AWS CloudWatch Metrics

This integration is not available in LaunchDarkly's European Union (EU) instance

To learn more, read LaunchDarkly in the European Union (EU).

Overview

This topic explains how to stream AWS CloudWatch metrics from your AWS account to LaunchDarkly’s observability features. This integration allows you to monitor your AWS infrastructure alongside your feature flag data for unified observability.

The integration uses AWS CloudWatch Metric Streams to send metrics in real-time using the OpenTelemetry format. Data is delivered using Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to LaunchDarkly’s OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) endpoint.

Prerequisites

To use the AWS CloudWatch Metrics integration, you require:

A LaunchDarkly client-side ID for your target environment
An AWS account with permissions to create:
- CloudWatch Metric Streams
- Kinesis Data Firehose delivery streams
- S3 buckets
- IAM roles and policies
AWS CLI installed and configured (optional, for command-line deployment)

To find and copy your LaunchDarkly client-side ID, follow the instructions under View or copy SDK credentials.

Deploy the CloudFormation template

You can deploy the AWS CloudWatch Metrics integration using the AWS CloudFormation console or the AWS CLI.

Deploy using the AWS Console

To deploy using the AWS Console:

Copy the CloudFormation template below and save it as a file named metric-stream.yaml.
Open the AWS CloudFormation console.
Click Create stack and select With new resources (standard).
Select Upload a template file, click Choose file, and select the metric-stream.yaml file you saved.
Click Next.
Enter a Stack name, such as launchdarkly-metrics-stream.
Enter your client-side ID from your LaunchDarkly environment into LaunchDarklyClientSideID.
Click Next through the remaining steps.
On the final page, acknowledge that CloudFormation will create IAM resources by checking the checkbox.
Click Submit.

The stack takes 3-5 minutes to create. After creation completes, metrics begin flowing to LaunchDarkly.

Deploy using the AWS CLI

To deploy using the AWS CLI:

Download the CloudFormation template:

CloudFormation template

1 AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
2 Description: 'CloudFormation template for LaunchDarkly observability metrics integration'
3 
4 Parameters:
5     LaunchDarklyClientSideID:
6         Type: String
7         Description: Your LaunchDarkly environment client-side ID
8 
9     DestinationEndpoint:
10         Type: String
11         Description: OpenTelemetry endpoint URL for metrics
12         Default: https://otlpv1.firehose.observability.app.launchdarkly.com
13 
14 Resources:
15     MetricStreamRole:
16         Type: AWS::IAM::Role
17         Properties:
18             AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
19                 Version: '2012-10-17'
20                 Statement:
21                     - Effect: Allow
22                       Principal:
23                           Service: streams.metrics.cloudwatch.amazonaws.com
24                       Action: sts:AssumeRole
25             Policies:
26                 - PolicyName: MetricStreamPolicy
27                   PolicyDocument:
28                       Version: '2012-10-17'
29                       Statement:
30                           - Effect: Allow
31                             Action:
32                                 - firehose:PutRecord
33                                 - firehose:PutRecordBatch
34                             Resource: !GetAtt DeliveryStream.Arn
35 
36     BackupBucket:
37         Type: AWS::S3::Bucket
38         DeletionPolicy: Delete
39         UpdateReplacePolicy: Delete
40         Properties:
41             LifecycleConfiguration:
42                 Rules:
43                     - Id: DeleteOldBackups
44                       Status: Enabled
45                       ExpirationInDays: 14
46 
47     FirehoseRole:
48         Type: AWS::IAM::Role
49         Properties:
50             AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
51                 Version: '2012-10-17'
52                 Statement:
53                     - Effect: Allow
54                       Principal:
55                           Service: firehose.amazonaws.com
56                       Action: sts:AssumeRole
57             Policies:
58                 - PolicyName: FirehosePolicy
59                   PolicyDocument:
60                       Version: '2012-10-17'
61                       Statement:
62                           - Effect: Allow
63                             Action:
64                                 - logs:CreateLogStream
65                                 - logs:PutLogEvents
66                                 - logs:CreateLogGroup
67                             Resource: !Sub arn:aws:logs:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:log-group:/aws/kinesisfirehose/${AWS::StackName}:*
68                           - Effect: Allow
69                             Action:
70                                 - s3:PutObject
71                                 - s3:GetObject
72                             Resource:
73                                 - !Sub ${BackupBucket.Arn}/*
74 
75     DeliveryStream:
76         Type: AWS::KinesisFirehose::DeliveryStream
77         Properties:
78             DeliveryStreamType: DirectPut
79             HttpEndpointDestinationConfiguration:
80                 EndpointConfiguration:
81                     Url: !Ref DestinationEndpoint
82                 RequestConfiguration:
83                     ContentEncoding: GZIP
84                     CommonAttributes:
85                         - AttributeName: x-launchdarkly-project
86                           AttributeValue: !Ref LaunchDarklyClientSideID
87                 BufferingHints:
88                     IntervalInSeconds: 60
89                     SizeInMBs: 1
90                 RoleARN: !GetAtt FirehoseRole.Arn
91                 S3BackupMode: FailedDataOnly
92                 S3Configuration:
93                     BucketARN: !GetAtt BackupBucket.Arn
94                     BufferingHints:
95                         IntervalInSeconds: 300
96                         SizeInMBs: 5
97                     CompressionFormat: GZIP
98                     RoleARN: !GetAtt FirehoseRole.Arn
99                     Prefix: failed-metrics/
100 
101     MetricStream:
102         Type: AWS::CloudWatch::MetricStream
103         Properties:
104             FirehoseArn: !GetAtt DeliveryStream.Arn
105             OutputFormat: opentelemetry1.0
106             RoleArn: !GetAtt MetricStreamRole.Arn
107 
108 Outputs:
109     MetricStreamArn:
110         Description: ARN of the created metric stream
111         Value: !GetAtt MetricStream.Arn
112 
113     FirehoseArn:
114         Description: ARN of the created Kinesis Firehose
115         Value: !GetAtt DeliveryStream.Arn
116 
117     BackupBucketName:
118         Description: Name of the S3 bucket for failed delivery backups
119         Value: !Ref BackupBucket

