Grafana Cloud Application Observability Skill

Overview

Grafana Cloud provides three tightly related application monitoring products:

1. Application Observability (APM) - RED metrics from OTel traces, service inventory, service maps
2. Frontend Observability - RUM/Faro SDK for browser apps, session replay, web vitals
3. AI Observability - LLM/model monitoring via OpenLIT + OTel, token/cost/latency metrics

All three integrate with Grafana Tempo (traces), Loki (logs), and Pyroscope (profiles) for full-stack correlation.

Application Observability (APM)

What It Is

Application Observability is a pre-built APM experience in Grafana Cloud built on top of OpenTelemetry. It generates RED (Rate, Error, Duration) metrics from distributed traces via span metrics, then surfaces them in:

• Service Inventory - table of all services with RED metrics at a glance
• Service Overview - per-service RED metrics, top operations, error breakdown
• Service Map - node graph of service dependencies with flow visualization
• Operations view - per-endpoint RED metrics with p50/p95/p99 latency

How Metrics Are Generated

Application Observability does NOT rely on traditional Prometheus scraping. Metrics come from span metrics - aggregations computed from OTel trace data:

• Source: OTel traces sent to Grafana Tempo or Grafana Alloy
• Generation method: Tempo's metrics-generator OR the spanmetrics connector in Alloy/OTel Collector
• Result: Prometheus-compatible metrics stored in Grafana Mimir

Key generated metric names:

• Via Tempo metrics-generator: traces_spanmetrics_calls_total, traces_spanmetrics_duration_seconds
• Via OTel Collector spanmetrics connector: traces_span_metrics_calls_total, traces_span_metrics_duration_seconds

Required OTel Resource Attributes

These attributes MUST be present on all spans for Application Observability to work:

The job label is constructed as:

• service.namespace/service.name when namespace is set
• service.name alone when no namespace

Additional recommended attributes:

• service.version - shown in service overview
• k8s.cluster.name - for K8s environments
• k8s.namespace.name - Kubernetes namespace
• cloud.region - for multi-region setups

Setting Environment Variables for OTel SDK

export OTEL_SERVICE_NAME="my-api"
export OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES="service.namespace=myteam,deployment.environment=production,service.version=1.2.3"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:4317"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL="grpc"

Grafana Alloy Configuration (River syntax)

Alloy acts as a local OTel Collector and forwards data to Grafana Cloud:

// Receive traces, metrics, logs from instrumented apps
otelcol.receiver.otlp "default" {
  grpc {
    endpoint = "0.0.0.0:4317"
  }
  http {
    endpoint = "0.0.0.0:4318"
  }
  output {
    metrics = [otelcol.processor.resourcedetection.default.input]
    logs    = [otelcol.processor.resourcedetection.default.input]
    traces  = [otelcol.processor.resourcedetection.default.input]
  }
}

// Auto-detect host/cloud metadata
otelcol.processor.resourcedetection "default" {
  detectors = ["env", "system", "gcp", "aws", "azure"]
  output {
    metrics = [otelcol.processor.batch.default.input]
    logs    = [otelcol.processor.batch.default.input]
    traces  = [otelcol.processor.batch.default.input]
  }
}

// Batch for efficiency
otelcol.processor.batch "default" {
  output {
    metrics = [otelcol.exporter.otlphttp.grafana_cloud.input]
    logs    = [otelcol.exporter.otlphttp.grafana_cloud.input]
    traces  = [otelcol.exporter.otlphttp.grafana_cloud.input]
  }
}

// Auth
otelcol.auth.basic "grafana_cloud" {
  username = env("GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_ID")
  password = env("GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY")
}

// Export to Grafana Cloud OTLP endpoint
otelcol.exporter.otlphttp "grafana_cloud" {
  client {
    endpoint = env("GRAFANA_CLOUD_OTLP_ENDPOINT")
    auth     = otelcol.auth.basic.grafana_cloud.handler
  }
}

Required environment variables for Alloy:

GRAFANA_CLOUD_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://otlp-gateway-<region>.grafana.net/otlp
GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_ID=<your-instance-id>
GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY=<your-api-key>

Service Map

The Service Map uses Tempo's metrics-generator to produce service graph metrics:

• Node graph shows services as nodes, HTTP/gRPC calls as edges
• Edge thickness indicates request rate; color indicates error rate
• Clicking a node navigates to Service Overview
• Requires span.kind (CLIENT/SERVER) on spans for directional edges

Enable in Tempo (managed by Grafana Cloud automatically):

• service-graphs metrics generator enabled by default in Grafana Cloud Tempo
• Uses traces_service_graph_request_total, traces_service_graph_request_failed_total metrics

Integration with Traces, Logs, Profiles

Application Observability provides one-click correlation:

