mcpbeat

Verify Ssi

datadog-labs/verify-ssi

Verify Single Step Instrumentation (SSI) is working end-to-end on Kubernetes — SSI automatically instruments applications for APM without code changes. Only use after enable-ssi has run.

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on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/datadog-labs/agent-skills --skill verify-ssi

The instruction itself

17 sections, as written by the author

Verify APM SSI on Kubernetes

> Before doing anything else: Fully resolve all variables in ## Context to resolve before acting. Do not begin Step 1 until every variable has a concrete value.

Triggers

Invoke this skill when the user expresses intent to:

  • Confirm SSI is working after enabling APM
  • Check whether pods are being instrumented
  • Verify the tracer is running and reporting telemetry
  • Confirm tracer config is applied correctly

Do NOT invoke this skill if:

  • SSI has not been enabled yet — run enable-ssi first
  • Pods are not being instrumented at all — use troubleshoot-ssi

Prerequisites

  • [ ] enable-ssi is complete
  • [ ] Application pods have been restarted since SSI was enabled

pup-cli: check, install, and authenticate

Claude runs

pup --version

If not found:

Claude runs

brew tap datadog-labs/pack
brew install pup

Check auth:

pup auth status --site <DD_SITE>

If not authenticated:

Claude runs

pup auth login --site <DD_SITE>

> This opens a browser tab for OAuth. Complete the login there — Claude will continue once the command exits.

If valid token — proceed.

ERROR: No browser available — use API key fallback: export DD_APP_KEY=<your-app-key>


Context to resolve before acting

| Variable | How to resolve |

|---|---|

| CLUSTER_NAME | Check spec.global.clusterName in datadog-agent.yaml, or kubectl config current-context |

| ENV | Check tags.datadoghq.com/env label on the application Deployment |

| SERVICE_NAME | Check tags.datadoghq.com/service label on the application Deployment |


Step 1: Confirm Pods are Instrumented

Claude runs

kubectl get pod -l app=<APP_LABEL> -n <APP_NAMESPACE> \
  -o jsonpath='{.items[0].spec.initContainers[*].name}'

If the output includes datadog-lib-<language>-init and datadog-init-apm-inject — SSI init containers are injected.

ERROR: Init containers missing — pod was not restarted after SSI was enabled, or namespace targeting is not matching. Restart the pod and recheck.


Step 2: Confirm the Tracer is Reporting Telemetry

Claude runs

DD_SITE=<DD_SITE> pup apm services list --env <ENV> --from 1h

If <SERVICE_NAME> appears in the services list with isTraced: true — continue to Step 3.

ERROR: Service missing — send some traffic to the app first, then retry:

Claude runs

# Port-forward and send test traffic
kubectl port-forward deployment/<DEPLOYMENT_NAME> 8099:8000 -n <APP_NAMESPACE> &
sleep 2 && for i in $(seq 1 10); do curl -s -o /dev/null http://localhost:8099/; done
sleep 30 && kill %1 2>/dev/null
DD_SITE=<DD_SITE> pup apm services list --env <ENV> --from 10m

ERROR: Still missing after traffic — check the agent's trace receiver: kubectl exec -n <AGENT_NAMESPACE> <AGENT_POD> -c agent -- agent status | grep -A 10 "Receiver (previous minute)". If receiver shows 0 traces, go to troubleshoot-ssi.


Step 3: Confirm Tracer Configuration

Only run this step if ddTraceConfigs was explicitly configured in enable-ssi (e.g. profiling, AppSec, Data Streams). If basic SSI was set up without ddTraceConfigs, skip this step — an empty response here is expected and not a failure.

Claude runs

pup apm service-library-config get \
  --service-name <SERVICE_NAME> \
  --env <ENV>

If the output shows expected environment variables matching what was configured in ddTraceConfigs — done.

If the output is empty and ddTraceConfigs was not configured — expected, not a failure.

ERROR: Config missing but ddTraceConfigs was configured — check it is present in the DatadogAgent manifest under the correct target, and that pods were restarted after the config change.


Done

Exit when ALL of the following are true:

  • [ ] Step 1: target pods have SSI init containers injected (datadog-lib-<language>-init and datadog-init-apm-inject)
  • [ ] Step 2: service appears in pup apm services list with isTraced: true
  • [ ] Step 3: tracer config matches what was set in DatadogAgent

If any check fails, go to troubleshoot-ssi.

When all steps pass, automatically proceed to onboarding-summary now — do not ask the user for permission.


Security constraints

  • Never write a raw API key into any file or chat message
  • Never run kubectl delete without user confirmation

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take datadog-labs/verify-ssi from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.

Install what it needs

The instructions reference brew. Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.