Configuration

Once you have installed the Observer Agent, you need to configure it to connect to your Prometheus instance and Observer Cloud.

Environment Variables

The agent is configured using environment variables. Below are the available options:

Name
AGENT_KEY
Type
string
Description
Required The authentication key for your agent. Obtain this from the Observer dashboard.
Name
PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL
Type
string
Description
Required The URL of your Prometheus server (e.g., http://localhost:9090).
Name
NO_TELEMETRY
Type
boolean
Description
Optional Disable telemetry reporting. Set to true to disable telemetry. Default: false.
Name
PROMETHEUS_BASIC_AUTH_ENABLED
Type
boolean
Description
Optional Enable basic authentication for Prometheus.
Default: false.
Name
PROMETHEUS_USERNAME
Type
string
Description
Optional The username for Prometheus basic authentication.
Name
PROMETHEUS_PASSWORD
Type
string
Description
Optional The password for Prometheus basic authentication.
Name
VERBOSE
Type
boolean
Description
Optional Enable verbose logging for debugging.
Default: false.
Name
TELEMETRY_VERBOSE
Type
boolean
Description
Optional Enable detailed telemetry logs.
Default: false.
Name
CLOUD_SERVER_URL
Type
string
Description
Optional Override the Observer Cloud API URL.
Default: https://use.observer.

Configuring the Agent

You can configure the agent using environment variables, a .env file, or by passing values in the command line.

Option 1: Using a `.env` File

Create a .env file in the agent directory:

AGENT_KEY=<your-agent-key>
PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL=http://your-prometheus:9090
VERBOSE=true

Runtime

Running the Agent

node index.js

Option 2: Setting Environment Variables Manually

Set variables in your terminal before running the agent:

Linux/macOS

export AGENT_KEY=<your-agent-key>
export PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL=http://your-prometheus:9090

Windows (cmd)

set AGENT_KEY=<your-agent-key>
set PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL=http://your-prometheus:9090

Windows (PowerShell)

$env:AGENT_KEY="<your-agent-key>"
$env:PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL="http://your-prometheus:9090"

Option 3: Passing Variables via Docker

You can also pass environment variables to the agent using the --env flag when running the container:

Run the Agent

docker run -d \
  -e AGENT_KEY=<your-agent-key> \
  -e PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL=http://your-prometheus:9090 \
  observerhq/agent:latest

Option 4: Kubernetes Secret and Environment Variables

For Kubernetes, store sensitive values in a Secret.

Create secret

kubectl create secret generic observer-agent-secret --from-literal=AGENT_KEY=<your-agent-key>

Modify the Kubernetes manifest to use the secret and additional environment variables:

observer-agent-deployment.yaml

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: observer-agent
spec:
  replicas: 1
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: observer-agent
          env:
            - name: AGENT_KEY
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: observer-agent-secret
                  key: AGENT_KEY
            - name: PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL
              value: http://your-prometheus:9090
          image: observerhq/agent:latest

Next Steps

To get started with the Observer Agent, follow these steps: