Query CloudWatch and X-Ray Telemetry

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Query raw telemetry data from AWS CloudWatch and X-Ray — retrieve logs, metrics, alarms, and distributed traces.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevOpsIntermediate
7/22/2026
Claude Code
#aws#cloudwatch#observability#x-ray#telemetry

Recommended for

Automated summary

Queries the AWS CloudWatch and X-Ray MCPs to retrieve raw logs, metrics, alarms, and distributed traces for a given service and time range.

Strengths

  • Covers four telemetry sources in a single call: logs, metrics, alarms, and X-Ray traces
  • Simple three-parameter interface (service, time range, free-text description)
  • Preserves timestamps and groups data by category for easy correlation
  • Explicitly delegates execution to the dedicated DevOps agent instead of simulating the calls

Limitations

  • Produces no analysis or recommendations — only raw data to interpret elsewhere
  • Assumes the aws-cloudwatch and aws-cloudwatch-xray MCPs are already configured and reachable
  • Time range is expressed in hours only, with no finer granularity or explicit date bounds
When to use it

Use it to quickly gather raw telemetry from an AWS service ahead of incident analysis or troubleshooting.

When not to use it

Avoid it when you expect a summary, root-cause diagnosis, or remediation advice, since it returns only unprocessed data.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score85/100

This skill only describes read-only querying of AWS CloudWatch and X-Ray telemetry via named MCP tools; it contains no destructive commands, credential exfiltration, obfuscated payloads, or safety-disabling instructions. While retrieved logs and traces may contain sensitive operational data, access is bounded by the underlying AWS/MCP permissions and the workflow itself is non-destructive.

No concerns found

How this analysis is made

Examples

Default 24h lookup
/capability:cloud-watch:query --service-name payment-service
Wider window
/capability:cloud-watch:query --service-name api-gateway --time-range 48
Targeted error check
/capability:cloud-watch:query --service-name worker-service --time-range 12 --description "Check for recent lambda errors"

name: capability:cloud-watch:query description: Query raw telemetry from AWS CloudWatch and X-Ray — retrieve logs, metrics, and distributed traces argument-hint: "--service-name <name> [--time-range <hours>] [--description <text>]" user-invocable: true agent: zzaia-devops-specialist metadata: parameters: - name: service-name description: AWS service name or log group to query required: true - name: time-range description: Time range in hours to query (default 24) required: false default: "24" - name: description description: Additional context or instructions for the query required: false

PURPOSE

Query AWS CloudWatch and X-Ray MCPs for raw telemetry data — retrieve logs, metrics, alarms, and distributed traces. Returns structured unprocessed data for analysis in higher layers.

EXECUTION

  1. Query CloudWatch & X-Ray — Retrieve data for --service-name from the last --time-range hours (default 24h)

    • CloudWatch logs from log groups
    • CloudWatch metrics and alarms
    • X-Ray traces and Application Signals
    • Trace segments and service nodes
  2. Return Raw Data — Compile structured telemetry data without analysis or formatting

DELEGATION

MANDATORY: Always invoke the agents defined in this command's frontmatter for their designated responsibilities. Never skip, replace, or simulate their behavior directly.

  • zzaia-devops-specialist — Query aws-cloudwatch and aws-cloudwatch-xray MCP tools and retrieve raw telemetry data

WORKFLOW

sequenceDiagram
    participant U as User
    participant C as Command
    participant A as DevOps Agent
    participant CW as CloudWatch MCP
    participant XR as X-Ray MCP

    U->>C: /capability:cloud-watch:query --service-name <service> [--time-range <hours>]
    C->>A: Dispatch with service filter and time range
    A->>CW: Query logs, metrics, alarms
    A->>XR: Query traces and Application Signals
    CW-->>A: CloudWatch data (logs, metrics, alarms)
    XR-->>A: X-Ray data (traces, segments, signals)
    A-->>C: Structured data (logs, metrics, traces, alarms)
    C-->>U: Raw telemetry response

ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

  • Connects to CloudWatch MCP with provided service name
  • Connects to X-Ray MCP and retrieves traces
  • Retrieves logs, metrics, alarms, and traces from specified time range
  • Returns raw structured data without analysis
  • Timestamps preserved for all events
  • Data organized by category (logs, metrics, traces, alarms)

EXAMPLES

/capability:cloud-watch:query --service-name payment-service
/capability:cloud-watch:query --service-name api-gateway --time-range 48
/capability:cloud-watch:query --service-name worker-service --time-range 12 --description "Check for recent lambda errors"

OUTPUT

  • Logs: CloudWatch log entries from log groups
  • Metrics: CloudWatch metrics and statistics
  • Alarms: Active alarms with state and thresholds
  • Traces: X-Ray traces with latency and error data
  • Application Signals: Service health and performance signals
  • Timestamps: Event timestamps for correlation and analysis

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1. Download the file

Download SKILL.md

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2. Check prerequisites

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4. Try a first task

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Read .skill-downloads/query-cloudwatch-and-x-ray-telemetry-mrwakevp/SKILL.md and apply its instructions to this example: [describe a test input]. Identify any missing files, dependencies or access. Produce the result requested by the skill without inventing data or running unreviewed scripts.

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