observability

name	observability
description	Power Platform observability, telemetry, and monitoring. Use when: Application Insights, App Insights, monitoring, telemetry, observability, alerting, diagnostics, Monitor tool, tracing, plugin traces, form load times, flow telemetry, Automation Center, dashboards, KQL.

Skill: Observability & Monitoring

When to Use

Trigger when configuring Application Insights for Power Platform, setting up telemetry for model-driven apps, canvas apps, Code Apps, or flows, creating alert rules, building monitoring dashboards, or diagnosing performance issues using telemetry data.

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Observability Stack

Layer	Tool	Data
Platform telemetry	Application Insights (via Managed Environments export)	Dataverse API calls, plugin execution, SDK operations, exceptions
Model-driven apps	Application Insights + browser telemetry	Form load times, JS errors, custom events
Canvas apps	Application Insights + Monitor tool	Screen transitions, data call durations, delegation warnings
Code Apps	Application Insights SDK (@microsoft/applicationinsights-web)	React errors, custom events, performance marks
Power Automate	Automation Center + Application Insights (Managed Env)	Flow run telemetry, action-level timing, failures
Copilot Studio	Agent analytics + Application Insights	Session metrics, topic resolution, escalation rates

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⚠️ REQUIRED: Load Sub-Files Before Implementation

SKILL.md is a summary only — it is NOT sufficient for implementation.

The detailed content (complete payloads, XML templates, working examples, edge-case handling) lives in sub-files in the same directory as this SKILL.md. Before writing any code, you MUST use read_file on the sub-files relevant to your task:

• Application Insights Setup — connection string configuration, Managed Environments requirement, per-component enablement, environment-level export, instrumentation key vs connection string
• Model-Driven App Telemetry — form load times, JavaScript errors, plugin traces (ITracingService + ILogger), custom events, performance markers
• Canvas App Telemetry — screen transitions, data call durations, delegation warnings, Monitor tool real-time diagnostics, canvas app insights
• Flow Telemetry — Power Automate flow run telemetry, Automation Center dashboard, run history analytics, action-level telemetry
• Code App Telemetry — React error boundaries to App Insights, @microsoft/applicationinsights-web setup, custom events, performance marks, platform logger integration
• Alerting & Dashboards — alert rules, action groups, KQL queries for common scenarios, Azure Dashboard templates

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Telemetry Decision Table

Question	Answer
Where does platform telemetry go?	Application Insights (requires Managed Environment + export config)
Where does custom app telemetry go?	Same or separate Application Insights instance (your choice)
Should I use one App Insights per environment?	Yes — one-to-one mapping for accurate reporting
Do I need Managed Environments?	Yes for platform telemetry export, flow telemetry, and some advanced features
Can I use instrumentation key?	No — use connection string (instrumentation key ingestion deprecated March 2025)

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Anti-Patterns

• No observability at all (flying blind in production)
• Using instrumentation key instead of connection string (deprecated)
• Sharing one Application Insights instance across multiple environments (mixed data, unusable reports)
• Not enabling Managed Environments (platform telemetry export requires it)
• Monitoring only after incidents (set up proactive alerts from day 1)
• No custom events in apps (platform telemetry is too generic for business insight)
• Alert fatigue (too many noisy alerts that get ignored)
• No dashboard for stakeholders (telemetry exists but nobody looks at it)
• Telemetry in dev but not in production (monitor where it matters)

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Related Skills

• env-strategy — Managed Environments enablement for telemetry export
• governance — CoE Starter Kit for inventory and adoption monitoring
• plugins — ITracingService and ILogger for plugin telemetry
• code-apps — Code App telemetry setup with App Insights SDK
• power-automate — Flow analytics and run history