---
title: "prometheus.scrape | Grafana Agent documentation"
description: "Learn about prometheus.scrape"
---

# prometheus.scrape

`prometheus.scrape` configures a Prometheus scraping job for a given set of `targets`. The scraped metrics are forwarded to the list of receivers passed in `forward_to`.

Multiple `prometheus.scrape` components can be specified by giving them different labels.

## Usage

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
prometheus.scrape "LABEL" {
  targets    = TARGET_LIST
  forward_to = RECEIVER_LIST
}
```

## Arguments

The component configures and starts a new scrape job to scrape all the input targets. The list of arguments that can be used to configure the block is presented below.

The scrape job name defaults to the component’s unique identifier.

Any omitted fields take on their default values. In case that conflicting attributes are being passed (e.g. defining both a BearerToken and BearerTokenFile or configuring both Basic Authorization and OAuth2 at the same time), the component reports an error.

The following arguments are supported:

Expand table

| Name                          | Type                    | Description                                                                                            | Default        | Required |
|-------------------------------|-------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|----------|
| `targets`                     | `list(map(string))`     | List of targets to scrape.                                                                             |                | yes      |
| `forward_to`                  | `list(MetricsReceiver)` | List of receivers to send scraped metrics to.                                                          |                | yes      |
| `job_name`                    | `string`                | The value to use for the job label if not already set.                                                 | component name | no       |
| `extra_metrics`               | `bool`                  | Whether extra metrics should be generated for scrape targets.                                          | `false`        | no       |
| `enable_protobuf_negotiation` | `bool`                  | Whether to enable protobuf negotiation with the client.                                                | `false`        | no       |
| `honor_labels`                | `bool`                  | Indicator whether the scraped metrics should remain unmodified.                                        | `false`        | no       |
| `honor_timestamps`            | `bool`                  | Indicator whether the scraped timestamps should be respected.                                          | `true`         | no       |
| `track_timestamps_staleness`  | `bool`                  | Indicator whether to track the staleness of the scraped timestamps.                                    | `false`        | no       |
| `params`                      | `map(list(string))`     | A set of query parameters with which the target is scraped.                                            |                | no       |
| `scrape_classic_histograms`   | `bool`                  | Whether to scrape a classic histogram that is also exposed as a native histogram.                      | `false`        | no       |
| `scrape_interval`             | `duration`              | How frequently to scrape the targets of this scrape configuration.                                     | `"60s"`        | no       |
| `scrape_timeout`              | `duration`              | The timeout for scraping targets of this configuration.                                                | `"10s"`        | no       |
| `metrics_path`                | `string`                | The HTTP resource path on which to fetch metrics from targets.                                         | `/metrics`     | no       |
| `scheme`                      | `string`                | The URL scheme with which to fetch metrics from targets.                                               |                | no       |
| `body_size_limit`             | `int`                   | An uncompressed response body larger than this many bytes causes the scrape to fail. 0 means no limit. |                | no       |
| `sample_limit`                | `uint`                  | More than this many samples post metric-relabeling causes the scrape to fail                           |                | no       |
| `target_limit`                | `uint`                  | More than this many targets after the target relabeling causes the scrapes to fail.                    |                | no       |
| `label_limit`                 | `uint`                  | More than this many labels post metric-relabeling causes the scrape to fail.                           |                | no       |
| `label_name_length_limit`     | `uint`                  | More than this label name length post metric-relabeling causes the scrape to fail.                     |                | no       |
| `label_value_length_limit`    | `uint`                  | More than this label value length post metric-relabeling causes the scrape to fail.                    |                | no       |
| `bearer_token_file`           | `string`                | File containing a bearer token to authenticate with.                                                   |                | no       |
| `bearer_token`                | `secret`                | Bearer token to authenticate with.                                                                     |                | no       |
| `enable_http2`                | `bool`                  | Whether HTTP2 is supported for requests.                                                               | `true`         | no       |
| `follow_redirects`            | `bool`                  | Whether redirects returned by the server should be followed.                                           | `true`         | no       |
| `proxy_url`                   | `string`                | HTTP proxy to send requests through.                                                                   |                | no       |
| `no_proxy`                    | `string`                | Comma-separated list of IP addresses, CIDR notations, and domain names to exclude from proxying.       |                | no       |
| `proxy_from_environment`      | `bool`                  | Use the proxy URL indicated by environment variables.                                                  | `false`        | no       |
| `proxy_connect_header`        | `map(list(secret))`     | Specifies headers to send to proxies during CONNECT requests.                                          |                | no       |

At most, one of the following can be provided:

- [`bearer_token` argument](#arguments).
