cel-programs

When to use

Use this skill when tasks include:

• creating or editing cel.yml.hbs agent stream templates
• configuring data stream manifests for the cel input type
• writing CEL programs with pagination, cursor management, or authentication
• testing or debugging a CEL program locally with mito
• setting up system tests with mock APIs for CEL-based data streams
• prototyping a new CEL-based data stream's collection logic
• any CEL or mito question, regardless of context

When not to use

Do not use this skill as the primary guide for:

• ingest pipeline processor design (ingest-pipelines)
• ECS field mapping (ecs-field-mappings)
• package scaffolding (create-integration)
• system test execution with the Elastic stack (integration-testing → references/system-testing.md)

Mandatory workflow — mock → mito → template

This is not a suggestion. Every CEL program MUST be developed in this order. The subagent must not write cel.yml.hbs until the CEL program has been validated with mito against a running mock. Skipping steps or reordering causes failures that are hard to debug.

Do NOT write more than ~10–15 new lines of CEL before running mito. Build the program incrementally in phases (skeleton → error handling → event mapping → pagination → cursor guard), validating with mito after each phase. Writing a large program in one shot leads to cascading compilation errors that are extremely hard to debug. Follow the phased approach in references/cel-incremental-build.md.

Step 3 detail — translating template vars to mito state: When the future cel.yml.hbs will have a state: block like api_key: {{api_key}} and batch_size: {{batch_size}}, the state.json for mito testing uses the same key names with literal test values:

{
  "url": "http://localhost:8090",
  "api_key": "test-key",
  "batch_size": 50,
  "initial_interval": "24h"
}

This mirrors the runtime state the CEL input would provide. Add cursor to test subsequent-run behavior.

For the full mock-first workflow details, CLI flags, execution model, and quality standards: load references/mito-reference.md.

cel.yml.hbs template anatomy

The cel.yml.hbs file at data_stream/<stream>/agent/stream/cel.yml.hbs is a Handlebars template that renders the final CEL input configuration. It has these sections in order:

interval: {{interval}}
resource.tracer:
  enabled: {{enable_request_tracer}}
  filename: "../../logs/cel/http-request-trace-*.ndjson"
  maxbackups: 5
{{#if proxy_url}}
resource.proxy_url: {{proxy_url}}
{{/if}}
{{#if ssl}}
resource.ssl: {{ssl}}
{{/if}}
{{#if http_client_timeout}}
resource.timeout: {{http_client_timeout}}
{{/if}}
resource.url: <constructed from vars>
state:
  <credentials and pagination config from vars>
redact:
  fields:
    - <sensitive state keys>
max_executions: <number, for heavy pagination>
program: |
  <CEL expression>
tags:
{{#if preserve_original_event}}
  - preserve_original_event
{{/if}}
{{#each tags as |tag|}}
  - {{tag}}
{{/each}}
{{#contains "forwarded" tags}}
publisher_pipeline.disable_host: true
{{/contains}}
{{#if processors}}
processors:
{{processors}}
{{/if}}

Handlebars patterns

Key template fields

• resource.url — base URL, often constructed from multiple vars (e.g., {{url}}/api/v1/endpoint)
• resource.headers (ga 8.18.1) — static headers the same for every request (Content-Type, Accept, API version headers). Set here rather than in-program when headers never vary. Applied before auth headers.
• state: — block where manifest vars are injected as CEL state; credentials and pagination settings go here
• redact.fields — list state keys containing secrets to redact from debug logs
• max_executions — override default 1000 for integrations with heavy pagination (e.g., 5000)
• program: | — the CEL expression; must be a YAML literal block scalar

Do NOT set data_stream.dataset in integration packages

Integration packages (type: integration) must never include data_stream.dataset in cel.yml.hbs or define a data_stream.dataset manifest var. The framework automatically routes documents to the correct data stream. Setting data_stream.dataset overrides this routing and causes documents to land in the wrong index — typically resulting in "0 hits" during system tests.

Only input-type packages (type: input) use data_stream.dataset because they have no predefined data streams.

Data stream manifest configuration

The data stream manifest.yml defines the CEL input stream and its variables.

Standard vars every CEL stream should include

Auth-specific vars depend on the API (API key, OAuth client_id/secret/token_url, bearer token, etc.).

