Dynatrace Control with dtctl

Operate dtctl, the kubectl-style CLI for Dynatrace. This skill teaches core dtctl command patterns and operations.

Recommended Initialization

At the start of a task, run these checks to establish context and permissions:

# Discover all available commands, flags, and resources
dtctl commands --brief -o json

# Show current context
dtctl config current-context

# Show context details
dtctl config describe-context $(dtctl config current-context) --plain

# Show authenticated user
dtctl auth whoami --plain

This displays:

• Current context name and environment URL
• Safety level (readonly, readwrite-mine, readwrite-all, dangerously-unrestricted)
• Authenticated user identity (name, email, UUID)

DQL Reference Usage

Before writing, modifying, or executing any DQL that fetches Dynatrace data (for example via dtctl query, dtctl wait query, or query files), you MUST consult references/DQL-reference.md and follow its documented syntax and templates.

If there is any conflict between memory/assumptions and the reference, prefer the reference.

Prerequisites

If dtctl is not installed or not working, see references/troubleshooting.md for installation and setup.

Resources & Commands

Available Resources

dtctl uses a uniform pattern for all resource types. Discover schema from actual output with dtctl describe <resource> <id> -o json --plain.

Resource	Aliases
analyzer	analyzers
app	apps
bucket	bkt
copilot-skill	copilot-skills
dashboard	dash
edgeconnect	ec
extension	ext, extensions
extension-config	extcfg, extension-configs
function	fn, func
group	groups
intent	intents
lookup	lookups, lkup
notebook	nb
notification	notifications
sdk-version	sdk-versions
settings	setting
settings-schema	schema
slo	-
slo-template	slo-templates
trash	deleted
user	users
workflow	wf
workflow-execution	wfe

Use IDs whenever possible instead of names to avoid ambiguity.

Command Verbs

Verb	Description	Example
get	List resources	dtctl get workflows --mine
describe	Show resource details	dtctl describe workflow <id>
edit	Edit resource interactively	dtctl edit dashboard <id>
apply	Create/update from file	dtctl apply -f workflow.yaml --set env=prod
delete	Delete resource	dtctl delete workflow <id>
exec	Execute workflow/function/analyzer/copilot	dtctl exec workflow <id>
query	Run DQL query	dtctl query "fetch logs | limit 10"
logs	Print resource logs	dtctl logs workflow-execution <id>
wait	Wait for conditions	dtctl wait query "fetch logs" --for=any
history	Show document history	dtctl history dashboard <id>
restore	Restore document version	dtctl restore dashboard <id> --version 3
share	Share document	dtctl share dashboard <id> --user email@example.com
unshare	Remove sharing	dtctl unshare dashboard <id> --user email@example.com
find	Discover resources	dtctl find intents --data trace.id=abc
open	Open in browser	dtctl open intent <app/intent> --data key=value
diff	Compare resources	dtctl diff -f workflow.yaml
verify	Validate without executing	dtctl verify query 'fetch logs' --fail-on-warn
commands	List all commands (machine-readable)	dtctl commands --brief -o json

Key Concepts for AI Agents

Output Modes

# Agent envelope mode (auto-detected in AI environments)
-A, --agent      # Structured JSON envelope with ok/result/error/context
--no-agent       # Opt out of auto-detected agent mode

# Machine-readable formats (use these for AI agents)
-o json          # JSON output
-o yaml          # YAML output
-o csv           # CSV output
-o chart         # ASCII chart (for time series)
-o sparkline     # ASCII sparkline (for time series)
-o barchart      # ASCII bar chart (for time series)

# Human-readable formats
-o table         # Table format (default)
-o wide          # Wide table with more columns

# Always use --plain flag for AI consumption (implied by --agent)
--plain          # Strips colors and prompts, best for parsing

For AI agents, prefer: dtctl <command> --agent (auto-detected) or dtctl <command> -o json --plain

The --agent envelope provides structured metadata alongside results:

{
  "ok": true,
  "result": [ ... ],
  "context": {
    "verb": "get", "resource": "workflow",
    "total": 5, "has_more": false,
    "suggestions": ["Run 'dtctl describe workflow <id>' for details"]
  }
}

Template Variables

In YAML/DQL files, use Go template syntax:

# workflow.yaml
title: "{{.environment}} Deployment"
owner: "{{.team}}"
trigger:
  schedule:
    cron: "{{.schedule | default "0 0 * * *"}}"