Create the CloudFormation stack:

Shell

$ aws cloudformation create-stack \
>   --stack-name launchdarkly-metrics-stream \
>   --template-body file://metric-stream.yaml \
>   --parameters \
>     ParameterKey=LaunchDarklyClientSideID,ParameterValue=YOUR_CLIENT_SIDE_ID \
>   --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM

Replace YOUR_CLIENT_SIDE_ID with your LaunchDarkly environment’s client-side ID.

Monitor the stack creation:

Shell

$ aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name launchdarkly-metrics-stream

What the template creates

The CloudFormation template creates the following AWS resources:

CloudWatch Metric Stream: Captures all CloudWatch metrics from all AWS services in real-time
Kinesis Data Firehose Delivery Stream: Buffers and delivers metrics to the LaunchDarkly OTLP endpoint
S3 Backup Bucket: Stores failed metric deliveries for troubleshooting (14-day retention)
IAM Roles: Least-privilege roles for the metric stream and Firehose delivery stream

All metrics from all AWS namespaces such as EC2, Lambda, RDS, DynamoDB, and ECS are streamed automatically, providing comprehensive visibility into your AWS infrastructure.

View metrics in LaunchDarkly Observability

After deployment, metrics appear in the LaunchDarkly observability dashboard within 1-2 minutes.

To view your metrics:

Navigate to Observability in LaunchDarkly.
Select the environment you configured.
Navigate to the Metrics tab.
Use the metric explorer to query and visualize your AWS CloudWatch metrics.

Metrics are tagged with their AWS namespace, region, and resource identifiers for easy filtering.

Filter metrics by namespace (optional)

By default, the integration sends all AWS CloudWatch metrics from all services, providing complete observability coverage. If you need to reduce cost and data volume for specific use cases, you can optionally filter to specific AWS service namespaces.

To filter metrics to specific namespaces:

Download and open the CloudFormation template in a text editor.
Locate the MetricStream resource.
Add an IncludeFilters section, similar to:

CloudFormation YAML

1 MetricStream:
2   Type: AWS::CloudWatch::MetricStream
3   Properties:
4     FirehoseArn: !GetAtt DeliveryStream.Arn
5     IncludeFilters:
6       - Namespace: AWS/EC2
7       - Namespace: AWS/Lambda
8       - Namespace: AWS/RDS
9     OutputFormat: opentelemetry1.0
10     RoleArn: !GetAtt MetricStreamRole.Arn

Save the template and deploy or update the stack.

For a complete list of AWS service namespaces, read AWS services that publish CloudWatch metrics in the AWS documentation.

