---
title: Observability
---

## Metrics

Kameo supports a `metrics` feature flag, which keeps track of the number of messages and signals sent and received across actors.

```toml
kameo = { version = "*", features = ["metrics"] }
```

With the feature flag enabled, you can install any supported global recorder compatible with the [metrics] crate.

Some common exporters include:

- [metrics-exporter-tcp] - outputs metrics to clients over TCP
- [metrics-exporter-prometheus] - serves a Prometheus scrape endpoint

[metrics]: https://docs.rs/metrics
[metrics-exporter-tcp]: https://docs.rs/metrics-exporter-tcp
[metrics-exporter-prometheus]: https://docs.rs/metrics-exporter-prometheus

## Console

Kameo ships a terminal UI, the **kameo console**, for monitoring a running actor system in real time. It connects to your application over TCP and shows the live supervision tree, message throughput, mailbox backpressure, restarts, and deadlocks.

![kameo console screenshot](https://github.com/tqwewe/kameo/blob/main/console/screenshot.png?raw=true)

Enable the `console` feature in your application:

```toml
kameo = { version = "*", features = ["console"] }
```

Then start the collector once, early in `main`, and keep the handle alive for as long as you want monitoring:

```rust
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let console = kameo::console::serve("127.0.0.1:9999").await?;

    // spawn and run your actors as usual...

    tokio::signal::ctrl_c().await?;
    Ok(())
}
```

The instrumentation lives behind the `console` cargo feature and has no cost when the feature is turned off. Polling is pull based and happens on demand, so an idle application does no extra work.

Install the console binary from crates.io:

```bash
cargo install kameo_console
```

Then point it at your application's collector address, or try it without a running application using the built in demo:

```bash
kameo-console 127.0.0.1:9999
kameo-console --demo
```

See the [console README] for the full feature list, keybindings, and options.

[console README]: https://github.com/tqwewe/kameo/tree/main/console

## Hotpath

For observability in your terminal, a TUI called [hotpath] is available and supported by kameo.

![Hotpath TUI Example](https://github.com/pawurb/hotpath-rs/raw/main/media/hotpath-tui6.gif)

This can be enabled with the `hotpath` feature flag in kameo:

```toml
kameo = { version = "*", features = ["hotpath"] }
```

You'll also need to install the hotpath TUI:

```bash
cargo install hotpath --features tui
```

Once installed, you can run your kameo app, and in another terminal run `hotpath` to immediately get live usage metrics.

[hotpath]: https://hotpath.rs