> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://clickhouse.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# ClickHouse Observability

> Overview of ClickHouse Observability and its fully managed and self-managed options

**ClickHouse Observability** is an observability platform for SREs, developers, and their AI agents, built on open-source ClickStack. Search, query, and correlate OpenTelemetry logs, traces, and metrics alongside session replays in one platform.

Investigate through the ClickStack UI or connect your own agents through the [ClickStack MCP server](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/mcp.md). Use investigation tools to search logs and follow traces, and SQL for deeper analysis. Rich logs and trace spans capture request details, custom attributes, and business context to help explain failures.

Choose the **fully managed** offering for a backend operated by ClickHouse, or **self-managed** when your team needs control over ingestion and database configuration. Both run in ClickHouse Cloud and provide the same ClickStack investigation experience.

## How it works

In both offerings, you instrument your applications and collect telemetry from your environment. Explore that data in the ClickStack UI or connect an MCP-compatible agent to search logs, follow traces, and run SQL. The difference is who manages ingestion and the database configuration behind that experience.

* **Fully managed:** send telemetry to a managed OpenTelemetry endpoint, or use the managed Datadog-compatible endpoint for existing Datadog agents. ClickHouse operates the ingestion backend and manages schemas, compute, scaling, and performance.

  ![Fully managed: your app SDKs, collectors, and log shippers send telemetry to managed OTLP and Datadog endpoints inside ClickHouse Observability, which provides the ClickStack UI and handles schema optimization, workload isolation, and automatic scaling.](https://mintcdn.com/private-7c7dfe99/FqnhjwVWZILRZzw7/images/clickstack/observability/clickstack-fully-managed-overview-light.svg?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=FqnhjwVWZILRZzw7\&q=85\&s=8874741c9d0a405479f9086169cc6caa)
* **Self-managed:** send telemetry through an ingestion collector you operate into your ClickHouse Cloud service. You configure the ingestion pipeline, schemas, compute, scaling, and performance tuning. ClickHouse Cloud hosts and operates the database and UI.

  ![Self-managed: your app SDKs, collectors, and log shippers send telemetry to a collector you operate, which writes to ClickHouse services in ClickHouse Cloud. ClickHouse Cloud hosts the ClickStack UI and manages infrastructure, upgrades, and backups, while you manage ingestion, schemas, compute, and performance.](https://mintcdn.com/private-7c7dfe99/FqnhjwVWZILRZzw7/images/clickstack/observability/clickstack-self-managed-overview-light.svg?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=FqnhjwVWZILRZzw7\&q=85\&s=79fc7a08448ca5f4d989f4e08a79a024)

### Compare the offerings

You instrument your applications and collect telemetry in both offerings. The table shows which backend responsibilities ClickHouse manages for you; a dash (—) means you manage that part.

| Managed by ClickHouse | Fully managed | Self-managed |
| - | :-: | :-: |
| Ingestion backend | ✓ | — |
| Schemas, indexes, and compression | ✓ | — |
| Compute sizing, scaling, and workload isolation | ✓ | — |
| Database performance tuning | ✓ | — |
| Database infrastructure, upgrades, and backups | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hosting the ClickStack UI and MCP server | ✓ | ✓ |

> [tab] Fully managed
>
> [Beta offering](https://clickhouse.com/docs/reference/settings/beta-and-experimental-features.md#beta-features)
>
> > [!TIP]
> >
> > **Recommended for most teams**
> >
> > Choose fully managed ClickHouse Observability to focus on investigating your systems while ClickHouse operates the observability backend.
>
> Send telemetry to your managed endpoint. You do not need to deploy an ingestion gateway or tune ClickHouse tables and compute. You can continue using collectors and agents in your environment to collect, process, and forward telemetry.
>
> Follow the [fully managed getting started guide](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/getting-started.md).

> [tab] Self-managed
>
> > [!NOTE]
> >
> > **For teams that need control over the backend**
> >
> > Choose self-managed ClickHouse Observability when you need custom ingestion pipelines, schemas, or database configuration and have the expertise to operate and tune them.
>
> You run the ingestion collector and take responsibility for database tuning and capacity planning. ClickHouse Cloud manages the underlying infrastructure, database upgrades, and backups. Self-managed does not require hosting ClickHouse or the ClickStack UI yourself.
>
> Follow the [self-managed getting started guide](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/self-configured/getting-started/managed.md), or read the [self-managed overview](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/self-configured/overview.md) for more detail.

## Features

* Connect your own agents through [MCP](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/mcp.md) to search telemetry, follow traces, analyze patterns and changes, and run SQL.
* Search and correlate logs, traces, metrics, and session replays in one place.
* Run fast searches and aggregations across high-cardinality telemetry.
* Use [full-text search and Lucene-style filters](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/features/search.md) such as `level:err`, or SQL for deeper analysis.
* Explore telemetry with [AI notebooks](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/notebooks.md) and create [charts from natural-language questions](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/text-to-chart.md).
* Build [dashboards](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/features/dashboards/overview.md) and configure [alerts](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/features/alerts.md).
* Query JSON fields and custom attributes in logs and trace spans.
* Follow requests from browser interactions through backend services and database queries.
* Identify recurring failures with [event patterns](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/features/event-patterns.md) and investigate changes with [event deltas](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/features/event-deltas.md).
* Live tail logs and traces as new events arrive.
* Ingest OpenTelemetry data through a managed endpoint or your own ingestion collector, depending on your offering.
* Share searches and investigation views through [deep links](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/url-parameters.md).

## Principles

### Bring your own agents

Connect the agents and development tools your team already uses through MCP. Agents can search logs, follow traces, and identify patterns and changes using the same telemetry available in the UI. They can also run SQL to correlate evidence and explore questions that the investigation tools do not directly cover.

### User-friendly and purpose-built

The ClickStack UI brings search, trace exploration, charts, dashboards, and alerts together. Use Lucene-style filters and visual query builders for everyday questions, then turn to SQL when you need more control over the analysis.

### End-to-end observability

Connect frontend session replays with application logs, distributed traces, and metrics to follow failures across your system. Wide events keep request details, custom attributes, and business context together in logs and trace spans, helping you identify which requests, services, and customers are affected.

### Built for ClickHouse

ClickHouse's columnar storage, compression, and parallel query execution support fast searches and aggregations across large volumes of high-cardinality telemetry. Concurrent queries let engineers and agents investigate the same data in parallel.

### OpenTelemetry-native

Send telemetry using standard OpenTelemetry instrumentation, SDKs, and collectors. Use the managed OTLP endpoint or your own ingestion collector to send logs, traces, and metrics with existing instrumentation, without adopting a proprietary collection format.