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Encoders

Your monitoring backend expects data in a specific wire format. Sonda can speak all of them. Encoders are the layer that turns each generated value into bytes.

The same metric looks different in each format:

sonda metrics --name http_rps --rate 1 --duration 3s \
  --value 42 --label env=prod

http_rps{env="prod"} 42 1711900000000

sonda metrics --name http_rps --rate 1 --duration 3s \
  --value 42 --label env=prod --encoder influx_lp

http_rps,env=prod value=42 1711900000000000000

sonda metrics --name http_rps --rate 1 --duration 3s \
  --value 42 --label env=prod --encoder json_lines

{"name":"http_rps","value":42.0,"labels":{"env":"prod"},"timestamp":"2026-03-31T20:00:00.000Z"}

sonda logs --mode template --rate 1 --duration 3s \
  --encoder syslog --label app=myservice

<14>1 2026-03-31T21:40:38.941Z sonda sonda - - [sonda app="myservice"] synthetic log event

The CLI flag is --encoder for all signal types. In a YAML scenario, set encoder.type either at the defaults: level or per entry.

Pick by what you are testing

Backend Use this encoder Pair with sink
Prometheus / VictoriaMetrics scrape prometheus_text stdout, http_push
VictoriaMetrics import API prometheus_text http_push
Prometheus / VM remote write remote_write remote_write
InfluxDB / Telegraf line protocol consumers influx_lp http_push, tcp, udp
Loki / log search backends json_lines loki, file, http_push
Syslog collectors (RFC 5424) syslog tcp, udp
OpenTelemetry Collector otlp otlp_grpc

The full per-encoder field reference is in Encoders.

Feature-gated encoders

Two encoders require Cargo feature flags when building from source:

remote_write and otlp

The remote_write encoder produces Prometheus remote write protobuf format. It requires the remote-write feature flag (cargo build --features remote-write). Pre-built binaries and Docker images include it by default.

The otlp encoder produces OTLP protobuf format for metrics and logs. It requires the otlp feature flag (cargo build --features otlp). Pre-built binaries and Docker images do not include this feature -- you must build from source.

See Encoders for the full feature-flag matrix.

Next

With the right format chosen, the next question is where the bytes should go.

Continue to Sinks -->