metrics/

lib.rs

//! A lightweight metrics facade.
//!
//! The `metrics` crate provides a single metrics API that abstracts over the actual metrics
//! implementation.  Libraries can use the metrics API provided by this crate, and the consumer of
//! those libraries can choose the metrics implementation that is most suitable for its use case.
//!
//! # Overview
//! `metrics` exposes two main concepts: emitting a metric, and recording it.
//!
//! ## Metric types, or kinds
//! This crate supports three fundamental metric types, or kinds: counters, gauges, and histograms.
//!
//! ### Counters
//! A counter is a cumulative metric that represents a monotonically increasing value which can only
//! be increased or be reset to zero on restart. For example, you might use a counter to
//! represent the number of operations performed, or the number of errors that have occurred.
//!
//! Counters are unsigned 64-bit integers.
//!
//! If you have a value that goes up and down over time, consider using a gauge.
//!
//! ### Gauges
//! A gauge is a metric that can go up and down, arbitrarily, over time.
//!
//! Gauges are typically used for measured, external values, such as temperature, throughput, or
//! things like current memory usage.  Even if the value is monotonically increasing, but there is
//! no way to store the delta in order to properly figure out how much to increment by, then a gauge
//! might be a suitable choice.
//!
//! Gauges support two modes: incremental updates, or absolute updates.  This allows callers to use
//! them for external measurements -- where no delta can be computed -- as well as internal measurements.
//!
//! Gauges are floating-point 64-bit numbers.
//!
//! ### Histograms
//! A histogram stores an arbitrary number of observations of a specific measurement and provides
//! statistical analysis over the observed values.  Typically, measurements such as request latency
//! are recorded with histograms: a specific action that is repeated over and over which can have a
//! varying result each time.
//!
//! Histograms are used to explore the distribution of values, allowing a caller to understand the
//! modalities of the distribution, such as whether or not all values are grouped close together, or
//! spread evenly, or even whether or not there are multiple groupings or clusters.
//!
//! Colloquially, histograms are usually associated with percentiles, although by definition, they
//! specifically deal with bucketed or binned values: how many values fell within 0-10, how many
//! fell within 11-20, and so on and so forth.  Percentiles, commonly associated with "summaries",
//! deal with understanding how much of a distribution falls below or at a particular percentage of
//! that distribution: 50% of requests are faster than 500ms, 99% of requests are faster than
//! 2450ms, and so on and so forth.
//!
//! While we use the term "histogram" in `metrics`, we enforce no particular usage of true
//! histograms or summaries.  The choice of output is based entirely on the exporter being used to
//! ship your metric data out of your application.  For example, if you're using
//! [metrics-exporter-prometheus], Prometheus supports both histograms and summaries, and the
//! exporter can be configured to output our "histogram" data as either.  Other exporters may choose
//! to stick to using summaries, as is traditional, in order to generate percentile data.
//!
//! Histograms take floating-point 64-bit numbers.
//!
//! ## Emission
//!
//! Metrics are emitted by utilizing the emission methods.  There is a macro for
//! registering and returning a handle for each fundamental metric type:
//!
//! - [`counter!`] returns the [`Counter`] handle then
//!     - [`Counter::increment`] increments the counter.
//!     - [`Counter::absolute`] sets the counter.
//! - [`gauge!`] returns the [`Gauge`] handle then
//!     - [`Gauge::increment`] increments the gauge.
//!     - [`Gauge::decrement`] decrements the gauge.
//!     - [`Gauge::set`] sets the gauge.
//! - [`histogram!`] for histograms then
//!     - [`Histogram::record`] records a data point.
//!
//! Additionally, metrics can be described -- setting either the unit of measure or long-form
//! description -- by using the `describe_*` macros:
//!
//! - [`describe_counter!`] for counters
//! - [`describe_gauge!`] for gauges
//! - [`describe_histogram!`] for histograms
//!
//! In order to register or emit a metric, you need a way to record these events, which is where
//! [`Recorder`] comes into play.
//!
//! ## Recording
//! The [`Recorder`] trait defines the interface between the registration/emission macros, and
//! exporters, which is how we refer to concrete implementations of [`Recorder`].  The trait defines
//! what the exporters are doing -- recording -- but ultimately exporters are sending data from your
//! application to somewhere else: whether it be a third-party service or logging via standard out.
//! It's "exporting" the metric data out of your application.
//!
