{
 "categories": [
  "observability",
  "enterprise"
 ],
 "deployment": "hybrid",
 "evidence": [
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "homepage",
   "note": "IBM presents Instana Observability as automated full-stack observability with one-second metrics, OpenTelemetry integration, and agentic AI investigation.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/products/instana",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "deployment",
   "note": "The product page lists purchase options as pay-per-use, SaaS, and self-hosted.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/products/instana",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "license",
   "note": "The opened product page presents a commercial IBM observability product with paid purchase options.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/products/instana",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "status",
   "note": "The page is a current IBM product listing that names 2026 analyst coverage and live customer case studies.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/products/instana",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.api.exists",
   "note": "IBM documents the Instana REST API as the integration surface for Instana's monitoring and observability platform.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.api.kinds[0]",
   "note": "The getting-started topic states the Instana REST API uses standard HTTP methods against a tenant-unit /api base URL.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.api.auth[0]",
   "note": "IBM documents API-token authentication. Tokens are created in the Instana UI and sent in the Authorization header using the Bearer scheme.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.api.coverage",
   "note": "IBM says endpoints cover monitoring data management, alerting, and custom events, and that callers must review rate limits. This pass did not open a complete endpoint catalog.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.api.docs",
   "note": "Opened IBM Documentation content for Getting Started with the Instana REST API.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.data_access.export[0]",
   "note": "The documented curl example is an HTTP GET against /api/ with a Bearer token, which is the JSON REST interchange used by Instana.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.mcp.first_party",
   "note": "IBM's MCP catalog lists IBM Instana MCP Server at github.com/instana/mcp-instana for listing and inspecting Instana applications and infrastructure resources.",
   "source": "https://github.com/IBM/mcp",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.mcp.first_party",
   "note": "The instana org README titles the project MCP Server for IBM Instana and states it bridges clients to Instana REST APIs.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/instana/mcp-instana/main/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "modalities.mcp.verdict",
   "note": "The instana/mcp-instana repository is not archived. GitHub reports last push 2026-09-09. The README documents PyPI package mcp-instana and eleven unified manage_* tools.",
   "source": "https://api.github.com/repos/instana/mcp-instana",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "verdict.scores.api",
   "note": "REST plus API-token Bearer auth is documented and practical. Coverage is useful production work with rate-limit and tenant-URL constraints, not a fully opened endpoint catalog.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "verdict.scores.mcp",
   "note": "Official maintained server with unified tools for applications, infrastructure, events, websites, mobile, synthetics, SLO, dashboards, releases, and maintenance windows. It is a self-hosted REST bridge and leaves SSL verification off by default.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/instana/mcp-instana/main/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[0].url",
   "note": "Opened the current IBM Instana Observability product page.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/products/instana",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[1].url",
   "note": "Opened IBM's MCP catalog listing the Instana MCP Server.",
   "source": "https://github.com/IBM/mcp",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[2].url",
   "note": "Opened the vendor-owned instana/mcp-instana repository page.",
   "source": "https://github.com/instana/mcp-instana",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[3].url",
   "note": "Opened the current Instana MCP README, including auth headers, transports, and the manage_* tool list.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/instana/mcp-instana/main/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-11",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[4].url",
   "note": "Opened the IBM Documentation content API topic for Instana REST API getting started and Bearer API-token authentication.",
   "source": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "tier": "declared"
  }
 ],
 "freshness": {
  "last_verified": "2026-09-11",
  "volatility": "high",
  "watch": [
   {
    "type": "product",
    "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/instana"
   },
   {
    "type": "mcp",
    "url": "https://github.com/IBM/mcp"
   },
   {
    "type": "mcp",
    "url": "https://github.com/instana/mcp-instana"
   },
   {
    "type": "docs",
    "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/instana/mcp-instana/main/README.md"
   },
   {
    "type": "docs",
    "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html"
   }
  ]
 },
 "homepage": "https://www.ibm.com/products/instana",
 "id": "ibm-instana",
 "license": "commercial",
 "modalities": {
  "agent_docs": {
   "llms_txt": "unknown"
  },
  "api": {
   "auth": [
    "api-token"
   ],
   "coverage": "partial",
   "docs": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/SSFXKR/src/pages/api/instana_rest_api/getting_started/getting_started.html",
   "exists": true,
   "kinds": [
    "rest"
   ]
  },
  "cli": {
   "exists": "unknown"
  },
  "computer_use": {
   "issues": [],
   "viability": "unknown"
  },
  "data_access": {
   "export": [
    "json"
   ],
   "import": []
  },
  "extensibility": {
   "scripting": [],
   "webhooks": "unknown"
  },
  "integrations": {
   "make": "unknown",
   "n8n": "unknown",
   "power_automate": "unknown",
   "zapier": "unknown"
  },
  "mcp": {
   "first_party": true,
   "third_party": [],
   "verdict": "official"
  },
  "rpa": {
   "drivability": "unknown",
   "notes": "No repeatable UI probe was run. The Instana REST API and the first-party Instana MCP Server cover practical observability automation without browser control.\n",
   "ui_stack": [],
   "vendor_support": []
  },
  "sdk": {
   "exists": "unknown",
   "languages": [],
   "official": "unknown"
  }
 },
 "name": "IBM Instana Observability",
 "platforms": [
  "web"
 ],
 "related": {
  "alternatives": [
   "datadog",
   "dynatrace",
   "new-relic",
   "grafana",
   "splunk"
  ],
  "our_products": []
 },
 "schema_version": 1,
 "score_version": 1,
 "status": "active",
 "vendor": "IBM",
 "verdict": {
  "best_path": "api",
  "scores": {
   "api": 7,
   "cli": null,
   "computer_use": null,
   "integrations": null,
   "mcp": 7,
   "overall": 7,
   "rpa": null
  },
  "summary": "IBM Instana Observability is automatable today through the Instana REST API and a first-party MCP server that turns tool calls into those APIs. IBM documents API-token authentication: create a token under Settings, Security & Access, API Tokens, then send it as Authorization Bearer on https://<TENANT>-<UNIT>.instana.io/api/.... The getting-started topic says endpoints cover monitoring data, alerting, and custom events and that rate limits apply. The product is sold as pay-per-use, SaaS, and self-hosted. The IBM Instana MCP Server at instana/mcp-instana is listed on IBM/mcp and installable from PyPI as mcp-instana. It speaks Streamable HTTP or stdio. HTTP mode takes instana-base-url plus instana-api-token, or session/JWT headers. Documented unified tools are manage_applications, manage_infrastructure, manage_events, manage_websites, manage_mobile_apps, manage_synthetics, manage_slo, manage_custom_dashboards, manage_releases, manage_maintenance_windows, and manage_automation. Outbound SSL verification is disabled by default unless INSTANA_SSL_VERIFY or --verify-ssl is set. This record is Instana. It is not Datadog. iPaaS connectors were not opened. Computer-use viability is unassessed. API and MCP both score 7; API is the best path because the MCP server is a self-hosted REST bridge and uses the same token and permission gates.\n"
 }
}