# query.dql
fetch logs
| filter host.name == "{{.host}}"
| filter timestamp > now() - {{.timerange | default "1h"}}

Execute with: dtctl apply -f file.yaml --set environment=prod --set team=platform

Copilot, Functions, Analyzers

# Copilot skills
dtctl get copilot-skills -o json --plain

# Functions
dtctl get functions -o json --plain
dtctl exec function <id-or-name> --payload '{"key":"value"}' --plain

# Analyzers
dtctl get analyzers -o json --plain
dtctl exec analyzer <id-or-name> --input '{"timeframe":"now-2h"}' --plain

Prefer get ... -o json --plain first, then describe/exec with explicit IDs.

Authentication & Permissions

# Check current user and permissions
dtctl auth whoami --plain
dtctl auth can-i create workflows
dtctl auth can-i delete dashboards

Use can-i to verify permissions before attempting operations.

Quick Reference: DQL Queries

Required workflow for DQL data fetching:

1. First consult references/DQL-reference.md
2. Build/validate the query using the documented patterns
3. Execute with dtctl query ... -o json --plain (or dtctl wait query ... when waiting for results)

# Inline query
dtctl query "fetch logs | filter status='ERROR' | limit 100" -o json --plain

# Query from file with variables
dtctl query -f query.dql --set host=h-123 --set timerange=2h -o json --plain

# Wait for query results
dtctl wait query "fetch spans | filter test_id='test-123'" --for=count=1 --timeout 5m

# Query with chart output
dtctl query "timeseries avg(dt.host.cpu.usage)" -o chart --plain

Dashboards

For full examples and field-level gotchas, see references/resources/dashboards.md.

Create/update: dtctl apply -f dashboard.yaml --plain. Export for reference: dtctl get dashboard <id> -o yaml --plain.

YAML skeleton

name: "Dashboard Name"
type: dashboard
content:
  annotations: []
  importedWithCode: false
  settings:
    defaultTimeframe:
      enabled: true
      value: { from: now()-2h, to: now() }
  layouts:
    "1":                    # string key, must match a tile key
      x: 0                 # 24-column grid (full=24, half=12, third=8)
      "y": 0               # MUST quote "y" to avoid YAML boolean parse
      w: 12
      h: 6
  tiles:
    "1":
      title: "Tile Title"
      type: data            # data | markdown
      query: |
        fetch logs | limit 10
      visualization: lineChart
      visualizationSettings:
        autoSelectVisualization: false
      davis: { enabled: false, davisVisualization: { isAvailable: true } }

Tile types & visualizations

• type: data — DQL tile with query + visualization: singleValue, lineChart, areaChart, barChart, pieChart, table, honeycomb, scatterplot
• type: markdown — static text via content field (supports markdown)

For detailed visualizationSettings (singleValue, charts, tables, thresholds, unit overrides), see references/resources/dashboards.md.

Gotchas

• Always set davis.enabled: false on data tiles.
• Use makeTimeseries for log/span time series; timeseries for metrics.
• version field warning on create is benign.
• No id field → creates new; with id field → updates existing.

Common Issues

Name resolution ambiguity:

• If a name matches multiple resources, dtctl will fail
• Solution: Use IDs instead of names
• Find ID: dtctl get <resource> -o json --plain | jq -r '.[] | "\(.id) | \(.name)"'

Permission denied:

• Check token scopes: https://github.com/dynatrace-oss/dtctl/blob/main/docs/TOKEN_SCOPES.md
• Verify permissions: dtctl auth can-i <verb> <resource>
• Check safety level: dtctl config describe-context $(dtctl config current-context) --plain

Context/safety blocks:

• Destructive operations may be blocked by safety level
• Switch context: dtctl config use-context <name>
• Adjust safety level when creating context

Additional Resources

• Troubleshooting: references/troubleshooting.md
• Multi-tenant setup: references/config-management.md
• DQL syntax and templates: references/DQL-reference.md
• Notebooks: references/resources/notebooks.md
• Extensions: references/resources/extensions.md
• CLI help: dtctl --help, dtctl <command> --help

Safety Reminders

• Use --plain for machine/AI consumption
• Confirm context + safety level before destructive ops; prefer get/describe first
• Use --mine flag to filter resources you own
• For multi-tenant work, see references/config-management.md