Logging & Observability

Structured logging, distributed tracing, and metrics collection patterns for building observable systems across the three pillars: logs, metrics, and traces.

What's Inside

• Structured JSON logging with required fields and context enrichment
• Log level guidelines (FATAL through TRACE)
• Distributed tracing with OpenTelemetry (setup, spans, context propagation, sampling)
• Metrics collection using RED method (request-driven) and USE method (resource-driven)
• Monitoring stack recommendations (Prometheus, Grafana, Jaeger, Loki)
• Alert design with severity levels and fatigue prevention
• Dashboard patterns (War Room overview, per-service dashboards)
• Observability checklist and anti-patterns

When to Use

• Implementing logging infrastructure
• Setting up distributed tracing with OpenTelemetry
• Designing metrics collection (RED/USE methods)
• Configuring alerting and dashboards
• Reviewing observability practices
• PII/secret scrubbing in logs

Installation

npx add https://github.com/wpank/ai/tree/main/skills/tools/logging-observability

Manual Installation

Cursor (per-project)

From your project root:

mkdir -p .cursor/skills
cp -r ~/.ai-skills/skills/tools/logging-observability .cursor/skills/logging-observability

Cursor (global)

mkdir -p ~/.cursor/skills
cp -r ~/.ai-skills/skills/tools/logging-observability ~/.cursor/skills/logging-observability

Claude Code (per-project)

From your project root:

mkdir -p .claude/skills
cp -r ~/.ai-skills/skills/tools/logging-observability .claude/skills/logging-observability

Claude Code (global)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r ~/.ai-skills/skills/tools/logging-observability ~/.claude/skills/logging-observability

Part of the Tools skill category.