signoz-searching-docs

name

signoz-searching-docs

description

Look up information in SigNoz documentation. Make sure to use this skill whenever the user asks "how do I", "where in the docs", "what does the docs say about", "find docs for", or otherwise needs reference material on SigNoz instrumentation, OpenTelemetry setup, self-hosted deployment, API endpoints, auth headers, or troubleshooting steps — even if they don't say the word "docs" explicitly. Docs lookup only — for actions inside SigNoz, the agent will pick the matching `signoz-*` action skill.

SigNoz Docs

Use official signoz.io documentation and API references only. Ground every answer in fetched docs content and cite the canonical docs URL.

Access Docs

Prefer the SigNoz MCP server tools when available; fall back to direct HTTP fetch.

Preferred: MCP tools

• signoz_search_docs — BM25 search over the indexed docs corpus. Pass the user's natural-language query as searchText. Narrow with section_slug when the question maps cleanly to a single docs section (the tool's own schema lists valid slugs — defer to it rather than memorizing). Trust the ranking — the index handles relevance.
• signoz_fetch_doc — full markdown for one indexed page. Pass the canonical URL or /docs/... path; optionally narrow to a section with heading.

Never construct /docs/... URLs from memory. Only pass URLs returned by signoz_search_docs to signoz_fetch_doc; if you think you already know the page path, search first and fetch the canonical URL from the result.

Fallback: direct HTTP fetch

If the MCP tools are unavailable, SigNoz docs support Accept: text/markdown natively.

Discover via the sitemap:

GET https://signoz.io/docs/sitemap.md

Fetch a specific page:

GET https://signoz.io/docs/<path>/
Accept: text/markdown

Workflow

1. Identify the domain from the user's question: instrumentation, OpenTelemetry setup, querying, dashboards, alerts, troubleshooting, deployment, or API docs.
2. Check the heuristics table below. If a heuristic matches, read it before answering — heuristics encode product decisions (which path/method fits the user's environment), useful in both paths.
3. Search and fetch — pick the path based on tool availability:
   • With MCP tools: call signoz_search_docs with the user's query; pass section_slug if the domain maps cleanly to one. Read the top 1-3 results and call signoz_fetch_doc on the chosen URL (use heading to narrow if the page is large and the question is sub-section-specific).
   • Without MCP tools: grep sitemap.md for candidate pages, rank the best 2-5 by how directly they answer the task, and GET only URLs discovered in the sitemap with Accept: text/markdown. Heuristic coverage is sparse — for topics without a heuristic row, skim the sitemap by section path and prefer setup/troubleshooting/API-reference pages over overviews.
   • Fetch one page for narrow questions; fetch multiple pages when the task spans setup + troubleshooting, or method-selection + language guide. Keep the set small.
4. Answer from the fetched docs and cite canonical https://signoz.io/docs/... URLs.
5. Handle ambiguity deliberately: if multiple pages are plausible, prefer the one that completes the task most directly; mention alternates only when they materially change the answer.

Message Actions

On the terminal answer, emit FE-handoff actions per the SigNoz Skills & MCP spec:

• open_docs — include with the canonical URL of the primary cited page. Docs lookups are precisely the case where deep-linking to the source page helps the user read in context and verify the answer.
• follow_up — 1-2 next-step prompts that build on a docs answer. After a setup guide: "walk me through the first command" or "what's a common gotcha here?". After a concept page: "show me a worked example."
• Do NOT emit apply_filter. Docs answers do not produce a query for an explorer page; emitting apply_filter would overwrite the user's working query.

Verbatim guardrail: When answering a SigNoz docs question, include an open_docs action on the final message with the canonical URL of the primary cited page.

Domain Heuristics

Read the matching heuristic file before fetching docs. Each file contains decision logic to route the user to the right guide.

Topic	Trigger keywords	Heuristic file
Sending Logs	logs, log collection, logging, send logs	sending-logs.md