November 28, 2025
Make the graph go up, make Reddit go off
Show HN: Spikelog – A simple metrics service for scripts, cron jobs, and MVPs
Hackers cheer simple stats, nitpick weird decimals, debate AI prompts
TLDR: Spikelog offers a super-simple way to track numbers by just sending one value. Commenters applauded the minimalism but argued over a decimal user count, debated “prompt-as-docs,” and suggested alternatives like OpenObserve and SigNoz—turning a tiny metrics toy into a big conversation about right-sized observability.
Hacker News just met Spikelog, the tool that says: send one number, get a chart. No dashboards, no "observability" labyrinth—just did the job run and did the number go up or down. The crowd loved the minimalist mood, but the thread quickly devolved into spicy math fights and AI side-eye. One user turned the spotlight on the novelty: an AI prompt as an integration guide, wondering if docs are now prompts. Another pounced on a demo chart showing user count as a floating point number (decimal!), birthing the day’s meme: “humans aren’t fractions.” Meanwhile, fans praised the vibe—“Grafana for one number felt ridiculous”—while pragmatists flexed alternatives like OpenObserve and SigNoz, noting you can still go “simple” with a single-binary setup and OpenTelemetry (a standard for sending app stats). The hottest ask: how it was built and how much AI did the heavy lifting, since Spikelog’s own dashboard was reportedly generated with one prompt. TL;DR energy: indie tool with big personality. The community’s split between “finally, no overkill” and “please fix the decimals,” plus a fresh debate over whether prompt-as-docs is the new README. Peak builder drama, minimal numbers, maximum opinions.
Key Points
- •Spikelog lets users POST numeric values to track and visualize metrics over time.
- •It targets simple use cases in scripts, cron jobs, workers, side projects, MVPs, and small production systems.
- •Integration is positioned as easy, including adding metrics with a single AI prompt; their public dashboard was built this way.
- •For advanced needs like long retention, complex queries, and compliance, the article recommends using Axiom.
- •Spikelog emphasizes simplicity, contrasting with setting up tools like Grafana for tracking a single number.