Python Elastic Agent client

Looking for the main Elastic Agent client (GoLang)?

This is a python implementation, and is a technical preview.

Using an example

Agent needs a binary to run. A simple executable shell script will do.

#!/bin/bash
PYTHON_PATH=/path/to/bin/python
PY_AGENT_CLIENT_PATH=/path/to/python-elastic-agent-client
$PYTHON_PATH $PY_AGENT_CLIENT_PATH/elastic_agent_client/examples/fake/component.py

Put those contents in a elastic-agent*/data/elastic-agent*/components/python-elastic-agent-client file, and

chmod 755 elastic-agent*/data/elastic-agent*/components/python-elastic-agent-client

You'll also need to create a specfile at elastic-agent*/data/elastic-agent*/components/python-elastic-agent-client.spec.yml with the contents:

version: 2
inputs:
  - name: fake-py
    description: "Fake Py component input"
    platforms: &platforms
      - linux/amd64
      - linux/arm64
      - darwin/amd64
      - darwin/arm64
      - windows/amd64
      - container/amd64
      - container/arm64
    outputs: &outputs
      - elasticsearch
    shippers: &shippers
      - shipper
    command: &command
      restart_monitoring_period: 5s
      maximum_restarts_per_period: 1
      timeouts:
        restart: 1s
      args: []

Then use this input in your elastic-agent.yml with:

inputs:
  - type: fake-py
    id: fake-py
    use_output: default

You can easily tail the logs by running:

sudo ./elastic-agent 2>&1 >/dev/null  | jq '.message'

Developing

To get started, run:

make clean install

What's happening?

Protobuf

The proto definitions for Elastic Agent live in the GoLang implementation repo. To avoid duplicate code, they are not checked in here. Instead, when make generate runs, it will:

1. download the raw *.proto files from the GoLang repo
2. use grpc_tools.protoc to generate python code from those specs
3. store that generated code in elastic_agent_client/generated
4. post-process them a bit (grpc_tools generates python2 imports, instead of python3 🤷)

TODO List

• remove all inline TODOs
• write a blog
• one day...
  • support "custom actions" to trigger a sync, test connection, etc
  • capture diagnostic metrics. See suggested metrics
  • add automation to re-generate+PR if source protos are changed. GH action on elastic-agent-client repo?