OpenObserve

OpenObserve

Installs the official OpenObserve OSS single binary and runs it as an s6-overlay longrun service. The Feature requires a Debian/Ubuntu image with s6-overlay 3 and supports amd64 and arm64.

OpenObserve runs as the selected devcontainer user so that service state, logs, and SQLite metadata use that user’s permissions, home directory, and container environment. Automatic selection prefers the remote user, container user, vscode, then root.

The Feature uses OpenObserve’s native per-user configuration and state paths. It does not create configuration files, mount volumes, or create directories outside the service user’s paths. Configure bind mounts and their permissions in each devcontainer.json when configuration or state must survive a rebuild.

Caddy integration

Set dnsName when the Caddy Feature is present to expose OpenObserve through automatic HTTPS. The Feature registers the DNS name with Caddy’s startup-readiness mechanism, writes a reverse-proxy fragment targeting OpenObserve on IPv4 loopback, and sets OpenObserve’s public URL (ZO_WEB_URL) to https://<dnsName>.

{
  "image": "ghcr.io/wyrd-company/devcontainers/base:noble",
  "overrideCommand": false,
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/wyrd-company/devcontainers/caddy:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/wyrd-company/devcontainers/openobserve:1": {
      "dnsName": "observe.dev-environment.example.test"
    }
  }
}

Setting dnsName requires the Caddy Feature. Caddy-enabled configurations accept 127.0.0.1, localhost, or 0.0.0.0 as the OpenObserve bind address. localhost is normalized to 127.0.0.1, and Caddy always connects through IPv4 loopback.

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
version	string	latest	OpenObserve release version, with or without the upstream v prefix.
host	string	127.0.0.1	Interface used by OpenObserve HTTP server. localhost is normalized to 127.0.0.1.
port	string	5080	HTTP port used by OpenObserve.
grpcPort	string	5081	gRPC port used by OpenObserve.
serviceUser	string	automatic	User that runs OpenObserve.
dnsName	string	""	Optional fully qualified DNS name exposed through Caddy.
rootUserEmail	string	root@example.com	Initial administrator email address used to bootstrap the root user account.
rootUserPassword	string	Complexpass#123	Initial administrator password used to bootstrap the root user account.
telemetry	boolean	false	Enable or disable anonymous usage telemetry sent to upstream.
sha256	string	""	Optional expected SHA256 checksum for the downloaded release archive.
s3BucketPrefix	string	""	Optional S3 object-key prefix unique to this container. Must match the grammar below. Leave empty to leave ZO_S3_BUCKET_PREFIX unset.

The configured host, HTTP port, and gRPC port are pinned in the service launcher and take precedence over container environment-variable overrides.

Native OpenObserve locations

For a service user whose home is /home/vscode, OpenObserve defaults to:

Purpose	Location
Configuration file	/home/vscode/.config/openobserve/openobserve.env
Data, WAL, and SQLite metadata	/home/vscode/.local/share/openobserve
Service launcher	/usr/local/bin/openobserve-service
s6 service	/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/openobserve

Storage and configuration persistence

OpenObserve supports disk-backed local storage (default) or object storage (S3-compatible).

Local disk storage

To persist data across container rebuilds using local disk storage, bind-mount a volume or host directory to the service user’s data directory in devcontainer.json:

{
  "mounts": [
    "source=openobserve-data,target=/home/vscode/.local/share/openobserve,type=volume"
  ]
}

Configuration file (local and object storage)

When a configuration file exists at /home/vscode/.config/openobserve/openobserve.env (or the path set in OPENOBSERVE_CONFIG_FILE), the service launcher passes it to OpenObserve via -c.

Example openobserve.env for S3-compatible object storage:

ZO_LOCAL_MODE_STORAGE=s3
ZO_S3_SERVER_URL=https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
ZO_S3_REGION_NAME=us-east-1
ZO_S3_ACCESS_KEY=your-access-key
ZO_S3_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key
ZO_S3_BUCKET_NAME=my-openobserve-bucket

Bind-mount the file into your container:

{
  "mounts": [
    "source=${localWorkspaceFolder}/.devcontainer/openobserve.env,target=/home/vscode/.config/openobserve/openobserve.env,type=bind,readonly"
  ]
}

S3 bucket prefix

Do not set ZO_S3_BUCKET_PREFIX in a shared env file. OpenObserve loads -c with dotenv override, so a value there replaces the Feature option. Set a unique prefix per container with s3BucketPrefix instead:

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/wyrd-company/devcontainers/openobserve:1": {
      "s3BucketPrefix": "tools"
    }
  }
}

The launcher exports ZO_S3_BUCKET_PREFIX with a trailing slash (tools/). Several containers may share one bucket when each uses a distinct prefix. They still keep separate local metadata, WAL, and login state.

Accepted values start with a letter or digit, then letters, digits, ., _, /, or -. Leading /, empty path segments (//), commas, spaces, and other characters are rejected. Trailing slashes are stripped, then one / is appended. The exported prefix, including that slash, is at most 256 characters.

Release resolution and integrity

• Latest version resolution: When version is set to latest, the installer queries GitHub releases for the latest stable, non-prerelease tag (ignoring -rc candidates). If the GitHub API is unavailable or rate-limited, it falls back to the known stable release v0.92.2.
• Archive source: OpenObserve publishes OSS binaries at downloads.openobserve.ai/releases/openobserve/v<version>/openobserve-v<version>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz.
• Integrity verification: Upstream OpenObserve does not serve machine-readable checksum files for OSS releases from its download CDN (endpoints return 403), and the public download page does not publish Linux OSS checksums. When sha256 is configured, the installer verifies the archive using sha256sum --check. When omitted, checksum verification is skipped.

Ansible

When the Ansible Feature is installed, OpenObserve starts only after the ansible-setup s6-rc oneshot finishes. If the oneshot fails, OpenObserve does not start. This Feature declares installsAfter for the Ansible Feature, so that the ansible-setup service definition exists when this installer runs. The installer adds the dependency only when that definition exists. Without Ansible, startup does not change.

Trademarks

This feature is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenObserve Inc. OpenObserve and its logo are trademarks of OpenObserve Inc. All trademarks and copyrights belong to their holders. The logo is used only to identify the software that this feature installs.

Logo: the OpenObserve mark from o2_logo.svg (AGPL-3.0 repository), the same mark as the openobserve.ai favicon. No trademark terms are published.