metrics-developer-guide.md

---
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
title: "Metrics Developer Guide"
---

This guide explains how to create and use custom metrics in Dynamo components using the Dynamo metrics API.

## Metrics Exposure

All metrics created via the Dynamo metrics API are automatically exposed on the `/metrics` HTTP endpoint in Prometheus Exposition Format text when the following environment variable is set:

- `DYN_SYSTEM_PORT=<port>` - Port for the metrics endpoint (set to positive value to enable, default: `-1` disabled)

Example:
```bash
DYN_SYSTEM_PORT=8081 python -m dynamo.vllm --model <model>
```

Prometheus Exposition Format text metrics will be available at: `http://localhost:8081/metrics`

## Metric Name Constants

The [prometheus_names.rs](https://github.com/ai-dynamo/dynamo/tree/main/lib/runtime/src/metrics/prometheus_names.rs) module provides centralized metric name constants and sanitization functions to ensure consistency across all Dynamo components.

---

## Metrics API in Rust

The metrics API is accessible through the `.metrics()` method on runtime, namespace, component, and endpoint objects. See [Runtime Hierarchy](metrics.md#runtime-hierarchy) for details on the hierarchical structure.

### Available Methods

- `.metrics().create_counter()`: Create a counter metric
- `.metrics().create_gauge()`: Create a gauge metric
- `.metrics().create_histogram()`: Create a histogram metric
- `.metrics().create_countervec()`: Create a counter with labels
- `.metrics().create_gaugevec()`: Create a gauge with labels
- `.metrics().create_histogramvec()`: Create a histogram with labels

### Creating Metrics

```rust
use dynamo_runtime::DistributedRuntime;

let runtime = DistributedRuntime::new()?;
let endpoint = runtime.namespace("my_namespace").component("my_component").endpoint("my_endpoint");

// Simple metrics
let requests_total = endpoint.metrics().create_counter(
    "requests_total",
    "Total requests",
    &[]
)?;

let active_connections = endpoint.metrics().create_gauge(
    "active_connections",
    "Active connections",
    &[]
)?;

let latency = endpoint.metrics().create_histogram(
    "latency_seconds",
    "Request latency",
    &[],
    Some(vec![0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 10.0])
)?;
```

### Using Metrics

```rust
// Counters
requests_total.inc();

// Gauges
active_connections.set(42.0);
active_connections.inc();
active_connections.dec();

// Histograms
latency.observe(0.023);  // 23ms
```

### Vector Metrics with Labels

```rust
// Create vector metrics with label names
let requests_by_model = endpoint.metrics().create_countervec(
    "requests_by_model",
    "Requests by model",
    &["model_type", "model_size"],
    &[]
)?;

let memory_by_gpu = endpoint.metrics().create_gaugevec(
    "gpu_memory_bytes",
    "GPU memory by device",
    &["gpu_id", "memory_type"],
    &[]
)?;

// Use with specific label values
requests_by_model.with_label_values(&["llama", "7b"]).inc();
memory_by_gpu.with_label_values(&["0", "allocated"]).set(8192.0);
```

### Advanced Features

**Custom histogram buckets:**
```rust
let latency = endpoint.metrics().create_histogram(
    "latency_seconds",
    "Request latency",
    &[],
    Some(vec![0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 10.0])
)?;
```

**Constant labels:**
```rust
let counter = endpoint.metrics().create_counter(
    "requests_total",
    "Total requests",
    &[("region", "us-west"), ("env", "prod")]
)?;
```

---

## Related Documentation

- [Metrics Overview](metrics.md)
- [Prometheus and Grafana Setup](prometheus-grafana.md)
- [Distributed Runtime Architecture](../design-docs/distributed-runtime.md)