---
title: "Metric"
description: "one named measurement with its kind, its unit and the labels it may carry"
section: concepts
address: /concepts/metric
contract: 0476e35e6e275db5
---

# Metric

one named measurement with its kind, its unit and the labels it may carry

[figure: Metric is a definition at platform scope. The drawing shows its fields and the objects that they point at.]

| property | value |
|---|---|
| kind | definition |
| scope | platform |
| key | its name |
| store | postgres |
| family | observability |



## Fields


| field | type | required | note |
|---|---|---|---|
| `name` | `text` | yes |  |
| `kind` | `one of counter \| gauge \| histogram` | yes |  |
| `unit` | `text` | yes | seconds, bytes, requests, dollars; a metric without a unit fails the check |
| `labels` | `[text]` | yes | from the label allow-list; never a free value |
| `what_it_measures` | `text` | yes |  |



## Routes that use it
No route takes or returns Metric directly. The record holds it, and the objects that point at it reach it.