potato-mesh/PROMETHEUS.md

Prometheus Monitoring for PotatoMesh

PotatoMesh exposes runtime telemetry at /metrics for Prometheus scraping.

Runtime integration

No configuration required. /metrics is served automatically on the same port as the dashboard as soon as the web app runs. Gauges are seeded from the database at startup and updated in near real time as POST ingest requests arrive.

Selecting which nodes are exported

Per-node metrics are opt-in via PROM_REPORT_IDS (avoids unbounded per-node time series):

• Unset or blank: only aggregate gauges (e.g. total node count) are exported.
• PROM_REPORT_IDS=*: export metrics for every node.
• PROM_REPORT_IDS='!abcd1234,!0a2f0001': export metrics for the listed node ids only. Ids are ! plus 8 lowercase hex digits, as /api/nodes shows them. Quote the value; shells and YAML treat ! specially.

Applies to both the initial refresh and incremental updates. Opted-out nodes are never exported, and with PRIVATE=1 neither are hidden clients.

Available metrics

Metric name	Type	Labels	Description
meshtastic_messages_total	Counter	none	Increments each time the ingest pipeline accepts a new message payload.
meshtastic_nodes	Gauge	none	Tracks the number of nodes currently stored in the database.
meshtastic_node	Gauge	node, short_name, long_name, hw_model, role	Reports a node as present (value 1) along with identity metadata.
meshtastic_node_battery_level	Gauge	node	Most recent battery percentage reported by the node.
meshtastic_node_voltage	Gauge	node	Most recent battery voltage reading.
meshtastic_node_uptime_seconds	Gauge	node	Uptime reported by the device in seconds.
meshtastic_node_channel_utilization	Gauge	node	Latest channel utilisation ratio supplied by the node.
meshtastic_node_transmit_air_utilization	Gauge	node	Proportion of on-air time spent transmitting.
meshtastic_node_latitude	Gauge	node	Latitude component of the last known position.
meshtastic_node_longitude	Gauge	node	Longitude component of the last known position.
meshtastic_node_altitude	Gauge	node	Altitude (in metres) of the last known position.

Per-node gauges are emitted only for ids in PROM_REPORT_IDS, and never for an opted-out node. A gauge does not appear until the device has sent the corresponding telemetry or position update at least once.

Accessing the /metrics endpoint

curl http://localhost:41447/metrics

Returns the standard Prometheus exposition format.

Prometheus scrape configuration

Example (instance on the default port, 15 s interval):

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: potatomesh
    scrape_interval: 15s
    static_configs:
      - targets:
          - localhost:41447

Behind a reverse proxy or auth, configure Prometheus's basic_auth, custom headers, or TLS settings to match.

Troubleshooting

• No per-node metrics appear. Set PROM_REPORT_IDS to the node ids you want, or * to export all.
• Metrics look stale after a restart. Confirm the ingestor is still posting - the exporter only reflects what is stored in the database.
• Scrapes time out. Verify Prometheus can reach the PotatoMesh HTTP port and that no reverse proxy blocks /metrics.