EMF), X-Ray, CloudTrail, and ADOT (AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry),
  AND enables/onboards services to Application Signals using ADOT auto-instrumentation SDKs.
  Covers Log Insights queries, alarms (metric, composite, anomaly), dashboards, custom
  metrics/EMF, X-Ray tracing and sampling, ADOT collector config, CloudTrail auditing, and
  end-to-end Application Signals enablement via ADOT SDKs (CloudWatch Observability EKS add-on,
  CloudWatch Agent IAM, OTLP endpoints, ServiceEvents, Dynamic Instrumentation),
  breakpoint and snapshot in Dynamic Instrumentation, live data capture in running service,
  debug without redeploying. Applies to CloudWatch, alarms, dashboards, EMF, X-Ray, traces, CloudTrail,
  ADOT, monitoring, synthetics/canaries, OR enabling/onboarding/instrumenting
  a service for Application Signals. Not for app logging or security threat detection.
metadata:
  version: "2"

AWS Observability

Overview

Domain expertise for AWS observability across metrics, logs, and traces, covering the full lifecycle: **enabling/onboarding** a service to Application Signals using ADOT (AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry) auto-instrumentation SDKs and ServiceEvents — making the service show up in Application Signals — on EC2, ECS, EKS, and Lambda in Python, Node.js, Java, and .NET.

**Works best with** the [AWS MCP server](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-mcp/) — enables running CLI commands, querying CloudWatch, and validating configurations directly. All guidance also works with standard AWS CLI access.

**Note:** Reference files contain specific runtime versions, quota values, and feature matrices that may change. When precision matters (e.g., deploying to production, choosing a runtime, or checking a quota), confirm values against current AWS documentation rather than relying solely on the values in these files.

Routing

| User need | Action | |-----------|--------| | Enabling/onboarding a service to Application Signals (auto-instrumentation) | Read [application-signals-onboarding.md](references/application-signals-onboarding.md) | | Propagating ServiceEvents git/deployment metadata through CI/CD | Read [application-signals-cicd-metadata.md](references/application-signals-cicd-metadata.md) | | Per-platform/per-language enablement steps | Read the matching `references/appsignals-guides/<platform>-<language>.md` (e.g. [eks-python.md](references/appsignals-guides/eks-python.md)) | | Writing Log Insights queries | Read [log-insights.md](references/log-insights.md) | | Configuring alarms (metric, composite, anomaly) | Read [alarms.md](references/alarms.md) | | Publishing custom metrics or using EMF | Read [metrics.md](references/metrics.md) | | Setting up X-Ray tracing or ADOT | Read [tracing.md](references/tracing.md) | | Building dashboards | Read [dashboards.md](references/dashboards.md) | | Debugging observability issues | Read [troubleshooting.md](references/troubleshooting.md) — starts with the 5 most common fixes | | Debugging canary failures | Read [synthetics.md](references/synthetics.md) — see Common failures table | | CloudTrail operational auditing | Read [cloudtrail.md](references/cloudtrail.md) | | Setting up Lambda monitoring with CDK | Use [alarm-template.ts](assets/alarm-template.ts) as a starting point | | Creating synthetic canaries | Read [synthetics.md](references/synthetics.md) | | Configuring ADOT collector | Use [otel-config.yaml](assets/otel-config.yaml) as a starting point | | Debugging a running service with breakpoints/snapshots — Dynamic Instrumentation (**modifies live services and capture live data**) | Read [dynamic-instrumentation.md](references/dynamic-instrumentation.md) in full before acting. Confirm with the user before any create/delete, and narrate before significant actions: observation → hypothesis → proposed action → expected result. Diagnosing running-service root cause from source/code inspection. Source inspection alone identifies hypotheses, not confirmed root causes. Keep suspected causes tentative until runtime evidence confirms them. | | Spans multiple areas | Read the most specific reference first, then consult others as needed |

Files

| File | Content | |------|---------| | [application-signals-onboarding.md](references/application-signals-onboarding.md) | Enable Application Signals auto-instrumentation: EKS add-on, CloudWatch Agent IAM, OTLP endpoints, ServiceEvents env vars, Dynamic Instrumentation — two-tier scope by platform/language | | [application-signals-cicd-metadata.md](references/application-signals-cicd-metadata.md) | ServiceEvents git & deployment metadata propagation through CI/CD (the 5 `OTEL_AWS_SERVICE_EVENTS_*` vars) | | `references/appsignals-guides/` (e.g. [eks-python.md](references/appsignals-guides/eks-python.md)) | 16 per-platform × per-language enablement guides (EC2/ECS/EKS/Lambda × Python/Node.js/Java/.NET) | | [alarms.md](references/alarms.md) | Metric, composite, anomaly detection alarms — configuration, constraints, recommended defaults | | [log-insights.md](references/log-insights.md) | Complete query syntax, commands, functions, known issues, reusable query library | | [metrics.md](references/metrics.md) | Custom metrics, EMF spec, metric filters, high-resolution, retention | | [tracing.md](references/tracing.md) | X-Ray → ADOT migration, sampling rules, annotations vs metadata, collector config | | [dashboards.md](references/dashboards.md) | Widget types, cross-account/region, dynamic labels, sharing | | [troubleshooting.md](references/troubleshooting.md) | Error → cause → fix for all observability services | | [cloudtrail.md](references/cloudtrail.md) | Operational auditing, event types, S3+Athena queries | | [synthetics.md](references/synthetics.md) | Canary runtime/blueprint constraints, VPC networking, common failures | | [alarm-t