Scenario 1: Detect rate() Misuse on a Gauge Metric

Context

A developer submitted the following PromQL query for a Grafana dashboard panel intended to show the current memory usage of a service in megabytes. The metric process_resident_memory_bytes is a gauge — it tracks the current value and can go up or down.

Query Under Review

rate(process_resident_memory_bytes{job="api-service"}[5m])

User Context

"This query is for a dashboard panel showing memory usage. I want to see how much memory the API service is using right now."

Task

Produce a validation report validation-report.md that:

1. States whether the query is syntactically valid.
2. Identifies the metric type misuse: rate() is being applied to a gauge, which is semantically incorrect (rate is only meaningful for monotonically increasing counters).
3. Explains in plain English what the current query actually calculates versus what the user intends.
4. Provides the correct query to show current memory usage of the service.
5. Notes any high-cardinality concerns (or confirms none for this query).

Output Specification

Produce a single file validation-report.md structured with sections: Syntax Check, Metric Type Analysis, Intent vs Implementation, Recommended Query, Cardinality Notes.