Metrics

All metrics are served at GET /metrics on the metrics port and are exposed in the standard Prometheus text format. Configure the port using ports.metrics in the Helm chart.

Configuration

Metrics are configured in the node’s config.json:

{
  "metrics": {
    "address": "0.0.0.0:9100",
    "histogram_buckets": {},
    "global_labels": {
      "network": "mainnet",
      "node_id": "validator-01"
    }
  }
}

Field	Description
address	Listen address for the metrics and probes HTTP server. If the metrics section is absent, the server does not start.
histogram_buckets	Custom histogram buckets by metric name. When empty, default duration buckets apply to all histograms whose names end with the suffix *_seconds.
global_labels	Key-value pairs added to every metric. Useful for distinguishing nodes in a shared Prometheus.

Default histogram buckets for *_seconds metrics:

[0.000001, 0.0001, 0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 60.0, 120.0, 300.0, 600.0, 3600.0]

Build info

ton_node_build_info is an informational gauge that is always set to 1. Build metadata is encoded as labels:

ton_node_build_info{version="<node-version>", commit="<git-commit>", branch="<git-branch>", build_time="<build-timestamp>", rustversion="<rustc-version>", arch="<target-arch>", os="<target-os>"} 1

Label	Description
version	Package version from Cargo.toml
commit	Full git commit hash
branch	Git branch at build time
build_time	Build timestamp
rustversion	Rust compiler version
arch	Target architecture; x86_64, aarch64, etc.
os	Target OS; linux, macos, etc.

Naming convention

All metrics follow the format:

ton_node_{subsystem}_{metric_name}[_{unit_suffix}]

• ton_node_ – application prefix that prevents collisions in shared Prometheus instances.
• {subsystem} – functional area defined in the table below.
• {metric_name} – descriptive name in snake case.
• {unit_suffix} – optional: _total (counters), _seconds (durations), _bytes (sizes), _ratio (dimensionless).

Subsystem	Scope
engine	Core node state, sync status, masterchain tracking
validator	Block validation lifecycle
collator	Block collation lifecycle
outqueue	Outbound message queue cleanup
ext_messages	External messages queue
network	ADNL, catchain, overlay, neighbor stats
db	Database, shard state, gc, persistent state
block	Block parsing, block sizes

Metric types

Type	Behavior	Suffix convention
counter	Monotonically increasing value. Resets to 0 on restart.	_total
gauge	Arbitrary value that can increase or decrease.	none, _seconds, _ratio
histogram	Samples sorted into configurable buckets. Exposes _bucket, _sum, _count.	_seconds, _bytes, _ratio, or none

Labels

Some metrics carry labels for additional dimensions:

Label	Subsystems	Values	Description
shard	validator, collator, outqueue	ShardIdent string	Shard identifier for per-shard breakdown
step	outqueue	step identifier	Outgoing queue cleanup step identifier
peer	network	peer key ID (hex)	ADNL peer for round-trip measurements
neighbour	network	neighbor key ID (hex)	Overlay neighbor for reliability tracking

engine

Core node state, including sync progress, masterchain tracking, validation intent, and applied transactions. This subsystem exposes 8 metrics: 7 gauges and 1 counter.

Metric	Type	Description
ton_node_engine_sync_status	gauge	Sync state machine value.
ton_node_engine_timediff_seconds	gauge	Seconds between current time and the last applied masterchain block.
ton_node_engine_last_mc_block_utime	gauge	Unix timestamp of the last applied masterchain block.
ton_node_engine_last_mc_block_seqno	gauge	Seqno of the last applied masterchain block.
ton_node_engine_shards_mc_seqno	gauge	Masterchain block seqno last processed by the shard client.
ton_node_engine_shards_timediff_seconds	gauge	Seconds between current time and the masterchain block last processed by the shard client.
ton_node_engine_will_validate	gauge	1 if the node intends to validate, 0 otherwise.
ton_node_engine_applied_transactions_total	counter	Total number of transactions in all applied blocks, including masterchain and shards.

Sync status values

Value	State	Description
0	not_set	Initial state; status not yet determined
1	start_boot	Boot sequence started
3	load_states	Loading shard states from the network
4	finish_boot	Boot sequence completing
5	sync_blocks	Syncing blocks from the network
6	synced	Fully synced with the network
7	checking_db	Database integrity check in progress
8	db_broken	Database corruption detected

A healthy, synced node reports sync_status = 6. During initial sync or restart, the value progresses through 1 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6.

Time difference

timediff_seconds measures the gap between wall-clock time and the gen_utime of the last applied masterchain block. Values below 20 seconds indicate a healthy node; values above 60 seconds require investigation.

validator

Block validation lifecycle, including state, set membership, outcomes, and gas. It exposes 8 metrics: 4 gauges, 3 counters, and 1 histogram.

Metric	Type	Description
ton_node_validator_status	gauge	Validation state machine value.
ton_node_validator_in_current_set	gauge	1 if the node is in the current validator set (p34).
ton_node_validator_in_next_set	gauge	1 if the node is in the next validator set (p36).
ton_node_validator_active	gauge	Number of validation queries currently in progress.
ton_node_validator_successes_total	counter	Successful block validations.
ton_node_validator_failures_total	counter	Failed block validations.
ton_node_validator_ref_block_failures_total	counter	Failed reference shard block validations.
ton_node_validator_gas_rate_ratio	histogram	Gas rate ratio from validation.

Validation status values

Value	State	Description
0	Not in Set	Node is not part of the current validator set
1	Waiting	Waiting for next validation round
2	Countdown	Elected; countdown to validation start
3	Active	Actively validating blocks

collator

Block collation lifecycle, including outcomes, duration, gas usage, message flow, and transaction counts. It exposes 14 metrics: 2 gauges, 6 counters, and 6 histograms.

Metric	Type	Description
ton_node_collator_active	gauge	Number of collation queries currently in progress.
ton_node_collator_successes_total	counter	Successful block collations.
ton_node_collator_failures_total	counter	Failed block collations.
ton_node_collator_duration_seconds	histogram	End-to-end block collation duration.
ton_node_collator_process_ext_messages_seconds	histogram	Time to process inbound external messages.
ton_node_collator_process_new_messages_seconds	histogram	Time to process new internal messages.
ton_node_collator_gas_used	histogram	Gas consumed per collated block.
ton_node_collator_gas_rate_ratio	histogram	Gas rate ratio from collation.
ton_node_collator_dequeued_messages_total	counter	Messages dequeued from the outbound queue during collation.
ton_node_collator_enqueued_messages_total	counter	Messages enqueued to the outbound queue during collation.
ton_node_collator_inbound_messages_total	counter	Inbound messages processed during collation.
ton_node_collator_outbound_messages_total	counter	Outbound messages produced during collation.
ton_node_collator_transit_messages_total	counter	Transit messages, which are forwarded between shards, during collation.
ton_node_collator_executed_transactions_total	counter	Transactions executed during collation.

outqueue

Outbound message queue periodic cleanup statistics. This subsystem exposes 4 metrics, all of which are gauges.

Metric	Type	Description
ton_node_outqueue_clean_partial	gauge	1 if last outgoing queue clean was partial; not all messages processed.
ton_node_outqueue_clean_duration_seconds	gauge	Duration of the last outgoing queue clean in seconds.
ton_node_outqueue_clean_processed	gauge	Messages processed in the last outgoing queue clean.
ton_node_outqueue_clean_deleted	gauge	Messages deleted in the last outgoing queue clean.

ext_messages

External message queue containing messages received from clients and awaiting inclusion in blocks. It exposes 2 metrics: 1 gauge, 1 counter.

Metric	Type	Description
ton_node_ext_messages_queue_size	gauge	Current size of the external message queue.
ton_node_ext_messages_expired_total	counter	Expired external messages removed from the queue.

network

Networking metrics covering ADNL round-trips, catchain timings, overlay queries, and neighbor reliability. It exposes 7 metrics: 1 gauge, 1 counter, and 5 histograms.

Metric	Type	Labels	Description
ton_node_network_adnl_roundtrip_seconds	histogram	peer	ADNL query round-trip time.
ton_node_network_catchain_overlay_query_seconds	histogram		Catchain overlay query time.
ton_node_network_catchain_send_seconds	histogram		Catchain send message time.
ton_node_network_catchain_client_query_seconds	histogram		Catchain client query time.
ton_node_network_consensus_overlay_query_seconds	histogram		Consensus overlay query time.
ton_node_network_neighbour_failures_total	counter	neighbour	Failed queries to overlay neighbors.
ton_node_network_neighbour_unreliability	gauge	neighbour	Neighbor unreliability score; higher values indicate lower reliability.

db

Database operations, including shard state management, garbage collection, persistent state, and Merkle updates. It exposes 5 metrics: 1 gauge, 4 histograms.

Metric	Type	Description
ton_node_db_shardstate_queue_size	gauge	Shard state processing queue size.
ton_node_db_shardstate_gc_seconds	histogram	Shard state garbage collection duration.
ton_node_db_persistent_state_write_seconds	histogram	Persistent state write duration; BoC serialization.
ton_node_db_restore_merkle_update_seconds	histogram	Merkle update duration during chain restore.
ton_node_db_calc_merkle_update_seconds	histogram	Merkle update calculation duration.

block

Block parsing and size metrics. It exposes 3 metrics, all of which are histograms.

Metric	Type	Description
ton_node_block_accounts_parsing_seconds	histogram	Time to parse accounts from a block.
ton_node_block_parsed_accounts	histogram	Number of accounts parsed per block.
ton_node_block_size_bytes	histogram	Block size in bytes.