CI/CD pipeline observability is crucial for debugging complex delivery processes, with integrated dashboards and tools like Prometheus and Grafana offering varying levels of insight.
CI/CD pipeline challenges grow with complexity
As CI/CD pipelines become more complex, identifying the source of failures becomes harder. These pipelines involve many systems, including version control, build agents, and deployment tools, each generating its own data, making it difficult to collect and analyze all of them during a problem.Survey highlights common CI/CD challenges
The JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey 2026 found that debugging and troubleshooting in cloud environments were the most common challenge, mentioned by 44% of 20,416 participants. Other challenges included security and access control (36%), visibility and cost optimization (36%), and the complexity of managing multiple tools and dashboards.Observability helps understand pipeline failures
CI/CD pipeline observability involves analyzing data from builds, logs, and traces to understand pipeline behavior. It helps answer questions like why builds are slower or why a specific stage is failing, providing insights that go beyond basic monitoring.Observability differs from traditional monitoring
While monitoring tracks known conditions, observability is crucial when the cause of a problem is unclear. It provides enough correlated data to investigate unexpected failures without needing to set up new monitoring or wait for the issue to happen again.Pipeline observability covers multiple levels
At the pipeline level, observability includes metrics like wait time, total duration, and success rates. At the platform level, it involves monitoring CPU, memory, and network usage, as well as the health of external dependencies.Most developers use integrated CI/CD dashboards
According to the "State of Developer Ecosystem Survey 2026," 76% of 8,323 participants use integrated CI/CD dashboards. These tools are built into the CI/CD platform, require little setup, and display pipeline data in context, making them ideal for daily use.Other tools complement integrated dashboards
Many teams use additional observability tools like Prometheus and Grafana for infrastructure metrics or Elastic Stack and OpenSearch for detailed log searches. These tools provide different types of information and are not direct replacements for integrated dashboards.OpenTelemetry helps standardize data collection
OpenTelemetry is used by 17% of participants to collect and send pipeline data to other observability systems. While it provides standard methods for collecting metrics, logs, and traces, it does not offer storage or dashboards on its own.Commercial platforms offer managed solutions
Commercial observability platforms, used by 14% of respondents, are ideal for organizations already using such systems. They offer managed storage, intersystem correlation, and vendor support but can be costly with detailed logs and large data volumes.Custom observability suits specialized needs
Custom internal observability, used by 12% of respondents, gives full control over data and analysis but requires the organization to handle all aspects, from instrumentation to updates and user experience. It is best for large or specialized organizations with unique needs.
