Disable exporting of _created metrics via env var

README.md

@@ -252,6 +252,13 @@ h = Histogram('request_latency_seconds', 'Description of histogram')
 h.observe(4.7, {'trace_id': 'abc123'})
 ```
 
+### Disabling `_created` metrics
+
+By default counters, histograms, and summaries export an additional series
+suffixed with `_created` and a value of the unix timestamp for when the metric
+was created. If this information is not helpful, it can be disabled by setting
+the environment variable `PROMETHEUS_DISABLE_CREATED_SERIES=True`.
+
 ### Process Collector
 
 The Python client automatically exports metrics about process CPU usage, RAM,

prometheus_client/metrics.py

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import os
 from threading import Lock
 import time
 import types
@@ -62,6 +63,13 @@ def _validate_exemplar(exemplar):
         raise ValueError('Exemplar labels have %d UTF-8 characters, exceeding the limit of 128')
 
 
+def _get_use_created() -> bool:
+    return os.environ.get("PROMETHEUS_DISABLE_CREATED_SERIES", 'False').lower() not in ('true', '1', 't')
+
+
+_use_created = _get_use_created()
+
+
 class MetricWrapperBase(Collector):
     _type: Optional[str] = None
     _reserved_labelnames: Sequence[str] = ()
@@ -291,10 +299,13 @@ def count_exceptions(self, exception: Type[BaseException] = Exception) -> Except
         return ExceptionCounter(self, exception)
 
     def _child_samples(self) -> Iterable[Sample]:
-        return (
-            Sample('_total', {}, self._value.get(), None, self._value.get_exemplar()),
-            Sample('_created', {}, self._created, None, None),
-        )
+        sample = Sample('_total', {}, self._value.get(), None, self._value.get_exemplar())
+        if _use_created:
+            return (
+                sample,
+                Sample('_created', {}, self._created, None, None)
+            )
+        return (sample,)
 
 
 class Gauge(MetricWrapperBase):
@@ -484,11 +495,13 @@ def time(self) -> Timer:
         return Timer(self, 'observe')
 
     def _child_samples(self) -> Iterable[Sample]:
-        return (
+        samples = [
             Sample('_count', {}, self._count.get(), None, None),
             Sample('_sum', {}, self._sum.get(), None, None),
-            Sample('_created', {}, self._created, None, None),
-        )
+        ]
+        if _use_created:
+            samples.append(Sample('_created', {}, self._created, None, None))
+        return tuple(samples)
 
 
 class Histogram(MetricWrapperBase):
@@ -616,7 +629,8 @@ def _child_samples(self) -> Iterable[Sample]:
         samples.append(Sample('_count', {}, acc, None, None))
         if self._upper_bounds[0] >= 0:
             samples.append(Sample('_sum', {}, self._sum.get(), None, None))
-        samples.append(Sample('_created', {}, self._created, None, None))
+        if _use_created:
+            samples.append(Sample('_created', {}, self._created, None, None))
         return tuple(samples)
 
 

tests/test_core.py

@@ -1,16 +1,19 @@
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
+import os
 import time
 import unittest
 
 import pytest
 
+from prometheus_client import metrics
 from prometheus_client.core import (
     CollectorRegistry, Counter, CounterMetricFamily, Enum, Gauge,
     GaugeHistogramMetricFamily, GaugeMetricFamily, Histogram,
     HistogramMetricFamily, Info, InfoMetricFamily, Metric, Sample,
     StateSetMetricFamily, Summary, SummaryMetricFamily, UntypedMetricFamily,
 )
 from prometheus_client.decorator import getargspec
+from prometheus_client.metrics import _get_use_created
 
 
 def assert_not_observable(fn, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -115,6 +118,32 @@ def test_exemplar_too_long(self):
         })
 
 
+class TestDisableCreated(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.registry = CollectorRegistry()
+        os.environ['PROMETHEUS_DISABLE_CREATED_SERIES'] = 'True'
+        metrics._use_created = _get_use_created()
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        os.environ.pop('PROMETHEUS_DISABLE_CREATED_SERIES', None)
+        metrics._use_created = _get_use_created()
+
+    def test_counter(self):
+        counter = Counter('c_total', 'help', registry=self.registry)
+        counter.inc()
+        self.assertEqual(None, self.registry.get_sample_value('c_created'))
+
+    def test_histogram(self):
+        histogram = Histogram('h', 'help', registry=self.registry)
+        histogram.observe(3.2)
+        self.assertEqual(None, self.registry.get_sample_value('h_created'))
+
+    def test_summary(self):
+        summary = Summary('s', 'help', registry=self.registry)
+        summary.observe(8.2)
+        self.assertEqual(None, self.registry.get_sample_value('s_created'))
+
+
 class TestGauge(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.registry = CollectorRegistry()