Apache SkyWalking
Apache SkyWalking is an open-source APM (Application Performance Monitoring) system that provides monitoring, tracing, and diagnosing capabilities for distributed systems in cloud native architectures. It supports auto-instrumentation for Java, .NET, Python, Go, Node.js, PHP, and Ruby, offering distributed tracing, metrics collection, log aggregation, and continuous profiling through a unified observability platform governed by the Apache Software Foundation.
Limited machine-readable signal and partial portal coverage — documentation a human can read, but little a machine or agent can consume without scraping.
API Evangelist profiles Apache SkyWalking the way a machine reads it — 32 machine-readable artifacts across 3 APIs, pulled from the provider's own public surface and indexed so a developer, an analyst, or an AI agent can evaluate it against every other provider on the network.
Every provider in the network is reduced to the same set of machine-readable artifacts — OpenAPI contracts, event specifications, GraphQL schemas, runnable collections, pricing and rate-limit signals, security posture, OAuth scopes, and the agent surfaces (MCP servers and skills) that let software drive the API on its own. We profile them because the interface is the part of a company you can actually inspect: it is a truer signal of what a provider does than any marketing page. From those artifacts we compute the Kin Score — Apache SkyWalking scores 33.4/100 (thin), with a separate agent-readiness read of 7/100 (human only). The full breakdown is below, followed by every artifact we hold — each card links through to its machine-readable definition on apis.io.
Kin Score
This is the API Evangelist rating — a single, repeatable read computed from the artifacts on this page. Green fill is points earned; the red track is points possible, so every bar shows earned-versus-possible at a glance.
Kin Score
How this is scored →scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
How we profile Apache SkyWalking
Each block below is one kind of artifact we hold for Apache SkyWalking. For each we say what it is and why it earns a place in the profile, then list every one we've indexed — capped at two rows, scroll within the panel for the rest.
APIs 3
Each API is captured as its own OpenAPI definition — every operation, parameter, and response. This is the single most useful machine-readable description of what an API does, and it's what lets us score, lint, mock, and generate against it without asking the provider for anything.
Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.
Apache SkyWalking GraphQL Query API
The SkyWalking GraphQL Query API provides a comprehensive query interface for retrieving observability data including traces, metrics, logs, alarms, topology maps, and profiling...
Apache SkyWalking REST API
The SkyWalking HTTP REST API exposes endpoints on port 12800 for health checks, PromQL-compatible metrics queries (Prometheus Query Language), LogQL log queries, and dynamic con...
Apache SkyWalking gRPC Data Collect Protocol
The SkyWalking data collection protocol defines gRPC service definitions for telemetry data ingestion from language agents and service mesh proxies. It covers trace data (v3), J...
GraphQL 1
Where a provider ships GraphQL, the schema is the contract. We profile it alongside the REST surface so the whole interface is legible in one place.
GraphQL schemas published by this provider.
Apache SkyWalking GraphQL API
The SkyWalking GraphQL Query API provides a comprehensive query interface for retrieving observability data including traces, metrics, logs, alarms, topology maps, and profiling...
GRAPHQLPricing Plans 1
Pricing is part of the interface. Machine-readable plans tell you what a tier costs and includes before you commit — one of the six things the Kin Score reads for commercial clarity.
Published pricing tiers and plan structures.
Rate Limits 1
Rate limits are the difference between a demo that works and a production integration that doesn't fall over. Publishing them is an operational-transparency signal — and a hard requirement for any agent that plans its own throughput.
Documented rate limits and quota policies.
Apache Skywalking Rate Limits
RATE LIMITSFinOps 1
Cost, billing, and metering signals let a buyer model the financial operations of an API before it's live. We profile them for the same reason we profile pricing: the money is part of the contract.
Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.
Apache Skywalking Finops
FINOPSFeatures 10
The notable capabilities this provider advertises, captured as structured features so they can be searched and compared instead of read one landing page at a time.
Notable capabilities this provider offers.
Distributed Tracing
Auto-instrumented distributed tracing across 10+ languages with trace correlation and cross-service propagation.
Metrics Collection
Service, instance, and endpoint metrics with SkyWalking Metrics Query Expression (MQE) engine.
Log Aggregation
Centralized log collection and search with LAL (Log Analysis Language) rules.
Service Topology
Automatic service dependency mapping and topology visualization.
Alarm System
Rule-based alerting on metrics thresholds with webhook and notification integrations.
Continuous Profiling
CPU, memory, and network profiling via async-profiler, pprof, and eBPF.
eBPF Network Profiling
Out-of-process network performance profiling using eBPF without code instrumentation.
PromQL Compatibility
Prometheus Query Language API for Grafana and other Prometheus-compatible tools.
BanyanDB Storage
Native observability database optimized for time-series and trace data storage.
Multi-Layer Service Model
Hierarchical service model supporting mesh, Kubernetes, APISIX gateway, and custom layers.
Scroll within the panel for all 10 ·
Security Posture 2
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals — the evidence that a provider takes security seriously enough to document it. We profile it because you can't govern what you can't see.
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.
Use Cases 5
What developers actually build with this provider — captured so the catalogue answers 'what is this for', not just 'what does this expose'.
What developers build with this provider.
Microservices Observability
End-to-end monitoring and tracing for microservices architectures in Kubernetes.
Service Mesh Monitoring
Integration with Istio and other service meshes for traffic and performance monitoring.
Root Cause Analysis
Trace-based root cause analysis for distributed system failures and latency issues.
SLA Monitoring
Service level agreement monitoring with metrics dashboards and alerting.
Continuous Profiling
Always-on profiling for performance optimization without overhead in production.
Integrations 8
Pre-built integrations with other platforms tell you where this provider already fits in a stack.
Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.
Kubernetes
Native Kubernetes monitoring via skywalking-kubernetes Helm charts and event integration.
Grafana
PromQL-compatible metrics API enables native Grafana dashboard integration.
Istio
Service mesh telemetry collection from Istio-managed service traffic.
APISIX
API Gateway integration for monitoring API traffic through Apache APISIX.
Elasticsearch
Elasticsearch and OpenSearch backend storage for trace and log data.
BanyanDB
Native high-performance observability database built for SkyWalking.
Kafka
Kafka-based data pipeline for high-throughput telemetry ingestion.
OpenTelemetry
OpenTelemetry receiver for ingesting OTLP traces, metrics, and logs.
Scroll within the panel for all 8 ·
Resources
Every other property we hold for Apache SkyWalking — documentation, portals, status pages, policies, and corporate surface — grouped by the job it does, following the integrator's arc from getting started to running in production.
Get Started 1
Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call
Documentation 1
Reference material describing how the API behaves
Build 10
SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with
Scroll within the panel for all 10 ·
Access & Security 2
Authentication, authorization, and security posture
Operate 2
Status, limits, changes, and where to get help
Commercial 1
Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use
Company 1
The organization behind the API
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