Declare enable_request_tracer in the data stream manifest, not at the input level. Input-level tracing enables logging for all data streams in the policy.

Package-level vs data-stream-level vars

• Package-level vars in the root manifest.yml under policy_templates[].inputs[].vars: shared across streams (e.g., url, auth credentials)
• Data-stream-level vars in data_stream/<stream>/manifest.yml under streams[].vars: stream-specific (e.g., interval, batch_size, initial_interval)

Scope of the CEL program

The CEL program's responsibility is data collection only:

1. Fetch data from the API endpoint(s)
2. Handle pagination — walk through all pages within a single polling cycle
3. Manage cursor state — store timestamps or page tokens in cursor so the next polling interval resumes where the last one left off, avoiding re-collection of already-fetched events
4. Emit raw events — output {"message": e.encode_json()} for each record

The CEL program does not handle:

• Elasticsearch-level deduplication — if overlapping time windows cause a few duplicate events to be collected, that is acceptable. The ingest pipeline or Elasticsearch _id routing handles dedup at index time, not the CEL program.
• Field mapping or transformation — the ingest pipeline handles parsing, ECS mapping, and enrichment.
• Filtering by content — unless the API supports server-side filtering parameters, do not filter events in the CEL program. Emit everything and let the pipeline decide.

Do not search the codebase for _id, document_id, or deduplication patterns. These are not CEL concerns.

CEL program structure patterns

Pagination strategy selection

Cursor timestamp selection — use the last record's timestamp when the API sorts ascending; first when descending; max() with a regression guard when sort order is not guaranteed.

Full code, package references, and YAML snippets for each pattern: references/cel-pagination-patterns.md.

Authentication patterns

Three strategies: header (credentials in state:, passed via Header map), query parameter (credentials appended to URL via .format_query()), signed query (HMAC signature computed in CEL). Config-level auth.oauth2/auth.digest/auth.aws applies to all requests including .do_request(); auth.basic/auth.token applies only to direct calls (get(), post()). Prefer input-level auth over in-program token fetching.

For full code examples, optional-header syntax, and config-level auth scope details: load references/cel-auth-patterns.md.

State management rules

1. state.url is populated from resource.url config; must be preserved in output or hardcoded
2. cursor is the only state persisted across input restarts; store pagination positions and timestamps here
3. events array is removed after each evaluation; never rely on it in subsequent runs
4. want_more: true triggers immediate re-evaluation, but only if events is non-empty. Pagination continuation guardrail: when a next-page cursor/token exists, always set want_more: true regardless of how many events were collected on the current page. Tying want_more to size(events) > 0 stalls pagination silently — the next cursor is valid, and an empty events array is safe to emit. The correct pattern is "want_more": next_cursor != "".
5. All other state keys are retained within a session but lost on restart — use state.with() to propagate them automatically
6. Numbers are serialized as floats in state JSON; cast with int() when using as integers
7. Optional access with state.?cursor.last_timestamp.orValue(default) prevents errors when cursor is absent
8. Secrets — every sensitive field in state must have a corresponding redact entry. state.secret is always redacted automatically. When secret_state (ga 9.4.0) is available, prefer it.
9. Cursor updates require a published event — the input only persists cursor updates when at least one event is published. If a program updates the cursor but returns zero events, the cursor change is lost.
10. Do not duplicate request/response handling across branches — when an initialization branch (cursor creation, subscription, token exchange) and a steady-state branch both need the same fetch logic, consolidate it. Two approaches: split the init into a separate evaluation via want_more: true (Technique 6 Variant A), or use an intermediate result map to unify the branches within one evaluation (Variant B). Both are valid — see references/cel-code-style.md Technique 6 and the init-then-steady-state pattern in references/cel-pagination-patterns.md.
11. Nesting depth — .as() chain depth must not exceed 5 levels on any execution path. HTTP programs must target 2 levels inside state.with() (resp + body). Cursor defaults, window bounds, and page tokens must be extracted as pre-bindings before state.with(). Single-use values such as int(state.batch_size) must be inlined at the call site, not wrapped in .as(). Load references/cel-code-style.md for flattening techniques and before/after examples.

