# apache/skywalking

APM, Application Performance Monitoring System

Repository: https://github.com/apache/skywalking
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/skywalking
Homepage: https://skywalking.apache.org/
Language: Java
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: skywalking, observability, apm, service-mesh, dapper, distributed-tracing, web-performance, metrics, logging, prometheus, open-telemetry, zabbix, ebpf, telegraf
Last push: 2026-08-26T06:25:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 83/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 53, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3952, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 154, "gap_med": 175, "n_releases_24m": 4}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 24931, forks 6634 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:37.686723+00:00)

## What it is
Apache SkyWalking is an open-source APM (Application Performance Monitoring) platform for microservices, cloud-native, and container-based architectures, combining distributed tracing, metrics, logs, profiling, and alerting in one system. It supports agents for 10+ languages, eBPF-based Kubernetes monitoring, a native observability database (BanyanDB), and an AI assistant with MCP integration for natural-language observability queries.

## Use cases
- monitor latency and errors across microservices
- trace a request end-to-end through a distributed system
- visualize service topology and dependencies
- collect and analyze metrics, logs, and traces with OpenTelemetry or Prometheus
- profile CPU and network performance of Kubernetes pods with eBPF
- set up alerting rules for services, deployments, and APIs
- monitor LLM/GenAI calls including tokens and cost
- query system health in natural language via an AI assistant

## When to choose
- you need full-stack APM for cloud-native or microservices architectures
- you want tracing, metrics, and logs unified in one self-hosted platform
- you need agents for many languages (Java, Go, Python, NodeJS, .NET, PHP, Rust, etc.)
- you want to observe service meshes (Istio/Envoy), Kubernetes, or GenAI workloads

## When to avoid
- you only need simple host/server monitoring without distributed tracing
- you want a fully managed SaaS APM without operating your own backend
- your stack is a single small application where a lightweight metrics tool suffices

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: stable
- function: monitoring, tracing, logging, alerting, data-visualization, mcp
- domain: monitoring, cloud-computing, microservices, large-language-models
- platform: windows, self-hosted, jvm
- tags: apm, observability, distributed-tracing, service-mesh, ebpf, opentelemetry, prometheus, banyandb, profiling, ai-assistant, apache, devops, containers, linux, macos, docker, kubernetes, web-server

## Member repositories
- apache/skywalking (main) score 83

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:37.686723+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:56:08.599592+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/apache/skywalking (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:37.686723+00:00, sha 6b212cf45453)
  - homepage: https://skywalking.apache.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.901817+00:00, sha cce98570b729)
  - site_page: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.911804+00:00, sha e169675da162)
  - site_page: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/skywalking-horizon-ui/next/operate/ai-assistant (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.914634+00:00, sha 5eda6eb063d6)
  - site_page: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/skywalking-horizon-ui/next/operate/mcp (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.917299+00:00, sha 5d0a0754c87a)
  - site_page: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/main/latest/en/concepts-and-designs/probe-introduction (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.919669+00:00, sha a108f71e8535)
  - site_page: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/main/latest/en/concepts-and-designs/mal (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.921523+00:00, sha 5b1e2586deb3)
  - site_page: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/main/latest/en/setup/backend/log-analyzer (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.923908+00:00, sha 366cd07f198d)
  - site_page: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/main/latest/en/concepts-and-designs/profiling (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.925689+00:00, sha 2b7bb01b6e6a)
  - site_page: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/main/latest/en/setup/service-agent/virtual-genai (fetched 2026-08-29T07:53:22.927601+00:00, sha e0d719161dc8)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.