From 9f0e78ead9bc4c01aba6c10db99b594603fe5c5a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dean Chen <862469039@qq.com> Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2026 17:47:21 +0500 Subject: [PATCH] docs: add "what to explore next" after first steps The first-steps guide ends abruptly after self-scraping. Add a short next-steps section with concrete links (exporters, SD, alerting, dashboards, OTel) for people asking what to do after the basics. Fixes #3032 Signed-off-by: Dean Chen <862469039@qq.com> --- docs/introduction/first_steps.md | 14 +++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/docs/introduction/first_steps.md b/docs/introduction/first_steps.md index 6a202146b..daaf47c89 100644 --- a/docs/introduction/first_steps.md +++ b/docs/introduction/first_steps.md @@ -123,6 +123,18 @@ You can experiment with the graph range parameters and other settings. Collecting metrics from Prometheus alone isn't a great representation of Prometheus' capabilities. To get a better sense of what Prometheus can do, we recommend exploring documentation about other exporters. The [Monitoring Linux or macOS host metrics using a node exporter](/docs/guides/node-exporter) guide is a good place to start. +## What to explore next + +Once the local server is scraping and you can run a few queries, these paths are useful next steps: + +- **More targets:** install exporters for the systems you care about (hosts, databases, HTTP endpoints). Start with the [node exporter guide](/docs/guides/node-exporter) and the [list of exporters](/docs/instrumenting/exporters). +- **Service discovery:** replace static `targets` lists with discovery (Kubernetes, cloud, file-based, and more). See [configuration](/docs/operating/configuration) and the [file-based SD guide](/docs/guides/file-sd). +- **Alerting:** define recording and alerting rules, then send notifications with [Alertmanager](/docs/alerting/). +- **Visualization:** point Grafana (or another dashboard) at Prometheus as a data source (`http://localhost:9090`). +- **Applications and OpenTelemetry:** instrument with a [client library](/docs/instrumenting/clientlibs), or see [OpenTelemetry](/docs/guides/opentelemetry) if you are coming from OTLP—Prometheus still scrapes metrics HTTP endpoints the same way as in this guide. + +The [Overview](/docs/introduction/overview) page maps how these pieces fit together. + ## Summary -In this guide, you installed Prometheus, configured a Prometheus instance to monitor resources, and learned some basics of working with time series data in Prometheus' expression browser. To continue learning about Prometheus, check out the [Overview](/docs/introduction/overview) for some ideas about what to explore next. +In this guide, you installed Prometheus, configured a Prometheus instance to monitor resources, and learned some basics of working with time series data in Prometheus' expression browser. Use the links above (and the [Overview](/docs/introduction/overview)) to pick the next area to dig into.