TICKscript

TICKscript is a domain-specific scripting language used to define data-processing tasks for Kapacitor, the processing engine of the InfluxData TICK stack. It enables users to specify how time-series data stored in InfluxDB should be extracted, transformed, and acted upon, either as streaming tasks that ingest data in real time or as batch tasks that analyze archived data.

TICKscript describes pipelines through a readable, pipe-based syntax. A task typically begins with a data source (from) and an input type (stream or batch), followed by transformations such as filtering (where), grouping (groupBy), and windowing (window) to aggregate data over a period or interval. Supported operations include aggregates (mean, min, max, sum), derivatives, and various math functions. The final stage is an alert or notification, configured with alert blocks and conditions that trigger on defined criteria, sending alerts through channels like email, Slack, PagerDuty, or webhooks.

TICKscript runs inside Kapacitor as part of the TICK stack and is typically stored in .tick files and loaded by Kapacitor into a task catalog. It integrates with InfluxDB by referencing a retention policy and database, and it can output results back to InfluxDB or other endpoints. As InfluxData emphasizes Flux for newer workflows, TICKscript is mainly encountered in legacy deployments or specific Kapacitor-driven alerting scenarios.