---
title: "Expose Document Engine metrics"
canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/monitoring/enable-metrics-export/"
md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/monitoring/enable-metrics-export.md"
last_updated: "2026-05-28T20:12:47.119Z"
description: "Document Engine enables exporting internal metrics using Prometheus. Enable Prometheus endpoints, ServiceMonitor, and Grafana dashboards for monitoring."
---

# Expose Document Engine metrics

Document Engine provides the capability to expose internal metrics for monitoring. Internal metrics offer fine-grained insights into Document Engine performance and help pinpoint specific issues. The list of all exported metrics is available in the [metrics reference](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/monitoring/metrics-reference.md).

For distributed tracing capabilities, refer to our [OpenTelemetry support](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/monitoring/opentelemetry.md) guide.

## Prerequisites

Before you enable metrics export, make sure your Kubernetes cluster includes:

- **[Prometheus Operator](https://prometheus-operator.dev/)** — Required for ServiceMonitor functionality

- **[Grafana](https://grafana.com/)** — Required for dashboard visualization (with [sidecar](https://github.com/grafana/helm-charts/tree/main/charts/grafana#sidecar-for-dashboards) enabled for automatic dashboard discovery)

## Setting up metrics export

When deploying with [Helm](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/deployment/helm.md), as we recommend, simplified [values](https://github.com/PSPDFKit/helm-charts/blob/master/charts/document-engine/values.yaml) from the `observability.metrics` section are available for configuring Prometheus and Grafana integration:

```yaml

observability:
  metrics:
    # Enable Prometheus metrics endpoint

    prometheusEndpoint:
      enabled: true
    # Enable ServiceMonitor for Prometheus Operator

    serviceMonitor:
      enabled: true
    # Enable Grafana Dashboard ConfigMap

    grafanaDashboard:
      enabled: true

```

### Prometheus endpoint

Enabling `observability.metrics.prometheusEndpoint.enabled: true` exposes a `/metrics` endpoint that Prometheus can scrape. This endpoint provides all Document Engine internal metrics in Prometheus format.

### ServiceMonitor

Enabling `observability.metrics.serviceMonitor.enabled: true` creates a [ServiceMonitor](https://prometheus-operator.dev/docs/getting-started/design/#servicemonitor) custom resource for the [Prometheus Operator](https://prometheus-operator.dev/). This enables Prometheus to automatically discover and scrape metrics from Document Engine without manual configuration.

### Grafana dashboard

Enabling `observability.metrics.grafanaDashboard.enabled: true` creates a [ConfigMap](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/configmap/) containing a prebuilt Grafana dashboard for Document Engine metrics. This dashboard is automatically discovered by Grafana if you’re using the [Grafana sidecar](https://github.com/grafana/helm-charts/tree/main/charts/grafana#sidecar-for-dashboards) pattern.![Grafana Dashboard showing Document Engine metrics](@/assets/guides/document-engine/monitoring/metrics-integration/metrics-view-on-grafana.png)

#### Custom dashboard labels

If your Grafana setup uses different label rules for dashboard discovery, you can customize the ConfigMap labels:

```yaml

observability:
  metrics:
    grafanaDashboard:
      enabled: true
      configMap:
        labels:
          grafana_dashboard: '1'

```

Adjust the `labels` map to match your Grafana discovery configuration.

## Additional configuration

For advanced configuration options and environment variables, refer to our [configuration options](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/configuration/options.md) guide.
---

## Related pages

- [Document Engine logs](/guides/document-engine/monitoring/logs.md)
- [Extra environment variables](/guides/document-engine/monitoring/opentelemetry.md)
- [Metrics reference](/guides/document-engine/monitoring/metrics-reference.md)