FAQ

General

What is Telflo? A control plane for OpenTelemetry Collector configuration. You build pipelines on a canvas, Telflo generates standard Collector YAML, and you test and deploy the result to collectors. See the Introduction.

Do I need an account? You can explore the public editor and browse flows without an account. You must sign in to save, test, publish, or deploy. See the Quickstart.

Can I start from a prebuilt configuration? Yes. Flows are prebuilt, validated collector configurations, each solving one problem. Using one creates your own independent configuration. See Flows.

Can I import an existing Collector config? Yes. Paste it into the YAML view of a new configuration, and Telflo builds the canvas from it.

Does Telflo have an API? Yes. Organization admins create service accounts in Settings > Service Accounts and add API tokens to them, and clients send a token as a bearer credential. A read token confirms itself, lists and reads the configurations visible to it and their versions, validates collector YAML, lints OTTL, reads pipeline test results, reads saved validation rules, lists fleets and deploy groups, and browses flows. A write token also creates configurations and versions, edits and publishes draft versions, starts pipeline tests, saves validation rules, creates fleets and deploy groups, and produces install commands. See Service accounts and API endpoints.

Is there a command-line tool? Yes. The telflo CLI, installed with npm install -g telflo, pushes, validates, tests, and deploys configurations from a terminal, a CI pipeline, or an AI coding agent. A person signs in with telflo login through the browser; automation uses a service account's token. See CLI.

Can an AI agent such as Claude Code or Cursor work with Telflo directly? Yes. Connect it to the Telflo MCP server at https://mcp.telflo.com/mcp. The agent gets tools to read, validate, push, test, and deploy configurations, with the same access as the CLI, and signs in either as you through the browser or with a service account's token. See MCP server.

How do I disconnect an AI agent from Telflo? Remove the Telflo server from the agent's MCP settings. An agent connected with a service account's token loses access when you delete the token under Settings > Service Accounts. See Disconnect.

Does telflo logout revoke my token? No. telflo logout deletes only the credentials file on that machine. To revoke an API token, delete it on its service account's page under Settings > Service Accounts; a browser-login session ends when you sign out of Telflo or when it expires. See CLI.

Can a collector running in Docker read host log files? Yes. Declare the directories as volume mounts on the deploy group: in the group's dialog, select Installing with Docker? Add volume mounts, and the container run command then mounts each one with -v. The dialog's Read/write paths list shows the host paths the configuration reads with filelog receivers or writes with file_storage extensions, with Add mount beside each one that is not yet covered once the mounts editor is open. Mounts apply to container installs only; a collector installed from the Linux bundle reads the paths directly. See Volume mounts.

Pipelines

Which components are available? Receivers, processors, exporters, connectors, and extensions. The available set depends on the configuration's collector distribution and the collector version you target. See Components.

Can I change a configuration's collector distribution? No. The distribution is chosen when the configuration is created and locked from then on; the editor shows it next to Collector: with a lock icon. The Distribution choice in the New configuration dialog appears only when more than one distribution is available to your account, such as ClickStack in private preview; otherwise every new configuration is created on OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib. To target a different distribution, create a new configuration on it and paste the YAML into its YAML view. See Key concepts.

Can I create a ClickStack configuration through the API or the CLI? Not at present. The API offers only otelcol-contrib: naming another distribution on POST /configurations, POST /validate, or POST /testing/runs is rejected with 422 Unknown collector distribution, and telflo config create always creates on otelcol-contrib. A configuration already locked to ClickStack, available in private preview, is still read, listed, and tested as ClickStack through the API when the distribution is inherited from the version rather than requested. See API endpoints.

How are pipelines defined? By the edges you draw. Each edge belongs to one pipeline (traces, metrics, logs, or a custom name), and a node can belong to several pipelines. The routing connector is the one exception on its outgoing side: you draw its incoming edge, and its target pipelines come from Target Pipelines and Default Pipelines in its configuration; the canvas draws those route edges for you. See Canvas & pipelines.

What is the difference between validation and testing? Validation checks that a configuration is well-formed and accepted by a collector of the selected version; when the validation service cannot be reached, the editor reports the configuration as unchecked rather than invalid. Testing runs sample telemetry through it on a real collector and checks the output. See Validation and Testing.

Versions and fleets

What is the difference between saving and publishing? Saving records a private version in the editor. Publishing marks a version as a release that can be deployed. See Versions & publishing.

How do collectors get my configuration? They pull it from Telflo. You create a fleet, install collectors from its deploy dialog, and they connect and apply the assigned configuration. See Fleet management.

How do I roll back? On the fleet's Deploy Groups tab, edit the deploy group and assign an earlier published version. Collectors converge on it. See Update the configuration.

Can different collectors in one fleet run different configurations? Yes. A server fleet's collectors are organized into deploy groups, and each group has its own assigned configuration version and variable group. A single instance can also be pinned to a specific version. See Create a fleet.

Which platforms can I install collectors on? Collectors run on Linux, on arm64 or amd64 (x86_64), as a container or directly on a host, and in Kubernetes clusters through a Kubernetes fleet. See Install collectors.

Can Telflo manage collectors in a Kubernetes cluster? Yes, with two fleet types. A Kubernetes bridge fleet, created with Kubernetes (Operator bridge), installs one bridge into the cluster; the bridge connects to Telflo and manages the collectors running under the OpenTelemetry Operator, with configurations assigned per collector. A Kubernetes supervisor fleet, created with Kubernetes (Helm) and available in private preview, runs supervisor-managed collectors installed by Helm into node, cluster, and gateway deploy groups, without the Operator. A fleet type that is not yet enabled for your account shows a Private Preview badge in the Create a new fleet dialog and cannot be selected. See Kubernetes fleets.

Do I have to build a container image to run a collector in Docker? No. Once the deploy group has a configuration assigned, the install dialog's Container image (GHCR) option runs Telflo's prebuilt collector image with the fleet's credentials; before a configuration is assigned, only the Server: Import Configuration targets are offered. See Install collectors.

AI assistant

Why don't I see the AI assistant? Enable AI Features in Settings > AI must be on; it is on by default. When it is, the assistant opens from the AI button in the editor toolbar. If the panel shows Request AI instead of the chat, your membership in the current organization needs AI access. See AI access.

Does the AI change my configuration? In Build mode it can, applying edits to the canvas for you to review. Ask mode only answers questions. See Modes.

What is the difference between the AI assistant and the MCP server? The AI assistant is a chat panel in the editor that works on the configuration you have open. The MCP server gives an agent you run elsewhere, such as Claude Code or Cursor, tools for every configuration and fleet its credential can reach. See MCP server, CLI, or AI assistant.

Security

How do I keep credentials out of my configuration? Reference them as environment variables with ${env:NAME}, so the value comes from the host environment rather than the stored YAML. When you install collectors for a configuration on OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib, the install dialog lists the variables it needs under Configuration environment variables (optional): check a variable to type its value into the run command or bundle, or leave it unchecked, marked set on the host, and provide it on the host yourself. A Kubernetes supervisor fleet's Deploy dialog offers the same inputs. See Install collectors. For reusable non-secret values such as endpoints and hostnames, use organization variables: typing @ in a field inserts a $orgvar: token that Telflo resolves for each collector when it checks in. A user variable, inserted with #, places its value directly into the configuration.