> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.release.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.release.com/guides-and-examples/advanced-guides/visibility.md).

# Visibility and monitoring

Monitoring your applications is essential to stay on top of different aspects of your business's success, including but not limited to:

* Performance (for example, slow database queries)
* Security (for example, noticing a brute force attack)
* Incident response (for example, figuring out what caused a specific issue)
* Optimization (for example, identifying bottlenecks in a distributed system)

While you can monitor top-level infrastructure directly in your Release dashboard (such as what status a specific pod is in), you can integrate with a number of third-party monitoring providers for deeper analytics across all of your system's custom metrics and logs.

## Supported third-party integrations

Naturally, Release doesn't limit how your system integrates with the third-party provider of your choice, but we have existing flows to help you integrate with the following providers. Speak to your TAM for assistance, and let us know if there are specific providers you would like to see better support for.

### [Datadog](/integrations/monitoring-and-logging-add-ons/datadog.md)

Datadog provides monitoring and analytics, often at an *infrastructure* level. It can help you get set up with:

* Real-time distributed tracing for all your applications.
* Security and compliance monitoring.
* General monitoring of servers, databases, networks, and other tools.
* Analyzing and filtering logs.
* Playing back sessions to troubleshoot end-user issues.

Release uses Datadog internally and happily recommends it for gaining full insight into your applications.

### [New Relic](/integrations/monitoring-and-logging-add-ons/new-relic.md)

New Relic and Datadog offer overlapping functionality, but New Relic focuses more on *application*-level monitoring instead of infrastructure. New Relic is an observability platform that helps you with:

* Visualizing application metrics.
* Troubleshooting software.
* Tracking performance and response time metrics.

For example, you might use New Relic to analyze the web browser response times of your users, grouped by their geography and browser type.

### [ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)](/integrations/monitoring-and-logging-add-ons/elasticsearch-logstash-and-kibana.md)

ELK describes the common stack of Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana used together. Logstash aggregates server-side logs from multiple sources and passes these to Elasticsearch in a common format. Kibana lets you build charts to visualize this data.

This overlaps with the functionality provided by Datadog and New Relic. If you're looking for an opinionated, pre-built monitoring solution, we would recommend either Datadog or New Relic. If you want to add search and custom visualisations to your existing application logs, then ELK may be easier and faster to set up. ELK doesn't require either financial or time buy-in to a specific monitoring solution like Datadog or New Relic.


---

# Agent Instructions
This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com.

## Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the following URL with the `ask` and `goal` query parameters:

```
GET https://docs.release.com/guides-and-examples/advanced-guides/visibility.md?ask=<question>&goal=<user_goal>
```

`ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
`goal` is what the user is ultimately trying to achieve, the reason they need the answer. Sharing it helps GitBook give you a better, more relevant answer. A goal is most helpful when it describes the outcome the user wants rather than restating the question. For example, with `ask=how do I create an API token`, a goal like `automate deployments from our CI pipeline` lets GitBook tailor the answer to that use case.

The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.