# Storage

Storage determines which observability signals persist, which queries are available, and whether metrics aggregation works. Use a dedicated observability store instead of your primary application store.

## When to use storage

- Keep traces, logs, and metrics available in Mastra Studio during development.
- Enable metrics with an OLAP-capable observability store.
- Route the observability domain to a dedicated production backend.

## Quickstart

The following example demonstrates the recommended local testing setup: route observability data to DuckDB while keeping the rest of your application on LibSQL.

```ts
import { Mastra } from '@mastra/core/mastra'
import { LibSQLStore } from '@mastra/libsql'
import { DuckDBStore } from '@mastra/duckdb'
import { MastraCompositeStore } from '@mastra/core/storage'
import { Observability, MastraStorageExporter } from '@mastra/observability'

export const mastra = new Mastra({
  storage: new MastraCompositeStore({
    id: 'composite-storage',
    default: new LibSQLStore({
      id: 'mastra-storage',
      url: 'file:./mastra.db',
    }),
    domains: {
      observability: await new DuckDBStore().getStore('observability'),
    },
  }),
  observability: new Observability({
    configs: {
      default: {
        serviceName: 'mastra',
        exporters: [new MastraStorageExporter()],
      },
    },
  }),
})
```

## Signal support

Mastra storage-backed observability currently depends on an OLAP-capable backend for full signal support:

- DuckDB: Recommended for local testing and development.
- ClickHouse: Recommended for production observability.
- Mastra platform: Use `MastraPlatformExporter` if you want hosted observability without managing the backend yourself.

Primary application stores such as LibSQL or PostgreSQL should not be used as the observability store. Route the `observability` domain separately with composite storage when you use `MastraStorageExporter`.

## Local development

For local development, the recommended setup is:

- `LibSQLStore` for primary application storage
- `DuckDBStore` for the `observability` domain
- `MastraStorageExporter` for local Studio access

This setup is for local testing and development. It gives you persisted traces, logs, and metrics without introducing external infrastructure.

## Production deployment

Observability traffic is usually more write-heavy than the rest of the application. In production:

- Use `MastraStorageExporter` with ClickHouse for the `observability` domain when you keep observability in your own storage.
- Use `MastraPlatformExporter` if you want hosted Mastra platform observability instead of managing the backend yourself.
- Do not route observability to your primary application store.

For backend compatibility details and exporter batching behavior, see [Mastra Storage exporter](https://mastra.ai/docs/observability/integrations/exporters/mastra-storage).

## Next steps

- [Configuration](https://mastra.ai/docs/observability/config)
- [Logging](https://mastra.ai/docs/observability/logging)
- [Metrics overview](https://mastra.ai/docs/observability/metrics/overview)
- [Mastra Storage exporter](https://mastra.ai/docs/observability/integrations/exporters/mastra-storage)