Prometheus Metrics

The OpenWorkflow dashboard exposes a GET /metrics endpoint that serves workflow run counts in Prometheus exposition format. Use it to track failures, detect stuck backlogs, and alert on throughput drops — with no extra services to deploy.

Setup

1. Start the dashboard

npx @openworkflow/cli dashboard

pnpx @openworkflow/cli dashboard

bunx @openworkflow/cli dashboard

2. Verify the endpoint

curl -s http://localhost:3000/metrics

You should see output like:

# HELP openworkflow_workflow_runs Current count of workflow runs in each status.
# TYPE openworkflow_workflow_runs gauge
openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="pending"} 12
openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="running"} 3
openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="completed"} 847
openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="failed"} 2
openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="canceled"} 0

3. Configure Prometheus to scrape the dashboard

Add a scrape target to your prometheus.yml:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: openworkflow
    scrape_interval: 15s
    static_configs:
      - targets: ["localhost:3000"]

Replace localhost:3000 with the address where your dashboard is running.

Metrics reference

`openworkflow_workflow_runs`

Field	Value
Type	Gauge
Labels	`status`
Values	`pending`, `running`, `completed`, `failed`, `canceled`

Current count of workflow runs in each status. One query is executed per scrape — there is no caching.

Active statuses (pending, running) — Is work piling up? Are runs stuck?
Terminal statuses (completed, failed, canceled) — Are failures increasing? Is throughput steady?

Legacy sleeping runs are folded into the running metric label.

Alert examples

Failures detected in the last 5 minutes

clamp_min(delta(openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="failed"}[5m]), 0) > 0

Failure rate elevated over the last hour

clamp_min(delta(openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="failed"}[1h]), 0) > 10

Pending backlog is growing

delta(openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="pending"}[10m]) > 0

No completed runs in the last hour

clamp_min(delta(openworkflow_workflow_runs{status="completed"}[1h]), 0) == 0

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Backends

Reference

Integrations

Comparisons

Resources

Setup

1. Start the dashboard

2. Verify the endpoint

3. Configure Prometheus to scrape the dashboard

Metrics reference

`openworkflow_workflow_runs`

Alert examples

Failures detected in the last 5 minutes

Failure rate elevated over the last hour

Pending backlog is growing

No completed runs in the last hour

​Setup

​1. Start the dashboard

​2. Verify the endpoint

​3. Configure Prometheus to scrape the dashboard

​Metrics reference

​openworkflow_workflow_runs

​Alert examples

​Failures detected in the last 5 minutes

​Failure rate elevated over the last hour

​Pending backlog is growing

​No completed runs in the last hour

Setup

1. Start the dashboard

2. Verify the endpoint

3. Configure Prometheus to scrape the dashboard

Metrics reference

`openworkflow_workflow_runs`

Alert examples

Failures detected in the last 5 minutes

Failure rate elevated over the last hour

Pending backlog is growing

No completed runs in the last hour