Observer

Installation

The Observer Agent can be installed using various methods to fit your environment. Choose the option that best suits your setup.

Prerequisites

Before installing the agent, ensure you have:

  • A running Prometheus instance that the agent can connect to.
  • An Observer account to generate an Agent Key for authentication.

Option 1: Install via Binary (Linux & macOS)

Download the latest precompiled binary from the releases page.

Installing the Observer agent binary
curl -L -o observer-agent https://use.observer/download/latest/observer-agent
chmod +x observer-agent
sudo mv observer-agent /usr/local/bin/
Verify Installation
observer-agent --version
Run the Agent
AGENT_KEY="<your-agent-key>" PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL="http://your-prometheus:9090" observer-agent

Option 2: Install via Docker (Linux & macOS)

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

The container image can also run on most platforms and multiple container runtimes such as Docker, Podman, and Kubernetes.

Option 3: Install via Kubernetes

For Kubernetes, store sensitive values in a Secret and configuration values in a ConfigMap.

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

Use the following Kubernetes manifest to deploy the agent as a pod:

observer-agent-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: observer-agent
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: observer-agent
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: observer-agent
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: observer-agent
          image: observerhq/agent:latest
          env:
            - name: PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL
              value: 'http://your-prometheus:9090'
            - name: AGENT_KEY
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: observer-agent-secret
                  key: AGENT_KEY
Deploy the Agent
kubectl apply -f observer-agent-deployment.yaml

Option 4: Install via NPM (Nodejs or other runtime)

For environments with Node.js, install the agent globally:

Installing the Observer agent via NPM
npm install -g @observerhq/agent
Run the Agent
AGENT_KEY="<your-agent-key>" PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL="http://your-prometheus:9090" @observerhq/agent

Option 5: Running from Source (git and JS runtime required)

If you want full control or wish to modify the agent, you can run it from source. Clone the repository and follow the installation instructions in the README.md file.

Clone the Observer agent from source
git clone https://github.com/observer/agent.git
cd agent

Runtime

Running the Agent
npm install
AGENT_KEY="<your-agent-key>" PROMETHEUS_SERVER_URL="http://your-prometheus:9090" node index.js

Next Steps

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