Notebooks

A notebook is a document with live data in it. The graphs and log queries behind an investigation sit inside the text that explains them, so a postmortem shows the evidence, not a screenshot of it, and a runbook shows the graph to check at each step.

Cells #

• Text — Markdown: headings, lists, links, code, callouts and date chips.
• Graph — a metric query drawn as a timeseries, in sizes from extra small to extra large. The legend hides itself below medium, where it would crowd the graph.
• Logs — a log query with its matching lines, linked to the Logs explorer.

Type / in a text cell for the palette of blocks, and Ctrl or ⌘ with B to make the selection bold. Headers and graphs build the table of contents in the margin.

Time #

Every graph and log cell follows the notebook's time window unless you unlock it. Brushing across a graph moves the whole notebook to that range; a locked cell keeps its own.

• Set default saves the current window, so the notebook opens on it. Reset returns to it.
• A relative window, such as the last hour, is kept as that preset and moves with the clock. A fixed window keeps its exact start and end, and earns a snapshot, so a postmortem shows what the data looked like then.

Writing together #

• Viewing and Editing modes. Viewing hides the cell controls, so a notebook reads as a document.
• Comments on a selected sentence open a thread, each with its own link. @ mentions a member of your organisation, who is notified.
• Version history keeps every saved version. Preview one, restore it as a new version, or clone it into a new notebook.
• Template variables filter every graph and log cell at once, and live in the address, so a link opens on the same filter.

Sharing #

• My Org — the default: everyone in your organisation can open and edit it.
• Private — only you.
• Custom — everyone in your organisation can view it, and the roles, teams and people you add can edit it.

A custom share must include a role you hold. One that would leave you without edit access is refused, so a notebook can never be locked away from the person sharing it.

Templates #

Browse templates on the notebooks list starts a postmortem, an incident report or a service level specification with its structure already in place. In a notebook tagged as a postmortem, Convert timestamps turns the bare times in its text into time chips, showing each one beside the time it resolves to first; a time inside a link is listed but never changed.

Onward #

Boards of graphs a team watches every day belong on Dashboards. Searching the lines behind a log cell is Searching logs.