---
title: "Configure the OBI internal metrics reporter"
source: OpenTelemetry Documentation
source_url: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io
licence: CC-BY-4.0
domain: engineering
subdomain: opentelemetry-docs
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

YAML section: `internal_metrics`

This component reports internal metrics about the auto-instrumentation tool's
behavior. You can export these metrics using
[Prometheus](https://prometheus.io/) or [OpenTelemetry](/).

To export metrics with Prometheus, set `exporter` to `prometheus` in the
`internal_metrics` section. Then set `port` in the `prometheus` subsection.

To export metrics with OpenTelemetry, set `exporter` to `otel` in the
`internal_metrics` section. Then set an endpoint in the `otel_metrics_export`.

Example:

```yaml
internal_metrics:
  exporter: prometheus
  prometheus:
    port: 6060
    path: /internal/metrics
```

## Configuration summary

| YAML              | Environment Variable                         | Type   | Default             | Summary                                                              |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ------ | ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `exporter`        | `OTEL_EBPF_INTERNAL_METRICS_EXPORTER`        | string | `disabled`          | [Selects the internal metrics exporter.](#internal-metrics-exporter) |
| `prometheus.port` | `OTEL_EBPF_INTERNAL_METRICS_PROMETHEUS_PORT` | int    | (unset)             | [HTTP port for Prometheus scrape endpoint.](#prometheus-port)        |
| `prometheus.path` | `OTEL_EBPF_INTERNAL_METRICS_PROMETHEUS_PATH` | string | `/internal/metrics` | [HTTP query path for Prometheus metrics.](#prometheus-path)          |

---

## Internal metrics exporter

Set the internal metrics exporter. You can use `disabled`, `prometheus`, or
`otel`.

---

## Prometheus port

Set the HTTP port for the Prometheus scrape endpoint. If you leave it unset or
set it to 0, OBI doesn't open a Prometheus endpoint and doesn't report metrics.

You can use the same value as
[`prometheus_export.port`](../export-data/#prometheus-exporter-component) (both
metric families share the same HTTP server, but use different paths), or use a
different value (OBI opens two HTTP servers for the different metric families).

---

## Prometheus path

Set the HTTP query path to fetch Prometheus metrics.

If [`prometheus_export.port`](../export-data/#prometheus-exporter-component) and
`internal_metrics.prometheus.port` use the same value, you can set
`internal_metrics.prometheus.path` to a different value than
`prometheus_export.path` to keep the metric families separate, or use the same
value to list both metric families in the same scrape endpoint.
