Getting Started¶
TrueWatch provides a one-stop observability solution for cloud, cloud-native, applications, and business. Whether it's server status, application performance bottlenecks, or real user access experience, all can be collected, correlated, and analyzed in real-time on a single platform. With Toby AI TruePilot and Toby AI Agents, you can get AI-assisted decision-making from anomaly detection to root cause location, achieving a complete closed loop from observation to action.
TrueWatch offers Free Plan, Commercial Plan, and Deployment Plan three product versions:
Free Plan: Designed for individual developers and small teams, supporting basic data collection and core feature experience.
Commercial Plan: Designed for formal business environments, providing a full feature stack and pay-as-you-go billing.
Deployment Plan: Designed for private environments, requiring installation of the TrueWatch system software on local infrastructure.
This document is intended for SaaS (Free Plan/Commercial Plan) users, guiding you through the complete closed loop from installing the collector to seeing the first monitoring data.
If you are using the Deployment Plan, please refer to the Private Deployment Documentation for installation and configuration.
Preparation: Register and Log In¶
If you do not yet have a TrueWatch account, please register for a TrueWatch account. After registration, select the site where your account is located to enter the TrueWatch console workspace.
Step 1: Install DataKit¶
DataKit is the official open-source data collection client of TrueWatch. It is deployed on your server and is responsible for uploading data such as host metrics, container status, and application logs to TrueWatch in real-time. After installation, DataKit enables a set of basic collectors by default, so no additional configuration is needed to start collecting.
TrueWatch supports multiple installation methods, and you can choose based on your actual environment:
- Host Installation: Suitable for Linux, Windows, macOS, and other operating systems.
- Container Installation: Suitable for Docker environments.
- Kubernetes Installation: Suitable for K8s clusters, supporting Helm deployment.
- Other Methods: Including AWS ECS Fargate, AWS EKS, offline installation, etc.
Enter the TrueWatch console, click Integrations > DataKit in the left navigation bar, select your operating system type, copy the installation command provided on the page, and execute it on the target host. After successful installation, the terminal will prompt that the installation was successful.
For more installation details and advanced configurations, please refer to DataKit Installation.
Step 2: Confirm Data Upload¶
After installation, DataKit has already enabled a set of common collectors for Linux hosts by default, so no manual configuration is needed to start collecting basic metrics. Data is automatically uploaded to the workspace at the default frequency of each collector. You can usually see it in the console after a short wait.
To confirm that the collection is successful, go to the console > Infrastructure, and check the Host list to see if your server has appeared. If the host name, IP address, and status are displayed normally, it means DataKit has been successfully connected and is working.
If the target machine does not appear in the host list, we recommend checking the following:
- Check the DataKit service status: Confirm on the host that the DataKit process is running normally.
- Check network connectivity: Confirm that the server can access the public network, as DataKit needs to upload data to TrueWatch.
- Check the workspace: Confirm that the workspace currently in the console corresponds to the token used when installing DataKit.
If the problem persists, please go to DataKit No Data Troubleshooting for the complete troubleshooting process.
Step 3: View Built-in Visualization Views¶
After data is uploaded, the system has built-in a series of visualization view templates covering common scenarios such as hosts, containers, and databases. You don't need to build dashboards from scratch; you can simply select and reuse these templates to quickly view the system's operating status.
Go to Scenarios > Built-in Views > System Views](../scene/built-in-view/index.md), select the view template under the Host category, click to view real-time charts of key metrics such as CPU usage, memory usage, disk I/O, and network traffic. You can choose to directly create a New Dashboard or New User View to apply the template to your workspace.
TrueWatch provides system view templates covering multiple areas such as infrastructure, middleware, application performance, and cloud providers, ready to use out of the box. System views cannot be edited directly; if you need to modify them, please clone them as user views first.
For more details, please refer to Built-in Views and Quickly Create Dashboards.
Step 4: Configure Monitoring and Alerts¶
After confirming that data is being collected and visualized normally, we recommend configuring alert rules for your key metrics so that you can be notified immediately when anomalies occur.
TrueWatch has built-in 700+ out-of-the-box monitor templates covering common scenarios such as host resources, databases, networks, and application performance. Go to Monitoring > Monitors > Create Monitor > Official Template Library](../monitoring/monitor/template.md), check "Host Detection Library" in the left detection library, select the desired detection rule (e.g., high host CPU average load), and create a monitor with one click.
After creating a monitor, you need to configure alert strategies and notification targets. TrueWatch supports sending alerts through multiple channels such as email, DingTalk, Lark, WeCom, SMS, and Webhook, ensuring that anomaly information reaches the responsible person in a timely manner.
