From df802882bb2ec7d52d5c064c20531fe5a5b263b1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Erik Johnston <erikj@element.io>
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2025 16:40:38 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Further reduce cardinality of metrics on event persister
 (#19168)

Follow on from #19133 to only track a subset of event types.
---
 changelog.d/19133.misc                   |  2 +-
 changelog.d/19168.misc                   |  1 +
 synapse/storage/databases/main/events.py | 29 ++++++++++++++++++++++--
 3 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 changelog.d/19168.misc

diff --git a/changelog.d/19133.misc b/changelog.d/19133.misc
index 122f2849b..8d9396116 100644
--- a/changelog.d/19133.misc
+++ b/changelog.d/19133.misc
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Reduce cardinality of `synapse_storage_events_persisted_events_sep_total` metric by removing `origin_entity` label. This also separates out events sent by local application services by changing the `origin_type` for such events to `application_service`.
+Reduce cardinality of `synapse_storage_events_persisted_events_sep_total` metric by removing `origin_entity` label. This also separates out events sent by local application services by changing the `origin_type` for such events to `application_service`. The `type` field also only tracks common event types, and anything else is bucketed under `*other*`.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19168.misc b/changelog.d/19168.misc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d9396116
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/19168.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Reduce cardinality of `synapse_storage_events_persisted_events_sep_total` metric by removing `origin_entity` label. This also separates out events sent by local application services by changing the `origin_type` for such events to `application_service`. The `type` field also only tracks common event types, and anything else is bucketed under `*other*`.
diff --git a/synapse/storage/databases/main/events.py b/synapse/storage/databases/main/events.py
index ae30a61ce..60fc884c3 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/databases/main/events.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/databases/main/events.py
@@ -95,9 +95,28 @@ persist_event_counter = Counter(
 event_counter = Counter(
     "synapse_storage_events_persisted_events_sep",
     "",
-    labelnames=["type", "origin_type", SERVER_NAME_LABEL],
+    labelnames=[
+        "type",  # The event type or "*other*" for types we don't track
+        "origin_type",
+        SERVER_NAME_LABEL,
+    ],
 )
 
+# Event types that we track in the `events_counter` metric above.
+#
+# This list is chosen to balance tracking the most common event types that are
+# useful to monitor (and are likely to spike), while keeping the cardinality of
+# the metric low enough to avoid wasted resources.
+TRACKED_EVENT_TYPES = {
+    EventTypes.Message,
+    EventTypes.Encrypted,
+    EventTypes.Member,
+    EventTypes.ThirdPartyInvite,
+    EventTypes.Redaction,
+    EventTypes.Create,
+    EventTypes.Tombstone,
+}
+
 # State event type/key pairs that we need to gather to fill in the
 # `sliding_sync_joined_rooms`/`sliding_sync_membership_snapshots` tables.
 SLIDING_SYNC_RELEVANT_STATE_SET = (
@@ -379,8 +398,14 @@ class PersistEventsStore:
                 else:
                     origin_type = "remote"
 
+                # We only track a subset of event types, to avoid high
+                # cardinality in the metrics.
+                metrics_event_type = (
+                    event.type if event.type in TRACKED_EVENT_TYPES else "*other*"
+                )
+
                 event_counter.labels(
-                    type=event.type,
+                    type=metrics_event_type,
                     origin_type=origin_type,
                     **{SERVER_NAME_LABEL: self.server_name},
                 ).inc()