Pgauge

pgauge is a name used by several small libraries and tools that implement gauge metrics for application monitoring and observability. Because there is no single official pgauge project, references to pgauge typically point to different implementations across programming languages, all centered on the concept of a gauge metric rather than a counter or histogram.

A gauge is a numeric value that can go up or down, representing the current state of something rather than a cumulative total. Typical use cases include tracking current memory usage, queue length, temperature, or other real-time measurements. Gauge libraries usually provide a way to create a gauge with a name and optional labels or tags, update its value, and retrieve or export the current value for reporting.

Common features across pgauge-like implementations include operations to set, increment, and decrement the gauge, as well as facilities to collect or render the metric for external backends. Many implementations aim for compatibility with standard monitoring ecosystems, exporting values in formats compatible with Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, StatsD, or other exporters. Some provide thread-safe or concurrent-safe access patterns to support multi-threaded or asynchronous applications.

Design considerations when using a pgauge library include naming conventions, labeling strategy, and serialization format for export, as well as performance and memory usage. Developers consider whether the library is lightweight or feature-rich, its integration with existing telemetry pipelines, and its support for unit types and time-based retention.

See also: gauge (metrics), Prometheus gauge, OpenTelemetry, metrics instrumentation.