For detailed instructions on monitor configuration and notification strategies, please refer to Getting Started with Monitors.
Step 5: Explore More Data Types¶
After completing the basic closed loop of host monitoring, you can gradually connect more data types based on business needs to build full-stack observability:
| Data Type | Description | Recommended Scenarios |
|---|---|---|
| Logs | Collect application and system logs, supporting full-text search and pattern analysis | Troubleshooting, audit tracing |
| APM | Trace distributed application request links, locate performance bottlenecks | Microservices architecture, API performance optimization |
| RUM | Collect real user access experience data | Web/mini program performance optimization |
| Agent Monitoring | Track Agent requests and correlate with the entire application link, meter the number of Tokens consumed per generative task | AI applications, large model service governance |
| Security Monitoring | Integrate CSPM and SIEM capabilities to build a unified security monitoring system for assets, configurations, and behaviors | Security incident management, compliance auditing |
| Cloud Resource Integration | Synchronize resource data from cloud providers such as Alibaba Cloud, AWS, and Huawei Cloud | Hybrid cloud/multi-cloud unified monitoring |
Go to the Integrations module to view all supported data sources and their corresponding connection guides. After all data is connected, it can be correlated and analyzed in the same workspace without switching between multiple tools.
Advanced: Query and Analyze Data¶
When you are familiar with basic visualization and alerts, if you need more flexible data exploration, you can use TrueWatch's self-developed DQL (Data Query Language). DQL is designed specifically for observability data such as time series data, logs, and events, and can be used in multiple modules such as explorers, dashboards, metric analysis, and query tools.
For DQL syntax and usage examples, please refer to DQL Query Language.
After completing the above steps, you have the basic ability to use TrueWatch for system monitoring. If you want to learn more about a specific feature module, you can refer to the corresponding topic documentation through the left navigation bar, or get contextual guidance through the help entry within the console page.
FAQ¶
Will installing DataKit affect server performance?
DataKit enables resource protection mechanisms by default. When installed on a host, it uses cgroup (Linux) to limit CPU and memory usage. Under low load, memory usage is about 100MB, and CPU consumption is low, with minimal impact on business systems. If the amount of collected data is large, you can adjust the [resource_limit] configuration in datakit.conf. For container or Kubernetes deployments, resource limits need to be configured manually.
Is the Free Plan really free forever? Are there any hidden fees?
The Free Plan does not require payment, but is subject to usage quotas (e.g., number of users, number of hosts, number of monitors, data storage volume, etc.). If quotas are exceeded, TrueWatch has the right to suspend or restrict service usage rights until you upgrade to the Commercial Plan or reduce usage. The Free Plan does not provide commercial-level technical support or invoicing services.
I don't want to monitor a certain host anymore. How do I remove it from the console?
After stopping or uninstalling DataKit on that host, the host will no longer upload data. If no data is uploaded for more than 24 hours, the host will be automatically removed from the list. The host list by default only shows hosts that have been online in the last 10 minutes. You can also click the "Show only online hosts" button to view currently active hosts.
The name displayed in the host list is an IP address. Can I change it to a custom name?
Yes. When installing DataKit, set host tags (e.g., host=my-server) through the environment variable DK_GLOBAL_HOST_TAGS, or modify the global tag configuration in datakit.conf after installation. After modification, the console will display the host name according to the tags you set.
Do I need to write code or complex query statements to configure monitors?
No. TrueWatch provides an official template library covering common scenarios such as hosts, databases, and networks. You only need to select a template and adjust parameters such as thresholds and notification channels. If you need more flexible configuration, you can also customize detection rules through the visual interface without writing code.
Can I use TrueWatch to monitor my home computer, virtual machine, or Raspberry Pi?
Yes. DataKit supports multiple operating systems such as Linux, Windows, and macOS. As long as the device can access the public network, DataKit can be installed and connected to TrueWatch. It is suitable for environments such as virtual machines, cloud servers, physical machines, and personal computers.
Where is my data stored? Is it secure?
For the SaaS version (Free Plan/Commercial Plan), data is uploaded and stored in the TrueWatch cloud data center. TrueWatch provides data encryption for transmission and storage. If you have strict requirements for data sovereignty, you can choose the Deployment Plan to keep all data within your local infrastructure.
How long is data retained for the Free Plan?
The data retention period for the Free Plan is subject to the subscription agreement. The specific duration is subject to the console or official instructions. If you need a longer data retention period or larger storage capacity, you can upgrade to the Commercial Plan.