Nestjs Observability

---
name: nestjs-observability
description: Configure structured logging with Pino, Prometheus metrics, and health checks for NestJS services. Use when adding JSON logging, request tracing with correlation IDs, Prometheus metric endpoints, or liveness/readiness health checks.
license: MIT
version: 1.0.0
author: "[Filippo De Silva](https://github.com/FilippoDeSilva)"
tags:
  - nestjs
  - observability
  - pino
  - prometheus
  - health-check
  - correlation-id
metadata:
  triggers:
    files:
    - 'main.ts'
    - '**/*.module.ts'
    keywords:
    - nestjs-pino
    - Prometheus
    - Logger
    - reqId
---
# Observability Standards

## **Priority: P1 (OPERATIONAL)**


## Structured Logging (Pino)

Use `nestjs-pino` for high-performance, async JSON logging. Node's `console.log` blocking and unstructured.

See [implementation examples](references/example.md)

## Tracing (Correlation)

- **Request ID**: Every log line **must** include `reqId`. `nestjs-pino` handles this via `AsyncLocalStorage`.
- **Propagation**: Pass `x-request-id` to downstream microservices and database queries for end-to-end tracing.

## Metrics

Expose `/metrics` for Prometheus scraping using `@willsoto/nestjs-prometheus`.

See [implementation examples](references/example.md)

## Health Checks

- **Terminus**: Implement "Liveness" (I'm alive) vs "Readiness" (I can take traffic).
 - **DB Check**: `TypeOrmHealthIndicator` / `PrismaHealthIndicator`.
 - **Memory Check**: Fail readiness if Heap > 300MB to prevent crash loops.

## Performance Headers (Dev Only)

- `X-Response-Duration-Ms`, `X-DB-Execution-Ms`, `X-API-Overhead-Ms`
- Gate behind `ENABLE_PERFORMANCE_BENCHMARK` feature flag; never expose in production.

## Anti-Patterns

- **No console.log**: Use nestjs-pino for async, structured, JSON-formatted logging.
- **No missing reqId**: Propagate `x-request-id` header to all downstream services and queries.
- **No perf data in production by default**: Gate benchmarking behind `ENABLE_PERFORMANCE_BENCHMARK` flag.