What Is the Error Rate Golden Signal?

The error rate golden signal is the proportion of requests that do not succeed, one of the four golden signals. It includes outright failures like server errors and also subtler cases such as wrong content or responses that breach a policy. Measuring it as a rate relative to traffic keeps it meaningful as load changes.

Why it matters

Error rate is the most direct measure of whether a service is doing its job. A rising rate is a clear, user-facing failure signal that usually warrants immediate attention.

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