Runs, tags and the axis

The four words

• Run: one entry of a push; a push carries up to 50.
• Metric: one number, with a unit and a direction. Both are set the first time the metric is seen, and can be changed in project settings.
• Tag: a coordinate. Tags identify the run, and they are what you filter, group and compare on.
• Meta: provenance: commit, CI URL, runner. It never identifies anything.

The rule: if it identifies, it is a tag; if it must not, it is meta.

Tags are coordinates

Each tag key is a dimension, so a project's runs form a grid. A cell is one run, holding the metrics that push measured.

The axis is the one tag key the x-axis walks: version by default, chosen with the project and fixed once it has runs; its kind can change in project settings. Hold the other tags fixed and you have a series.

Axis kinds

The axis has a kind, chosen with the project, that decides how its values order. Every push's axis value must parse as that kind; an unparseable one, or a missing one (except text), is a 400.

• version (default): 1 to 4 numeric parts (2, 1.2.3.4), optionally v-prefixed, with a -, + or . suffix.
• number: ordered by value.
• timestamp: an ISO 8601 date or datetime, or epoch milliseconds (13 digits).
• text: any value, ordered by series time.

The axis key is fixed once the project has runs. A kind change re-parses every stored value at once, or is refused listing the offending values. A project with more than 50,000 stored runs, deleted ones included, can't change kind from settings; ask us and we run it for you.

Filter or axis is up to the query

No tag is a “filter tag” or an “axis tag”. The same grid gives a trend or a comparison depending on which key you walk.

Two modes

A project is versioned or time_series. The mode is fixed once the project has runs.

Dashboards

• A project opens on its default dashboard: an ordered list of widgets, each a stored query. Without one, writers get suggested widgets. Project dashboards are shared with the team; private ones belong to you alone.
• The metric page is the widget editor: Add to dashboard, Save or Save as new.
• Explore is the unsaved filter grid over every metric. Each filter lists its top 25 values with run counts, and a search for the rest.
• A project dashboard can have share links: its widgets, read-only, without sign-in, with an optional password and expiry, revocable at any time.

Deleting

Delete a run, every run matching a filter on Explore, or a metric. A later push with the same identity, or the same metric name, brings it back. A tag value no remaining run carries leaves the filters.

Three layouts

More shapes in the FAQ.