Observability

next-enterprise includes built-in observability powered by OpenTelemetry and integrated through Vercel's official package, giving you insights into your application's performance without complex configuration.

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What is Observability?

Observability helps you understand your system's internal state through its external outputs. For web applications, this includes:

• Performance metrics (load times, API responses)
• Error tracking across frontend and backend
• User journey analysis
• Overall system health monitoring

Key Benefits

Effective observability provides several practical advantages:

• Proactive problem solving - Identify issues before users report them
• Improved efficiency - Debug with context, reducing resolution time
• Data-driven decisions - Use real metrics to guide UX and performance improvements
• Resource optimization - Allocate resources based on actual usage patterns
• Team alignment - Create shared understanding of system behavior across departments

Implementation Details

next-enterprise uses Vercel's OpenTelemetry integration, configured through the instrumentation.ts file:

import { registerOTel } from "@vercel/otel";
 
export function register() {
  registerOTel("next-app");
}

This provides automatic instrumentation of web vitals, page loads, and server-side traces, with integration into Vercel's dashboard and compatibility with other observability platforms.

Getting Started

The observability features work automatically when deployed to Vercel. During local development:

1. Performance data appears in browser developer tools
2. Server-side traces show in terminal logs
3. Additional exporters can be configured for advanced usage

Best Practices

To maximize value from observability:

• Add custom traces for critical operations
• Set up alerts for key performance thresholds
• Regularly review metrics during development
• Use insights to guide targeted optimizations