1	AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
2	Description: 'CloudFormation template for LaunchDarkly observability metrics integration'
3
4	Parameters:
5	LaunchDarklyClientSideID:
6	Type: String
7	Description: Your LaunchDarkly environment client-side ID
8
9	DestinationEndpoint:
10	Type: String
11	Description: OpenTelemetry endpoint URL for metrics
12	Default: https://otlpv1.firehose.observability.app.launchdarkly.com
13
14	Resources:
15	MetricStreamRole:
16	Type: AWS::IAM::Role
17	Properties:
18	AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
19	Version: '2012-10-17'
20	Statement:
21	- Effect: Allow
22	Principal:
23	Service: streams.metrics.cloudwatch.amazonaws.com
24	Action: sts:AssumeRole
25	Policies:
26	- PolicyName: MetricStreamPolicy
27	PolicyDocument:
28	Version: '2012-10-17'
29	Statement:
30	- Effect: Allow
31	Action:
32	- firehose:PutRecord
33	- firehose:PutRecordBatch
34	Resource: !GetAtt DeliveryStream.Arn
35
36	BackupBucket:
37	Type: AWS::S3::Bucket
38	DeletionPolicy: Delete
39	UpdateReplacePolicy: Delete
40	Properties:
41	LifecycleConfiguration:
42	Rules:
43	- Id: DeleteOldBackups
44	Status: Enabled
45	ExpirationInDays: 14
46
47	FirehoseRole:
48	Type: AWS::IAM::Role
49	Properties:
50	AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
51	Version: '2012-10-17'
52	Statement:
53	- Effect: Allow
54	Principal:
55	Service: firehose.amazonaws.com
56	Action: sts:AssumeRole
57	Policies:
58	- PolicyName: FirehosePolicy
59	PolicyDocument:
60	Version: '2012-10-17'
61	Statement:
62	- Effect: Allow
63	Action:
64	- logs:CreateLogStream
65	- logs:PutLogEvents
66	- logs:CreateLogGroup
67	Resource: !Sub arn:aws:logs:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:log-group:/aws/kinesisfirehose/${AWS::StackName}:*
68	- Effect: Allow
69	Action:
70	- s3:PutObject
71	- s3:GetObject
72	Resource:
73	- !Sub ${BackupBucket.Arn}/*
74
75	DeliveryStream:
76	Type: AWS::KinesisFirehose::DeliveryStream
77	Properties:
78	DeliveryStreamType: DirectPut
79	HttpEndpointDestinationConfiguration:
80	EndpointConfiguration:
81	Url: !Ref DestinationEndpoint
82	RequestConfiguration:
83	ContentEncoding: GZIP
84	CommonAttributes:
85	- AttributeName: x-launchdarkly-project
86	AttributeValue: !Ref LaunchDarklyClientSideID
87	BufferingHints:
88	IntervalInSeconds: 60
89	SizeInMBs: 1
90	RoleARN: !GetAtt FirehoseRole.Arn
91	S3BackupMode: FailedDataOnly
92	S3Configuration:
93	BucketARN: !GetAtt BackupBucket.Arn
94	BufferingHints:
95	IntervalInSeconds: 300
96	SizeInMBs: 5
97	CompressionFormat: GZIP
98	RoleARN: !GetAtt FirehoseRole.Arn
99	Prefix: failed-metrics/
100
101	MetricStream:
102	Type: AWS::CloudWatch::MetricStream
103	Properties:
104	FirehoseArn: !GetAtt DeliveryStream.Arn
105	OutputFormat: opentelemetry1.0
106	RoleArn: !GetAtt MetricStreamRole.Arn
107
108	Outputs:
109	MetricStreamArn:
110	Description: ARN of the created metric stream
111	Value: !GetAtt MetricStream.Arn
112
113	FirehoseArn:
114	Description: ARN of the created Kinesis Firehose
115	Value: !GetAtt DeliveryStream.Arn
116
117	BackupBucketName:
118	Description: Name of the S3 bucket for failed delivery backups
119	Value: !Ref BackupBucket

$	aws cloudformation create-stack \
>	--stack-name launchdarkly-metrics-stream \
>	--template-body file://metric-stream.yaml \
>	--parameters \
>	ParameterKey=LaunchDarklyClientSideID,ParameterValue=YOUR_CLIENT_SIDE_ID \
>	--capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM