Coding
datadog-cli
Datadog CLI for searching logs, querying metrics, tracing requests, and managing dashboards. Use this when debugging production issues or working with Datadog observability.
the manual
Datadog CLI
A CLI tool for AI agents to debug and triage using Datadog logs and metrics.
Required Reading
You MUST read the relevant reference docs before using any command:
Setup
Environment Variables (Required)
export DD_API_KEY="your-api-key"
export DD_APP_KEY="your-app-key"
Get keys from: https://app.datadoghq.com/organization-settings/api-keys
Running the CLI
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli <command>
For non-US Datadog sites, use --site flag:
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs search --query "*" --site datadoghq.eu
Commands Overview
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
logs search | Search logs with filters |
logs tail | Stream logs in real-time |
logs trace | Find logs for a distributed trace |
logs context | Get logs before/after a timestamp |
logs patterns | Group similar log messages |
logs compare | Compare log counts between periods |
logs multi | Run multiple queries in parallel |
logs agg | Aggregate logs by facet |
metrics query | Query timeseries metrics |
errors | Quick error summary by service/type |
services | List services with log activity |
dashboards | Manage dashboards (CRUD) |
dashboard-lists | Manage dashboard lists |
Quick Examples
Search Errors
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs search --query "status:error" --from 1h --pretty
Tail Logs (Real-time)
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs tail --query "service:api status:error" --pretty
Error Summary
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli errors --from 1h --pretty
Trace Correlation
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs trace --id "abc123def456" --pretty
Query Metrics
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli metrics query --query "avg:system.cpu.user{*}" --from 1h --pretty
Compare Periods
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs compare --query "status:error" --period 1h --pretty
Global Flags
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--pretty | Human-readable output with colors |
--output <file> | Export results to JSON file |
--site <site> | Datadog site (e.g., datadoghq.eu) |
Time Formats
- Relative:
30m,1h,6h,24h,7d - ISO 8601:
2024-01-15T10:30:00Z
Incident Triage Workflow
# 1. Quick error overview
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli errors --from 1h --pretty
# 2. Is this new? Compare to previous period
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs compare --query "status:error" --period 1h --pretty
# 3. Find error patterns
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs patterns --query "status:error" --from 1h --pretty
# 4. Narrow down by service
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs search --query "status:error service:api" --from 1h --pretty
# 5. Get context around a timestamp
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs context --timestamp "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z" --service api --pretty
# 6. Follow the distributed trace
npx @leoflores/datadog-cli logs trace --id "TRACE_ID" --pretty
See workflows.md for more debugging workflows.