- [`bearer_token_file` argument](#arguments).
- [`basic_auth` block](#basic_auth-block).
- [`authorization` block](#authorization-block).
- [`oauth2` block](#oauth2-block).

`no_proxy` can contain IPs, CIDR notations, and domain names. IP and domain names can contain port numbers. `proxy_url` must be configured if `no_proxy` is configured.

`proxy_from_environment` uses the environment variables HTTP\_PROXY, HTTPS\_PROXY and NO\_PROXY (or the lowercase versions thereof). Requests use the proxy from the environment variable matching their scheme, unless excluded by NO\_PROXY. `proxy_url` and `no_proxy` must not be configured if `proxy_from_environment` is configured.

`proxy_connect_header` should only be configured if `proxy_url` or `proxy_from_environment` are configured.

`track_timestamps_staleness` controls whether Prometheus tracks [staleness](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/basics/#staleness) of metrics which with an explicit timestamp present in scraped data.

- An “explicit timestamp” is an optional timestamp in the [Prometheus metrics exposition format](https://prometheus.io/docs/instrumenting/exposition_formats/#text-based-format). For example, this sample has a timestamp of `1395066363000`:
  
  ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
  
  ```none
  http_requests_total{method="post",code="200"} 1027 1395066363000
  ```
- If `track_timestamps_staleness` is set to `true`, a staleness marker will be inserted when a metric is no longer present or the target is down.
- A “staleness marker” is just a sample with a specific NaN value which is reserved for internal use by Prometheus.
- It is recommended to set `track_timestamps_staleness` to `true` if the database where metrics are written to has enabled [out of order ingestion](/docs/mimir/latest/configure/configure-out-of-order-samples-ingestion/).
- If `track_timestamps_staleness` is set to `false`, samples with explicit timestamps will only be labeled as stale after a certain time period, which in Prometheus is 5 minutes by default.

## Blocks

The following blocks are supported inside the definition of `prometheus.scrape`:

Expand table

| Hierarchy               | Block                                 | Description                                                              | Required |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|
| basic\_auth             | [basic\_auth](#basic_auth-block)      | Configure basic\_auth for authenticating to targets.                     | no       |
| authorization           | [authorization](#authorization-block) | Configure generic authorization to targets.                              | no       |
| oauth2                  | [oauth2](#oauth2-block)               | Configure OAuth2 for authenticating to targets.                          | no       |
| oauth2 > tls\_config | [tls\_config](#tls_config-block)      | Configure TLS settings for connecting to targets via OAuth2.             | no       |
| tls\_config             | [tls\_config](#tls_config-block)      | Configure TLS settings for connecting to targets.                        | no       |
| clustering              | [clustering](#clustering-block)       | Configure the component for when the Agent is running in clustered mode. | no       |

The `>` symbol indicates deeper levels of nesting. For example, `oauth2 > tls_config` refers to a `tls_config` block defined inside an `oauth2` block.

### basic\_auth block

Expand table

| Name            | Type     | Description                              | Default | Required |
|-----------------|----------|------------------------------------------|---------|----------|
| `password_file` | `string` | File containing the basic auth password. |         | no       |
| `password`      | `secret` | Basic auth password.                     |         | no       |
| `username`      | `string` | Basic auth username.                     |         | no       |

`password` and `password_file` are mutually exclusive, and only one can be provided inside a `basic_auth` block.