Map merge and field removal

with(), with_replace(), with_update(), and drop() are general-purpose map operations — they work on any map, not just state or cursor. with() does a shallow merge: nested objects are replaced entirely. This makes it a tool for cursor state transitions (omitting a sub-object removes it via clobber) as well as for building request headers, transforming response data, and constructing intermediate maps. Full semantics and examples: references/cel-code-style.md.

Event output format

Events must contain ONLY "message" — {"message": e.encode_json()}. Do not set @timestamp or any other field; the framework adds @timestamp, and duplicates cause silent document rejection in ES 9.x. See references/cel-idioms.md for correct/incorrect examples.

Response handling

resp.Body.decode_json() — the bytes(resp.Body) wrapper was required in older runtime versions but is no longer needed. Use resp.Body.decode_json() directly.

Error handling

Every CEL program must handle HTTP errors. Two forms:

• Single-object error (retry): "events": {"error": {...}} — logs at ERROR, sets degraded status, deletes the cursor so the next evaluation retries. Use when data was not collected.
• Array error (advance): "events": [{"error": {...}}] — cursor is updated. Use when the program should advance past the error. Requires a terminate processor in the ingest pipeline (ES 8.16.0+).

Error message format: "METHOD path: body-or-status". Code examples: references/cel-idioms.md.

Placeholder events

When advancing the cursor with no real events, emit a placeholder ([{"retry": true}]) and add a - drop_event.when.equals.retry: true entry in the processors: section so it is discarded before indexing. Full pattern and alternatives: references/cel-idioms.md.

Rate limiting and retry

Do NOT implement rate limiting or retry logic in the CEL program. No rate_limit() calls, no "rate_limit" state propagation, no 429-specific branches, no retry loops. These add excessive nesting and complexity for marginal benefit.

When an API has a documented rate limit, use config-only YAML settings in cel.yml.hbs:

resource.rate_limit.limit: 10   # max requests per second
resource.rate_limit.burst: 5    # max burst above sustained rate

When custom retry behavior is needed, use config-only YAML settings:

resource.retry.max_attempts: 5    # default: 5
resource.retry.wait_min: 1s       # default: 1s
resource.retry.wait_max: 60s      # default: 60s

The input framework enforces both transparently. See references/cel-rate-limiting.md for guidance on when to add these settings.

Type safety

Avoid dyn() — defeats type checking. Rarely needed in practice.

All numbers are float64 — the CEL input transmits all numbers as float64. Numbers >=1e7 render in scientific notation in Elasticsearch. Convert intended-integer fields to strings in the CEL program or via ingest pipeline. Safe integer range: -(2^53 - 1), 2^53 - 1.

Debugging aids

• debug(tag, value) — logs to cel_debug at DEBUG level.
• try(expr) / is_error(value) — structured error handling without crashing the program.
• failure_dump (ga 8.18.0) — full evaluation state dump on failure. Note: dumps may contain secrets.
• remaining_executions (ga 9.2) — how many evaluations remain in the max_executions budget.

Mito CLI

Mito (github.com/elastic/mito) is the local CEL evaluation CLI. A CEL program that has not been tested with mito is not acceptable. Follow the mandatory workflow at the top of this skill: mock → mito → template. Do NOT write cel.yml.hbs until the program passes mito validation.

For installation, CLI flags, input state structure, execution model, the full mock-first workflow steps, mito→integration mapping, and quality standards: load references/mito-reference.md.

Data anonymization

All data committed to the repository must be fully anonymized. This applies to default values in manifest vars (use https://api.example.com), example values in CEL state, mock API responses, pipeline test fixtures from CEL output, and sample payloads captured during mito prototyping.

Refer to the anonymize-logs skill for the full anonymization policy and placeholder conventions.

Handoff to other skills

• integration-testing → references/system-testing.md to run system tests (the mock API is already in place from CEL development)
• integration-testing → references/pipeline-testing.md to validate ingest pipeline behavior on CEL-produced events
• create-integration skill for overall package layout

Reference files

IMPORTANT: These reference files contain the actual working code examples and patterns. The summaries above are not sufficient to write correct CEL programs — you MUST load the relevant references before writing code.

Always load these five when building a CEL program — in this order (mock/mito before templates):

Load these based on the task:

See also: CEL input docs · Mito lib docs · Mito repo · CEL language spec