---
title: DigitalOcean Insights Quickstart (public)
description: Get started with DigitalOcean Insights by exploring metrics, creating dashboards and alerts, and inspecting logs and traces.
product: Insights
url: https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/insights/getting-started/quickstart/
last_updated: "2026-10-01"
---

> **For AI agents:** The documentation index is at [https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt](https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of pages use the same URL with `index.html.md` in place of the HTML page (for example, append `index.html.md` to the directory path instead of opening the HTML document).

# DigitalOcean Insights Quickstart (public)

DigitalOcean Insights provides observability for supported resources through metrics, logs, traces, custom dashboards, and metric alerts.

**Note**:

  This feature is in [public preview](https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/product-lifecycle/index.html.md#public-preview). To use it, opt in from the [**Feature Preview** page](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/account/feature-preview).

DigitalOcean Insights brings metrics, dashboards, alerts, logs, and traces together in the DigitalOcean Control Panel. You can use Insights to monitor resource performance, visualize metric data, configure alerts, and investigate application activity.

## Enable Insights During Resource Creation

After you opt in to the public preview, you can enable the available Insights telemetry from the resource creation page when you create a supported DigitalOcean resource. For Droplets and GPU Droplets, select **Install the Observability agent** to install the agent during resource creation. This enables logs and trace data for the resource, which you can disable later if needed.

For supported managed resources that do not require the Observability agent, the resource creation page displays the available logs and traces options directly. When creating [Managed Agents](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/managed-agents/index.html.md) resources, Insights is enabled by default.

## Explore Metrics

Use the **Metrics** tab to browse available metrics, compare metric data, and build charts.

To explore metrics:

1. Go to the [Control Panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/), in the left menu, click **DATA & LEARNING**, click **Insights**, and then click the **Metrics** tab.
2. At the top of the page, click the **Region** dropdown menu to select the region whose metrics you want to view.
3. In the **Explore** tab, select metrics from the **Metrics** panel to compare their data. You can search for individual metrics, select a metric group, and apply filters to narrow the displayed data.
4. To build a chart from a metric, click the **Query** tab, and then configure the chart and query.
5. Then, click **Save to Dashboard** to add it to a new or existing dashboard.

For more information, see [How to Explore and Query Metrics](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/insights/how-to/explore-query-metrics/index.html.md).

## Create a Dashboard

Dashboards let you visualize and compare related metrics from supported resources in one place.

To create a dashboard:

1. Go to the [Control Panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/), in the left menu, click **DATA & LEARNING**, click **Insights**, and then click the **Dashboards** tab.
2. In the top-right corner, click **Create dashboard**. Enter a name and optional description, then create the dashboard from an empty layout, import a dashboard file, or start from a dashboard template.
3. After creating the dashboard, you can [add charts, groups, and variables to customize how it displays metric data](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/insights/how-to/customize-dashboards/index.html.md).

For more information, see [How to Create, Edit, and Delete Dashboards](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/insights/how-to/manage-custom-dashboards/index.html.md) and [How to Customize Dashboards](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/insights/how-to/customize-dashboards/index.html.md).

## Create a Metric Alert

Metric alerts notify you when a resource metric meets a condition you define.

To create an alert:

1. Go to the [Control Panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/), in the left menu, click **DATA & LEARNING**, click **Insights**, and then click the **Alerts** tab.
2. Click **Alert Rules**, then click **Create rule**. Select the resource type and metric you want to monitor, configure the condition and evaluation window, and select a notification channel.

   Notification channels can send alerts through email, Slack, or webhooks.
3. After reviewing the rule, click **Create alert rule**. The rule is enabled by default and appears in the **Alert Rules** tab.

For more information, see [How to Create, Edit, and Delete Metric Alerts](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/insights/how-to/manage-metrics-alerts/index.html.md).

## View Logs

Use the **Logs** tab to search, filter, and inspect logs from supported resources.

To view logs:

1. Go to the [Control Panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/), in the left menu, click **DATA & LEARNING**, click **Insights**, and then click the **Logs** tab.
2. Select the region whose logs you want to view, then use the search field and **Filters** panel to narrow the displayed logs. You can filter by severity and other available fields.
3. Click **>** next to a log entry to inspect its body and attributes. If the log is associated with a trace or span, you can open the related trace to investigate the request further.

For more information, see [How to View Logs](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/insights/how-to/view-logs/index.html.md).

## View Traces

Use the **Traces** tab to investigate requests across supported DigitalOcean services and resources.

To view traces:

1. Go to the [Control Panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/), in the left menu, click **DATA & LEARNING**, click **Insights**, and then click the **Traces** tab.
2. Select the region whose traces you want to view. You can filter trace data by status, service, duration, and attributes.
3. Switch between **Traces** to view complete request paths and **Spans** to view individual operations. Expand a trace or span to inspect its details, or click **View details** to review its timeline, span attributes, and associated logs.

For more information, see [How to View Traces](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/insights/how-to/view-traces/index.html.md).