Introducing the bitdrift Public API: For programmable observability and beyond

Most observability tools were built for a different world; one where debugging was manual and reactive. That model hasn't kept up. Today, when something goes wrong, the instinct is to open dashboards, click through charts, and dig through sessions, trying to piece together what happened.

From dashboards to programmable workflows

At bitdrift, we've always believed debugging should start with the user experience. That's why workflows exist. bitdrift Capture Workflows let you target exactly the users you care about, capture full-fidelity sessions, and surface real-time insights without guessing in advance what you might need. But until now, workflows have lived in the UI. Even with a fast, intuitive interface, it creates friction. You're still manually creating, updating, and managing them. You're still thinking in terms of setup instead of automation. If debugging is going to scale, observability needs to become programmable. Today, we're taking the first step in that direction.

Introducing the bitdrift Public API

The bitdrift Public API provides programmatic access to admin, workflows, charts, issues, and captured sessions via the bitdrift CLI. You can create and manage workflows in code, retrieve full-fidelity sessions on demand, and integrate bitdrift into your existing tooling, your deploy pipelines, or your on-call workflows, all without ever opening a dashboard.

Why this matters

Most observability tools rely on sampled data stored in a database. This means you are always working with approximations, partial visibility, historical snapshots, and educated guesses. bitdrift works differently. Data is captured on the device, aggregated in real time, and unsampled by default. When you investigate an issue, you are not querying a static dataset. You are interacting with live user behavior. With the Public API, that capability becomes accessible programmatically, so you can incorporate real user data directly into your existing workflows and tooling.

What this unlocks

In practice, this starts to change how debugging and operations work.

• When an alert fires: You do not have to context-switch to a UI to hunt for clues. You can trigger workflows programmatically, capture the relevant sessions, and retrieve them directly in your environment.
• When you ship a new release: You can automatically roll out workflows that monitor critical user journeys and validate performance in production.
• When managing multiple environments or teams: You can standardize workflows, version them in code, and keep everything consistent without manual setup.

This is just the beginning

The Public API is an early step toward a more programmable model of observability, one where workflows are not static configurations, but tools that can be created, updated, and adapted as part of your development and operational processes. Most importantly, it is a model that lets you work directly with real user data, without being limited by sampling or predefined dashboards. It also opens the door to working with AI agents that can investigate issues, deploy workflows, and surface answers on your behalf. We will share more on this in a follow-up post.

Get started

You can start using the bitdrift Public API today with the bitdrift CLI or directly over HTTP. Authenticate with your bitdrift account, create and manage workflows, download sessions, and start building your own automation on top of real user data. Check out the docs here!

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Frequently asked questions

What can you do with the bitdrift Public API?

With the bitdrift Public API, you can create a programmable observability environment where developers and AI agents:

• Create and manage observability workflows programmatically
• Retrieve full-fidelity session data on demand
• Access issues, charts, and admin controls
• Integrate observability into CI/CD pipelines and on-call workflows
• Debug issues automatically

Do you need to use the CLI to access the Public API?

No. While the bitdrift CLI provides a convenient interface, the Public API can also be accessed directly using HTTP requests (e.g., via curl) or integrated into your own tooling and scripts.

Is the bitdrift Public API available on GitHub?

You can find the API definition at https://github.com/bitdriftlabs/api.

How do you get started with the bitdrift Public API?

You can get started by authenticating with your bitdrift account and using the CLI or HTTP requests (e.g., via curl) to create workflows, retrieve sessions, and integrate bitdrift into your existing tooling. Full documentation is available in the bitdrift docs.