What is Observability as Code?

Observability as Code applies Infrastructure as Code practices to observability configuration. Alerts, dashboards, streams, SLOs, users, roles, service accounts, and other resources can be defined as code, stored in Git, reviewed through pull requests, and deployed consistently across environments.

Can you manage alerts and dashboards with Terraform?

Yes. Observability platforms with Terraform provider support can manage alerts, dashboards, and other monitoring configuration as code. OpenObserve supports 12 resources today, including alerts, dashboards, streams, SLOs, users, roles, and service accounts.

How do you move existing alerts to Terraform without rebuilding them?

This is often one of the biggest barriers to adopting monitoring as code. In OpenObserve, existing alerts and SLOs can be exported from the UI as ready-to-use Terraform, so they can be moved into Git without being manually rewritten.

How do you keep observability configuration consistent across environments?

Defining observability configuration as code lets teams reuse the same modules and configuration across development, staging, and production, with environment-specific variables where needed. Changes can be reviewed and deployed through the same Git workflow instead of being recreated manually in each environment.

How do you prevent configuration drift in alerts and dashboards?

Keeping observability configuration in Git establishes the intended configuration as code. Teams can use 'terraform plan' in CI to identify changes made manually and catch differences between what's defined in the repository and what's actually deployed.

What is the difference between Infrastructure as Code and Observability as Code?

Infrastructure as Code manages infrastructure such as compute, networking, and cloud resources through code. Observability as Code applies the same principles to the configuration used to monitor those systems, such as alerts, dashboards, streams, SLOs, and access controls.

Observability as Code with Terraform & OpenTofu

Observability as Code in OpenObserve: Terraform, OpenTofu and GitOps

Bring Infrastructure as Code to observability with Terraform, OpenTofu, and GitOps. Manage configuration as code or export existing alerts and SLOs as Terraform.

August 19, 2026

Observability as Code brings Infrastructure as Code practices to your observability configuration. With OpenObserve, alerts, dashboards, streams, SLOs, users, roles, service accounts, and more can be managed through Terraform or OpenTofu, with configuration stored in Git and changes reviewed through pull requests.

Existing alerts and SLOs can be exported directly from OpenObserve as ready-to-use Terraform, so teams can bring existing configuration into Git without rebuilding it by hand. Configuration can also flow the other way, with Terraform or OpenTofu used to provision and update resources in OpenObserve.

This makes observability configuration versioned, reviewable, and reproducible, with support for GitOps workflows, reusable configuration across environments, and drift detection with terraform plan.

Observability as Code in OpenObserve: Terraform, OpenTofu and GitOps

What you'll learn

Resources

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