# Observability

> The degree to which a system's internal behavior in production can be inferred from the logs, metrics and traces it emits.

Record: `architecture:observability`
Kind: quality-attribute
Layer: [Observability](https://banes-lab.com/records/layer/observability.md)
Severity: contextual
Scope: service, system, runtime
Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/ontology#architecture-observability

Listed in [Architecture principles](https://banes-lab.com/api/records/architecture.md), after [Agentic Architecture](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/agentic-architecture.md) and before [Logging](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/logging.md).

## Repair

- Refactored by: Add Logs/Metrics/Traces
- Detected by: missing telemetry around critical paths
- Violated by: production behavior cannot be inferred
- Measured by: telemetry coverage, MTTR
- Enforced by: observability standards

## Requires

- [Logs](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/logs.md)
- [Metrics](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/metrics.md)
- [Traces](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/traces.md)

## Reinforces

- [Resilience](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/resilience.md)
- [Debuggability](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/debuggability.md)

## Enables

- [Incident Diagnosis](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/incident-diagnosis.md)

## Conflicts with

- [Unobservable Failure](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/unobservable-failure.md)

## In tension with

- [Cost/Noise](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/cost-noise.md)
- [Information Hiding](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/information-hiding.md)
- [Information Hiding / Observability](https://banes-lab.com/records/tension/information-hiding-observability.md)

## Tensions

- [Observability / Cost/Noise](https://banes-lab.com/records/tension/cost-noise-observability.md)

## Contracts

- [Observability](https://banes-lab.com/records/algorithms/observability.md)

## Severity

- [contextual](https://banes-lab.com/records/vocabulary/severity-contextual.md)

## Category

- [Observability / Auditability / Traceability](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture-category/observability-auditability-traceability.md)

## Reinforced by

- [Centralized Logging](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/centralized-logging.md)
- [Dead-Letter Queue](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/dead-letter-queue.md)
- [Fail Fast](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/fail-fast.md)
- [Model Drift Monitoring](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/model-drift-monitoring.md)
- [Distributed Tracing](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/distributed-tracing.md)
- [SLO/SLI](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/slo-sli.md)
- [Dashboards](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/dashboards.md)

## Required by

- [Error Handling](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/error-handling.md)
- [Self-Healing Architecture](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/self-healing-architecture.md)
- [Canary Deployment](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/canary-deployment.md)
- [Chaos Engineering](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/chaos-engineering.md)

## Linked from

- [Tools live in the tree](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology/build/tools-live-in-the-tree.md)
- [A system is a graph](https://banes-lab.com/software-architecture/model/a-system-is-a-graph.md)
- [The structural domain](https://banes-lab.com/software-architecture/principles/the-structural-domain.md)
- [Seven controls, seven classes](https://banes-lab.com/software-architecture/decay/seven-controls-seven-classes.md)
- [Anti-patterns](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-anti-patterns.md)
- [Control / Coordination / Centralization](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-control-coordination-centralization.md)
- [Correctness / Determinism / Verification](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-correctness-determinism-verification.md)
- [Core Modular Design](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-core-modular-design.md)
- [Event / Messaging / Asynchronous Architecture](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-event-messaging-asynchronous-architecture.md)
- [Error Handling / Resilience](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-error-handling-resilience.md)
- [Model Architecture](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-model-architecture.md)
- [Observability / Auditability / Traceability](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-observability-auditability-traceability.md)
- [Self-Healing / Recovery / Deployment Safety](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-self-healing-recovery-deployment-safety.md)
- [Core Vocabulary](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/lexicon/lexicon-category-core-vocabulary.md)
- [Observability / Auditability / Traceability](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/lexicon/lexicon-category-observability-auditability-traceability.md)
- [Quality Attributes](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/lexicon/lexicon-category-quality-attributes.md)
- [Architectural Clusters](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/algorithms/algorithms-domain-architectural-clusters.md)
- [Severity levels](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-vocabulary-severity.md)
- [The resolutions](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-resolutions.md)