### authorization block

Expand table

| Name               | Type     | Description                                | Default | Required |
|--------------------|----------|--------------------------------------------|---------|----------|
| `credentials_file` | `string` | File containing the secret value.          |         | no       |
| `credentials`      | `secret` | Secret value.                              |         | no       |
| `type`             | `string` | Authorization type, for example, “Bearer”. |         | no       |

`credential` and `credentials_file` are mutually exclusive, and only one can be provided inside an `authorization` block.

### oauth2 block

Expand table

| Name                     | Type                | Description                                                                                      | Default | Required |
|--------------------------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------|----------|
| `client_id`              | `string`            | OAuth2 client ID.                                                                                |         | no       |
| `client_secret_file`     | `string`            | File containing the OAuth2 client secret.                                                        |         | no       |
| `client_secret`          | `secret`            | OAuth2 client secret.                                                                            |         | no       |
| `endpoint_params`        | `map(string)`       | Optional parameters to append to the token URL.                                                  |         | no       |
| `proxy_url`              | `string`            | HTTP proxy to send requests through.                                                             |         | no       |
| `no_proxy`               | `string`            | Comma-separated list of IP addresses, CIDR notations, and domain names to exclude from proxying. |         | no       |
| `proxy_from_environment` | `bool`              | Use the proxy URL indicated by environment variables.                                            | `false` | no       |
| `proxy_connect_header`   | `map(list(secret))` | Specifies headers to send to proxies during CONNECT requests.                                    |         | no       |
| `scopes`                 | `list(string)`      | List of scopes to authenticate with.                                                             |         | no       |
| `token_url`              | `string`            | URL to fetch the token from.                                                                     |         | no       |

`client_secret` and `client_secret_file` are mutually exclusive, and only one can be provided inside an `oauth2` block.

The `oauth2` block may also contain a separate `tls_config` sub-block.

`no_proxy` can contain IPs, CIDR notations, and domain names. IP and domain names can contain port numbers. `proxy_url` must be configured if `no_proxy` is configured.

`proxy_from_environment` uses the environment variables HTTP\_PROXY, HTTPS\_PROXY and NO\_PROXY (or the lowercase versions thereof). Requests use the proxy from the environment variable matching their scheme, unless excluded by NO\_PROXY. `proxy_url` and `no_proxy` must not be configured if `proxy_from_environment` is configured.

`proxy_connect_header` should only be configured if `proxy_url` or `proxy_from_environment` are configured.

### tls\_config block

Expand table

| Name                   | Type     | Description                                              | Default | Required |
|------------------------|----------|----------------------------------------------------------|---------|----------|
| `ca_pem`               | `string` | CA PEM-encoded text to validate the server with.         |         | no       |
| `ca_file`              | `string` | CA certificate to validate the server with.              |         | no       |
| `cert_pem`             | `string` | Certificate PEM-encoded text for client authentication.  |         | no       |
| `cert_file`            | `string` | Certificate file for client authentication.              |         | no       |
| `insecure_skip_verify` | `bool`   | Disables validation of the server certificate.           |         | no       |
| `key_file`             | `string` | Key file for client authentication.                      |         | no       |
| `key_pem`              | `secret` | Key PEM-encoded text for client authentication.          |         | no       |
| `min_version`          | `string` | Minimum acceptable TLS version.                          |         | no       |
| `server_name`          | `string` | ServerName extension to indicate the name of the server. |         | no       |

The following pairs of arguments are mutually exclusive and can’t both be set simultaneously:

- `ca_pem` and `ca_file`
- `cert_pem` and `cert_file`
- `key_pem` and `key_file`

When configuring client authentication, both the client certificate (using `cert_pem` or `cert_file`) and the client key (using `key_pem` or `key_file`) must be provided.