//! Each metric type is usually reserved for a specific type of use case, whether it be tracking a
//! single value or allowing the summation of multiple values, and the respective macros elaborate
//! more on the usage and invariants provided by each.
//!
//! # Getting Started
//!
//! ## In libraries
//! Libraries need only include the `metrics` crate to emit metrics.  When an executable installs a
//! recorder, all included crates which emitting metrics will now emit their metrics to that record,
//! which allows library authors to seamless emit their own metrics without knowing or caring which
//! exporter implementation is chosen, or even if one is installed.
//!
//! In cases where no global recorder is installed, a "noop" recorder lives in its place, which has
//! an incredibly very low overhead: an atomic load and comparison.  Libraries can safely instrument
//! their code without fear of ruining baseline performance.
//!
//! By default, a "noop" recorder is present so that the macros can work even if no exporter has
//! been installed.  This recorder has extremely low overhead -- a relaxed load and conditional --
//! and so, practically speaking, the overhead when no exporter is installed is extremely low.  You
//! can safely instrument applications knowing that you won't pay a heavy performance cost even if
//! you're not shipping metrics.
//!
//! ### Examples
//!
//! ```rust
//! use metrics::{counter, histogram};
//!
//! # use std::time::Instant;
//! # pub fn run_query(_: &str) -> u64 { 42 }
//! pub fn process(query: &str) -> u64 {
//!     let start = Instant::now();
//!     let row_count = run_query(query);
//!     let delta = start.elapsed();
//!
//!     histogram!("process.query_time").record(delta);
//!     counter!("process.query_row_count").increment(row_count);
//!
//!     row_count
//! }
//! # fn main() {}
//! ```
//!
//! ## In executables
//!
//! Executables, which themselves can emit their own metrics, are intended to install a global
//! recorder so that metrics can actually be recorded and exported somewhere.
//!
//! Initialization of the global recorder isn't required for macros to function, but any metrics
//! emitted before a global recorder is installed will not be recorded, so initialization and
//! installation of an exporter should happen as early as possible in the application lifecycle.
//!
//! ### Warning
//!
//! The metrics system may only be initialized once.
//!
//! For most use cases, you'll be using an off-the-shelf exporter implementation that hooks up to an
//! existing metrics collection system, or interacts with the existing systems/processes that you use.
//!
//! Out of the box, some exporter implementations are available for you to use:
//!
//! * [metrics-exporter-tcp] - outputs metrics to clients over TCP
//! * [metrics-exporter-prometheus] - serves a Prometheus scrape endpoint
//!
//! You can also implement your own recorder if a suitable one doesn't already exist.
//!
//! # Development
//!
//! The primary interface with `metrics` is through the [`Recorder`] trait, which is the connection
//! between the user-facing emission macros -- `counter!`, and so on -- and the actual logic for
//! handling those metrics and doing something with them, like logging them to the console or
//! sending them to a remote metrics system.
//!
//! ## Keys
//!
//! All metrics are, in essence, the combination of a metric type and metric identifier, such as a
//! histogram called "response_latency".  You could conceivably have multiple metrics with the same
//! name, so long as they are of different types.
//!
//! As the types are enforced/limited by the [`Recorder`] trait itself, the remaining piece is the
//! identifier, which we handle by using [`Key`]. Keys hold both the metric name, and potentially,
//! labels related to the metric. The metric name and labels are always string values.
//!
//! Internally, `metrics` uses a clone-on-write "smart pointer" for these values to optimize cases
//! where the values are static strings, which can provide significant performance benefits.  These
//! smart pointers can also hold owned `String` values, though, so users can mix and match static
//! strings and owned strings without issue.
//!
//! Two [`Key`] objects can be checked for equality and considered to point to the same metric if
//! they are equal.  Equality checks both the name of the key and the labels of a key.  Labels are
//! _not_ sorted prior to checking for equality, but insertion order is maintained, so any [`Key`]
//! constructed from the same set of labels in the same order should be equal.
//!
//! It is an implementation detail if a recorder wishes to do an deeper equality check that ignores
//! the order of labels, but practically speaking, metric emission, and thus labels, should be
//! fixed in ordering in nearly all cases, and so it typically is not a problem.
//!
//! ## Registration
//!
//! Recorders must handle the "registration" of a metric.
//!
//! In practice, registration solves two potential problems: providing metadata for a metric, and
//! creating an entry for a metric even though it has not been emitted yet.
//!
//! Callers may wish to provide a human-readable description of what the metric is, or provide the
//! units the metrics uses.  Additionally, users may wish to register their metrics so that they
//! show up in the output of the installed exporter even if the metrics have yet to be emitted.
//! This allows callers to ensure the metrics output is stable, or allows them to expose all of the
//! potential metrics a system has to offer, again, even if they have not all yet been emitted.
//!
//! As you can see from the trait, the registration methods treats the metadata as optional, and
//! the macros allow users to mix and match whichever fields they want to provide.
//!
//! When a metric is registered, the expectation is that it will show up in output with a default
//! value, so, for example, a counter should be initialized to zero, a histogram would have no
//! values, and so on.
//!
//! ## Emission
//!
//! Likewise, recorders must handle the emission of metrics as well.
//!
//! Comparatively speaking, emission is not too different from registration: you have access to the
//! same [`Key`] as well as the value being emitted.
//!
//! For recorders which temporarily buffer or hold on to values before exporting, a typical approach
//! would be to utilize atomic variables for the storage.  For counters and gauges, this can be done
//! simply by using types like [`AtomicU64`](std::sync::atomic::AtomicU64).  For histograms, this can be
//! slightly tricky as you must hold on to all of the distinct values.  In our helper crate,
//! [`metrics-util`][metrics-util], we've provided a type called [`AtomicBucket`][AtomicBucket].  For
//! exporters that will want to get all of the current values in a batch, while clearing the bucket so
//! that values aren't processed again, [AtomicBucket] provides a simple interface to do so, as well as
//! optimized performance on both the insertion and read side.
//!
//! Combined together, exporter authors can use [`Handle`][Handle], also from the `metrics-util`
//! crate, which provides a consolidated type for holding metric data.  These types, and many more
//! from the `metrics-util` crate, form the basis of typical exporter behavior and have been exposed
//! to help you quickly build a new exporter.
//!
//! ## Installing recorders
//!
//! Recorders, also referred to as exporters, must be "installed" such that the emission macros can
//! access them. As users of `metrics`, you'll typically see exporters provide methods to install
//! themselves that hide the nitty gritty details.  These methods will usually be aptly named, such
//! as `install`.
//!
//! However, at a low level, this can happen in one of two ways: installing a recorder globally, or
//! temporarily using it locally.
//!
//! ### Global recorder
//!
//! The global recorder is the recorder that the macros use by default. It is stored in a static
//! variable accessible by all portions of the compiled application, including dependencies. This is
//! what allows us to provide the same "initialize once, benefit everywhere" behavior that users are
//! familiar with from other telemetry crates like `tracing` and `log`.
//!
//! Only one global recorder can be installed in the lifetime of the process. If a global recorder
//! has already been installed, it cannot be replaced: this is due to the fact that once installed,
//! the recorder is "leaked" so that a static reference can be obtained to it and used by subsequent
//! calls to the emission macros, and any downstream crates.
//!
//! ### Local recorder
//!
//! In many scenarios, such as in unit tests, you may wish to temporarily set a recorder to
//! influence all calls to the emission macros within a specific section of code, without
//! influencing other areas of the code, or being limited by the constraints of only one global
//! recorder being allowed.
//!
//! [`with_local_recorder`] allows you to do this by changing the recorder used by the emission macros for
//! the duration of a given closure. While in that closure, the given recorder will act as if it was
//! the global recorder for the current thread. Once the closure returns, the true global recorder
//! takes priority again for the current thread.
//!
//! [metrics-exporter-tcp]: https://docs.rs/metrics-exporter-tcp
//! [metrics-exporter-prometheus]: https://docs.rs/metrics-exporter-prometheus
//! [metrics-util]: https://docs.rs/metrics-util
//! [AtomicBucket]: https://docs.rs/metrics-util/0.5.0/metrics_util/struct.AtomicBucket.html
//! [Handle]: https://docs.rs/metrics-util/0.5.0/metrics_util/enum.Handle.html
#![deny(missing_docs)]
#![cfg_attr(docsrs, feature(doc_cfg), deny(rustdoc::broken_intra_doc_links))]

pub mod atomics;

mod common;
mod macros;
pub use self::common::*;

mod cow;

mod handles;
pub use self::handles::*;

mod key;
pub use self::key::*;

mod label;
pub use self::label::*;

mod metadata;
pub use self::metadata::*;

mod recorder;
pub use self::recorder::*;