• Traces: Click any metric spike to open exemplar traces in Grafana Tempo
• Logs: Service logs shown in Service Overview; correlated via service.name label
• Profiles: "Go to profiles" button in Service Overview when Pyroscope is configured
• Frontend: Link from Application Observability to Frontend Observability for the same service

Frontend Observability (Faro)

What It Is

Grafana Faro is an open-source JavaScript/TypeScript SDK for Real User Monitoring (RUM). It instruments browser applications to capture:

• Web vitals: Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, INP) and additional performance metrics
• Errors: Unhandled exceptions, rejected promises with stack traces
• Sessions: User journeys, page views, navigation timing
• Logs: Custom log messages from frontend code
• Traces: Distributed traces via OpenTelemetry-JS (correlates with backend spans)
• Session replay: Rrweb-based DOM recording for reproducing user issues

Data flows: Faro SDK -> Grafana Alloy (faro receiver) OR Grafana Cloud OTLP endpoint -> Loki (logs) + Tempo (traces) + Mimir (metrics)

Faro SDK Packages

@grafana/faro-core          # Core SDK - signals, transports, API
@grafana/faro-web-sdk       # Web instrumentations + transports
@grafana/faro-web-tracing   # OpenTelemetry-JS distributed tracing
@grafana/faro-react         # React-specific integrations (error boundary, router)

Basic JavaScript Setup (npm)

npm install @grafana/faro-web-sdk
# or
yarn add @grafana/faro-web-sdk

import {
  initializeFaro,
  getWebInstrumentations,
} from '@grafana/faro-web-sdk';

const faro = initializeFaro({
  url: 'https://faro-collector-prod-<region>.grafana.net/collect/<app-key>',
  app: {
    name: 'my-frontend-app',
    version: '1.0.0',
    environment: 'production',
  },
  instrumentations: [
    ...getWebInstrumentations({
      captureConsole: true,
    }),
  ],
});

// Manual API usage
faro.api.pushLog(['User clicked checkout button']);
faro.api.pushError(new Error('Payment failed'));
faro.api.pushEvent('button_click', { button: 'checkout' });

CDN Setup (no bundler)

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@grafana/faro-web-sdk@latest/dist/library/faro-web-sdk.iife.js"></script>
<script>
  const { initializeFaro, getWebInstrumentations } = GrafanaFaroWebSdk;

  initializeFaro({
    url: 'https://faro-collector-prod-<region>.grafana.net/collect/<app-key>',
    app: { name: 'my-app', version: '1.0.0' },
    instrumentations: [...getWebInstrumentations()],
  });
</script>

React Setup with Tracing

npm install @grafana/faro-react @grafana/faro-web-tracing

import { initializeFaro, getWebInstrumentations } from '@grafana/faro-web-sdk';
import { TracingInstrumentation } from '@grafana/faro-web-tracing';
import {
  createReactRouterV6DataOptions,
  ReactIntegration,
  withFaroRouterInstrumentation,
} from '@grafana/faro-react';
import { createBrowserRouter, RouterProvider } from 'react-router-dom';

const faro = initializeFaro({
  url: 'https://faro-collector-prod-<region>.grafana.net/collect/<app-key>',
  app: {
    name: 'my-react-app',
    version: '1.0.0',
    environment: 'production',
  },
  instrumentations: [
    ...getWebInstrumentations({ captureConsole: true }),
    new TracingInstrumentation(),
    new ReactIntegration({
      router: createReactRouterV6DataOptions({}),
    }),
  ],
});

const router = withFaroRouterInstrumentation(
  createBrowserRouter([
    { path: '/', element: <Home /> },
    { path: '/about', element: <About /> },
  ])
);

function App() {
  return <RouterProvider router={router} />;
}

Session Configuration

initializeFaro({
  url: '...',
  app: { name: 'my-app' },
  sessionTracking: {
    enabled: true,
    persistent: true,
    maxSessionPersistenceTime: 4 * 60 * 60 * 1000, // 4 hours in ms
    samplingRate: 1,           // 1 = 100%, 0.5 = 50% of sessions
    onSessionChange: (oldSession, newSession) => {
      console.log('Session changed', newSession.id);
    },
  },
  instrumentations: [...getWebInstrumentations()],
});

Getting the Collector URL

1. In Grafana Cloud, go to Connections (left menu) > search "Frontend Observability"
2. Click the Frontend Observability card
3. Navigate to Web SDK Configuration tab
4. Copy the url value - this is your unique collector endpoint
5. Paste into your initializeFaro({ url: '...' }) call

What Faro Captures Automatically

When using getWebInstrumentations():

• Page views and navigation timing
• Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, INP - replaces FID in Faro v2)
• JavaScript errors and unhandled rejections
• Console errors/warnings (when captureConsole: true)
• Resource loading performance
• User interactions (clicks, form events)
• Fetch/XHR request timing

Correlation with Backend Traces

When TracingInstrumentation is included, Faro:

• Injects traceparent / tracestate headers into outgoing fetch/XHR requests
• Creates spans for each HTTP call
• Links browser session to backend traces in Tempo
• Enables "Frontend to Backend" trace waterfall in Grafana

AI Observability

What It Is

AI Observability monitors generative AI and LLM applications in production. Built on OTel GenAI semantic conventions and the OpenLIT instrumentation library.

Monitors:

• LLM API calls (OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Google, etc.)
• Vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma, etc.)
• AI frameworks (LangChain, CrewAI, LlamaIndex)
• Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers
• GPU utilization
• AI evaluation quality (hallucination, toxicity, bias)

Key Metrics (OTel GenAI Semantic Conventions)

Trace spans capture:

• Model name (gen_ai.request.model)
• Temperature, top_p parameters
• Full prompts and completions (configurable)
• Provider (gen_ai.system: openai, anthropic, etc.)
• Time to first token (TTFT)

Python Setup with OpenLIT

pip install openlit openai anthropic cohere

import openlit
import openai

# One-line initialization - auto-instruments all supported LLM libraries
openlit.init()

# Optional parameters
openlit.init(
    application_name="my-ai-app",
    environment="production",
)

# Your existing code works unchanged - OpenLIT intercepts all LLM calls
client = openai.OpenAI()
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

OTel Environment Variables

export OTEL_SERVICE_NAME="my-ai-app"
export OTEL_DEPLOYMENT_ENVIRONMENT="production"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="https://otlp-gateway-<region>.grafana.net/otlp"
# Base64 encode "instanceID:apiToken"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="Authorization=Basic <base64-encoded-instanceid:apitoken>"

To get the credentials:

1. In Grafana Cloud, go to My Account > Stack > OpenTelemetry
2. Generate a token and copy the OTLP endpoint

AI Evaluations and Guards

# Hallucination detection
evals = openlit.evals.Hallucination(
    provider="openai",
    api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
)
result = evals.measure(
    prompt=user_message,
    contexts=["Your knowledge base content here"],
    text=llm_answer
)

# Content safety guard
guard = openlit.guard.All(
    provider="openai",
    api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
)
guard.detect(text=user_message)

Prebuilt Dashboards

Once metrics arrive, Grafana Cloud auto-populates five dashboards:

1. GenAI Observability - request rates, latency percentiles, costs
2. GenAI Evaluations - hallucination, bias, toxicity scores
3. Vector Database Observability - query latency, index ops
4. MCP Observability - tool call rates, errors
5. GPU Monitoring - utilization, memory, temperature

Setup Path

1. In Grafana Cloud: Connections > search "AI Observability" > click the card
2. Follow the UI wizard to get your OTLP endpoint and API key
3. Set the environment variables
4. pip install openlit and call openlit.init() at app startup
5. Deploy - dashboards populate automatically within minutes

Full-Stack Correlation Summary

Correlation keys:

• service.name / service_name links all signals for a service
• Trace exemplars embed trace IDs in metric data points (RED metrics -> traces)
• traceID in logs enables log-to-trace correlation
• profileID / time range enables trace-to-profile correlation
• Faro injects traceparent headers to link browser sessions to backend traces

Common Tasks

Find Why a Service Has High Latency

1. App Observability > Service Inventory > click service
2. In Service Overview: check p95/p99 latency trend in Operations panel
3. Click a high-latency operation > "View traces" to open exemplar traces in Tempo
4. In Tempo trace: use "Go to profiles" to see CPU profile at that time
5. Check correlated logs in the Logs panel of Service Overview

Debug a Frontend Error

1. Frontend Observability > Errors panel > click error
2. View stack trace, browser, OS, session info
3. Click "View session replay" to see what the user did
4. Check correlated backend trace if TracingInstrumentation is configured

Monitor LLM Cost Drift

1. AI Observability dashboard > GenAI Observability
2. Use gen_ai_usage_cost_USD_sum metric to see cost by model/provider
3. Set alert on cost threshold or token usage spike
4. Drill into traces to see which prompts are consuming the most tokens

References

• App Observability docs: https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-applications/application-observability/
• Frontend Observability docs: https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-applications/frontend-observability/
• Faro Web SDK GitHub: https://github.com/grafana/faro-web-sdk
• AI Observability docs: https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-applications/ai-observability/
• Alloy for App Observability: https://grafana.com/docs/opentelemetry/collector/grafana-alloy/
• OpenLIT: https://openlit.io/