When `min_version` is not provided, the minimum acceptable TLS version is inherited from Go’s default minimum version, TLS 1.2. If `min_version` is provided, it must be set to one of the following strings:

- `"TLS10"` (TLS 1.0)
- `"TLS11"` (TLS 1.1)
- `"TLS12"` (TLS 1.2)
- `"TLS13"` (TLS 1.3)

### clustering block

Expand table

| Name      | Type   | Description                                       | Default | Required |
|-----------|--------|---------------------------------------------------|---------|----------|
| `enabled` | `bool` | Enables sharing targets with other cluster nodes. | `false` | yes      |

When Grafana Agent Flow is [using clustering](../../../concepts/clustering/), and `enabled` is set to true, then this `prometheus.scrape` component instance opts-in to participating in the cluster to distribute scrape load between all cluster nodes.

Clustering assumes that all cluster nodes are running with the same configuration file, have access to the same service discovery APIs and that all `prometheus.scrape` components that have opted-in to using clustering, over the course of a scrape interval, are converging on the same target set from upstream components in their `targets` argument.

All `prometheus.scrape` components instances opting in to clustering use target labels and a consistent hashing algorithm to determine ownership for each of the targets between the cluster peers. Then, each peer only scrapes the subset of targets that it is responsible for, so that the scrape load is distributed. When a node joins or leaves the cluster, every peer recalculates ownership and continues scraping with the new target set. This performs better than hashmod sharding where *all* nodes have to be re-distributed, as only 1/N of the targets ownership is transferred, but is eventually consistent (rather than fully consistent like hashmod sharding is).

If Grafana Agent Flow is *not* running in clustered mode, then the block is a no-op and `prometheus.scrape` scrapes every target it receives in its arguments.

## Exported fields

`prometheus.scrape` does not export any fields that can be referenced by other components.

## Component health

`prometheus.scrape` is only reported as unhealthy if given an invalid configuration.

## Debug information

`prometheus.scrape` reports the status of the last scrape for each configured scrape job on the component’s debug endpoint.

## Debug metrics

- `agent_prometheus_fanout_latency` (histogram): Write latency for sending to direct and indirect components.
- `agent_prometheus_scrape_targets_gauge` (gauge): Number of targets this component is configured to scrape.
- `agent_prometheus_forwarded_samples_total` (counter): Total number of samples sent to downstream components.

## Scraping behavior

The `prometheus.scrape` component borrows the scraping behavior of Prometheus. Prometheus, and by extent this component, uses a pull model for scraping metrics from a given set of *targets*. Each scrape target is defined as a set of key-value pairs called *labels*. The set of targets can either be *static*, or dynamically provided periodically by a service discovery component such as `discovery.kubernetes`. The special label `__address__` *must always* be present and corresponds to the `<host>:<port>` that is used for the scrape request.

By default, the scrape job tries to scrape all available targets’ `/metrics` endpoints using HTTP, with a scrape interval of 1 minute and scrape timeout of 10 seconds. The metrics path, protocol scheme, scrape interval and timeout, query parameters, as well as any other settings can be configured using the component’s arguments.

If a target is hosted at the [in-memory traffic](../../../concepts/component_controller/#in-memory-traffic) address specified by the [run command](../../cli/run/), `prometheus.scrape` will scrape the metrics in-memory, bypassing the network.

The scrape job expects the metrics exposed by the endpoint to follow the [OpenMetrics](https://openmetrics.io/) format. All metrics are then propagated to each receiver listed in the component’s `forward_to` argument.

Labels coming from targets, that start with a double underscore `__` are treated as *internal*, and are removed prior to scraping.

The `prometheus.scrape` component regards a scrape as successful if it responded with an HTTP `200 OK` status code and returned a body of valid metrics.

If the scrape request fails, the component’s debug UI section contains more detailed information about the failure, the last successful scrape, as well as the labels last used for scraping.

The following labels are automatically injected to the scraped time series and can help pin down a scrape target.

Expand table

| Label    | Description                                                                                      |
|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| job      | The configured job name that the target belongs to. Defaults to the fully formed component name. |
| instance | The `__address__` or `<host>:<port>` of the scrape target’s URL.                                 |

Similarly, these metrics that record the behavior of the scrape targets are also automatically available.

