Monitoring Provider Plugins for Grafana, Prometheus, Loki, Uptime Kuma and Similar Tools #47

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opened 2026-05-24 02:50:58 +02:00 by FTMahringer · 0 comments

FTMahringer commented

2026-05-24 02:50:58 +02:00

(Migrated from github.com)

Problem / Motivation

Many Synapse users, especially homelab and self-hosting users, may already run monitoring and observability tools such as:

Grafana
Prometheus
Loki
Uptime Kuma
Netdata
InfluxDB
VictoriaMetrics
OpenTelemetry collectors
other service-specific monitoring APIs

Synapse should not force users to duplicate their monitoring setup.

Instead, Synapse should be able to integrate with existing monitoring services and use their APIs as data sources for dashboards, diagnostics, ECHO, workflows and AI-assisted infrastructure analysis.

Related issues:

#45 ECHO Local Debugger & Observability Architecture
#46 Infrastructure Digital Twin & Topology Graph System
#44 Synapse Node Agent for Linux Hosts, Homelabs and Infrastructure Integrations
#37 Integration Plugin System with Calendar/Mail/Service Providers
#35 Workflow & Automation Ideas

Proposed Solution

Introduce Monitoring Provider Plugins.

These plugins should connect to existing monitoring/logging tools through their APIs and expose normalized monitoring data to Synapse.

Possible plugin types:

MonitoringProvider
MetricsProvider
LogsProvider
AlertProvider
UptimeProvider
TraceProvider

Example plugins:

synapse-plugin-prometheus
synapse-plugin-grafana
synapse-plugin-loki
synapse-plugin-uptime-kuma
synapse-plugin-netdata
synapse-plugin-opentelemetry

Example Capabilities

capabilities:
  - monitoring.metrics.read
  - monitoring.logs.read
  - monitoring.alerts.read
  - monitoring.uptime.read
  - monitoring.dashboard.read
  - monitoring.query.execute

More sensitive capabilities, such as changing alert rules or dashboards, should be separate and disabled by default:

capabilities:
  - monitoring.alerts.write
  - monitoring.dashboard.write

Use Cases

ECHO Diagnostics

ECHO could query existing systems to answer questions like:

Why did this service fail?
Were there errors in Loki around this timestamp?
Was the node under high load?
Did Prometheus report high memory usage?
Did Uptime Kuma detect downtime?

Digital Twin Health Overlays

The Digital Twin / Topology Graph could show live status from existing monitoring systems:

node health
service availability
queue latency
container health
disk usage
network issues
alert status

Workflow Automation

Synapse workflows could trigger from existing monitoring events:

Prometheus alert fires
 → Synapse workflow starts
 → ECHO collects logs from Loki
 → Synapse creates a diagnostic summary
 → Notification is sent through a channel plugin

AI-Assisted Troubleshooting

Future AI agents could use monitoring provider plugins to collect evidence before giving suggestions.

Example:

User: Why is my Nextcloud slow?
Synapse:
  → checks Prometheus metrics
  → checks Loki logs
  → checks Uptime Kuma status
  → checks node agent disk/network info
  → returns a structured diagnosis

Design Notes

Synapse should avoid becoming a full replacement for Grafana/Prometheus/Loki.

The goal is not to duplicate all monitoring features.

The goal is to:

reuse existing monitoring systems
normalize useful data
connect monitoring data with workflows, ECHO and AI agents
provide context-aware diagnostics
optionally visualize high-level status inside Synapse

Security Requirements

API tokens must be stored through Synapse secret management
read-only mode should be the default
write capabilities should require explicit approval
query execution should be rate-limited
sensitive log output should be redacted where possible
plugin access should be capability-scoped
audit logs should record monitoring queries made by Synapse

Future Ideas

Prometheus query templates
Loki log search presets
Uptime Kuma status page import
Grafana dashboard embedding/linking
Alert correlation engine
OpenTelemetry trace integration
AI-generated incident summaries
Auto-created incident timelines
Runbook suggestions based on alerts
Integration with the Digital Twin graph

Alternatives

Build a full monitoring system inside Synapse
- powerful, but too much duplication
Only rely on Synapse Node Agents
- useful, but ignores existing mature monitoring stacks
Only link to external dashboards
- simple, but does not allow workflows or AI diagnostics to use the data

Priority

Medium / High

This is especially valuable for self-hosted, homelab and infrastructure-oriented Synapse installations because many users already have monitoring stacks running.

## Problem / Motivation Many Synapse users, especially homelab and self-hosting users, may already run monitoring and observability tools such as: - Grafana - Prometheus - Loki - Uptime Kuma - Netdata - InfluxDB - VictoriaMetrics - OpenTelemetry collectors - other service-specific monitoring APIs Synapse should not force users to duplicate their monitoring setup. Instead, Synapse should be able to integrate with existing monitoring services and use their APIs as data sources for dashboards, diagnostics, ECHO, workflows and AI-assisted infrastructure analysis. Related issues: - #45 ECHO Local Debugger & Observability Architecture - #46 Infrastructure Digital Twin & Topology Graph System - #44 Synapse Node Agent for Linux Hosts, Homelabs and Infrastructure Integrations - #37 Integration Plugin System with Calendar/Mail/Service Providers - #35 Workflow & Automation Ideas --- ## Proposed Solution Introduce Monitoring Provider Plugins. These plugins should connect to existing monitoring/logging tools through their APIs and expose normalized monitoring data to Synapse. Possible plugin types: ```text MonitoringProvider MetricsProvider LogsProvider AlertProvider UptimeProvider TraceProvider ``` Example plugins: ```text synapse-plugin-prometheus synapse-plugin-grafana synapse-plugin-loki synapse-plugin-uptime-kuma synapse-plugin-netdata synapse-plugin-opentelemetry ``` --- ## Example Capabilities ```yaml capabilities: - monitoring.metrics.read - monitoring.logs.read - monitoring.alerts.read - monitoring.uptime.read - monitoring.dashboard.read - monitoring.query.execute ``` More sensitive capabilities, such as changing alert rules or dashboards, should be separate and disabled by default: ```yaml capabilities: - monitoring.alerts.write - monitoring.dashboard.write ``` --- ## Use Cases ### ECHO Diagnostics ECHO could query existing systems to answer questions like: ```text Why did this service fail? Were there errors in Loki around this timestamp? Was the node under high load? Did Prometheus report high memory usage? Did Uptime Kuma detect downtime? ``` ### Digital Twin Health Overlays The Digital Twin / Topology Graph could show live status from existing monitoring systems: - node health - service availability - queue latency - container health - disk usage - network issues - alert status ### Workflow Automation Synapse workflows could trigger from existing monitoring events: ```text Prometheus alert fires → Synapse workflow starts → ECHO collects logs from Loki → Synapse creates a diagnostic summary → Notification is sent through a channel plugin ``` ### AI-Assisted Troubleshooting Future AI agents could use monitoring provider plugins to collect evidence before giving suggestions. Example: ```text User: Why is my Nextcloud slow? Synapse: → checks Prometheus metrics → checks Loki logs → checks Uptime Kuma status → checks node agent disk/network info → returns a structured diagnosis ``` --- ## Design Notes Synapse should avoid becoming a full replacement for Grafana/Prometheus/Loki. The goal is not to duplicate all monitoring features. The goal is to: - reuse existing monitoring systems - normalize useful data - connect monitoring data with workflows, ECHO and AI agents - provide context-aware diagnostics - optionally visualize high-level status inside Synapse --- ## Security Requirements - API tokens must be stored through Synapse secret management - read-only mode should be the default - write capabilities should require explicit approval - query execution should be rate-limited - sensitive log output should be redacted where possible - plugin access should be capability-scoped - audit logs should record monitoring queries made by Synapse --- ## Future Ideas - Prometheus query templates - Loki log search presets - Uptime Kuma status page import - Grafana dashboard embedding/linking - Alert correlation engine - OpenTelemetry trace integration - AI-generated incident summaries - Auto-created incident timelines - Runbook suggestions based on alerts - Integration with the Digital Twin graph --- ## Alternatives - Build a full monitoring system inside Synapse - powerful, but too much duplication - Only rely on Synapse Node Agents - useful, but ignores existing mature monitoring stacks - Only link to external dashboards - simple, but does not allow workflows or AI diagnostics to use the data --- ## Priority Medium / High This is especially valuable for self-hosted, homelab and infrastructure-oriented Synapse installations because many users already have monitoring stacks running.