Expand table

| Metric Name                             | Description                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|-----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `up`                                    | 1 if the instance is healthy and reachable, or 0 if the scrape failed.                                                                                                                       |
| `scrape_duration_seconds`               | Duration of the scrape in seconds.                                                                                                                                                           |
| `scrape_samples_scraped`                | The number of samples the target exposed.                                                                                                                                                    |
| `scrape_samples_post_metric_relabeling` | The number of samples remaining after metric relabeling was applied.                                                                                                                         |
| `scrape_series_added`                   | The approximate number of new series in this scrape.                                                                                                                                         |
| `scrape_timeout_seconds`                | The configured scrape timeout for a target. Useful for measuring how close a target was to timing out using `scrape_duration_seconds / scrape_timeout_seconds`                               |
| `scrape_sample_limit`                   | The configured sample limit for a target. Useful for measuring how close a target was to reaching the sample limit using `scrape_samples_post_metric_relabeling / (scrape_sample_limit > 0)` |
| `scrape_body_size_bytes`                | The uncompressed size of the most recent scrape response, if successful. Scrapes failing because the `body_size_limit` is exceeded report -1, other scrape failures report 0.                |

The `up` metric is particularly useful for monitoring and alerting on the health of a scrape job. It is set to `0` in case anything goes wrong with the scrape target, either because it is not reachable, because the connection times out while scraping, or because the samples from the target could not be processed. When the target is behaving normally, the `up` metric is set to `1`.

To enable scraping of Prometheus’ native histograms over gRPC, the `enable_protobuf_negotiation` must be set to true. The `scrape_classic_histograms` argument controls whether the component should also scrape the ‘classic’ histogram equivalent of a native histogram, if it is present.

## Example

The following example sets up the scrape job with certain attributes (scrape endpoint, scrape interval, query parameters) and lets it scrape two instances of the [blackbox exporter](https://github.com/prometheus/blackbox_exporter/). The exposed metrics are sent over to the provided list of receivers, as defined by other components.

Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```alloy
prometheus.scrape "blackbox_scraper" {
  targets = [
    {"__address__" = "blackbox-exporter:9115", "instance" = "one"},
    {"__address__" = "blackbox-exporter:9116", "instance" = "two"},
  ]

  forward_to = [prometheus.remote_write.grafanacloud.receiver, prometheus.remote_write.onprem.receiver]

  scrape_interval = "10s"
  params          = { "target" = ["grafana.com"], "module" = ["http_2xx"] }
  metrics_path    = "/probe"
}
```

Here are the endpoints that are being scraped every 10 seconds:

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
http://blackbox-exporter:9115/probe?target=grafana.com&module=http_2xx
http://blackbox-exporter:9116/probe?target=grafana.com&module=http_2xx
```

### Technical details

`prometheus.scrape` supports [gzip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gzip) compression.

The following special labels can change the behavior of prometheus.scrape:

- `__address__` is the name of the label that holds the `<host>:<port>` address of a scrape target.
- `__metrics_path__` is the name of the label that holds the path on which to scrape a target.
- `__scheme__` is the name of the label that holds the scheme (http,https) on which to scrape a target.
- `__scrape_interval__` is the name of the label that holds the scrape interval used to scrape a target.
- `__scrape_timeout__` is the name of the label that holds the scrape timeout used to scrape a target.
- `__param_<name>` is a prefix for labels that provide URL parameters `<name>` used to scrape a target.

Special labels added after a scrape

- `__name__` is the label name indicating the metric name of a timeseries.
- `job` is the label name indicating the job from which a timeseries was scraped.
- `instance` is the label name used for the instance label.

## Compatible components

`prometheus.scrape` can accept arguments from the following components:

- Components that export [Targets](../../compatibility/#targets-exporters)
- Components that export [Prometheus `MetricsReceiver`](../../compatibility/#prometheus-metricsreceiver-exporters)

> Note
> 
> Connecting some components may not be sensible or components may require further configuration to make the connection work correctly. Refer to the linked documentation for more details.