App Engine

Dynatrace App Engine lets you extend the platform with custom and built-in applications. dtctl provides commands to list, inspect, and delete apps, as well as discover and execute app functions and intents.

Listing and Viewing Apps

# List all installed apps
dtctl get apps

# Describe a specific app
dtctl describe app app-123

App Functions

App functions are server-side endpoints exposed by Dynatrace apps. You can discover, inspect, and execute them directly from the CLI.

Discover Functions

# List all available functions across all apps
dtctl get functions

# List functions for a specific app with extra detail
dtctl get functions --app dynatrace.automations -o wide

Describe a Function

# View function details including parameters and schema
dtctl describe function dynatrace.automations/execute-dql-query

Execute a Function

dtctl exec function has two modes:

1. App function — invoke a function exposed by an installed app (app-id/function-name).
2. Ad-hoc JavaScript — run JavaScript directly, without deploying an app.

The mode is chosen by the flags you pass: if --code or -f/--file is present, dtctl runs in ad-hoc mode (and ignores any app-id/function-name argument, --method, and --defer). Otherwise it runs in app-function mode.

The command has aliases fn and func.

App Functions

# GET (default method, no payload)
dtctl exec function dynatrace.automations/execute-dql-query

# POST with an inline JSON payload
dtctl exec function dynatrace.automations/execute-dql-query \
  --method POST \
  --payload '{"query":"fetch logs | limit 5"}'

# Payload from a file, or from stdin with "-"
dtctl exec function dynatrace.automations/execute-dql-query --method POST --data payload.json
cat payload.json | dtctl exec function dynatrace.automations/execute-dql-query --method POST --data -

# Defer execution (async, for resumable functions) — returns a handle instead of the result
dtctl exec function dynatrace.automations/long-running --method POST --payload '{}' --defer

--method accepts GET (default), POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE. --payload takes an inline JSON string; --data reads the same payload from a file (or - for stdin). Pass at most one of the two.

Payload discovery: If you’re unsure what fields a function expects, try executing it with an empty payload (--payload '{}'). The error response will typically list the required fields and their types.

Ad-hoc JavaScript

Run a function’s worth of JavaScript without publishing an app — useful for quick platform automation and for prototyping app functions:

# Inline code
dtctl exec function --code 'export default async function () { return "hello" }'

# Code from a file (use -f - to read the code from stdin)
dtctl exec function -f script.js

# Code from a file, with an input payload passed to the function
dtctl exec function -f script.js --payload '{"input":"data"}'
dtctl exec function -f script.js --data payload.json

In ad-hoc mode --payload / --data supply the input passed to the code; the --method and --defer flags do not apply.

Flag Reference

Common Functions

App Intents

Intents provide a deep-linking mechanism to navigate into specific app views with contextual data.

Discover Intents

# List all registered intents
dtctl get intents

# Describe a specific intent to see its parameters
dtctl describe intent dynatrace.distributedtracing/view-trace

Find Matching Intents

# Find intents that accept a given set of data fields
dtctl find intents --data trace_id=abc123

Generate URLs

# Generate a deep-link URL and open it in the browser
dtctl open intent dynatrace.distributedtracing/view-trace \
  --data trace_id=abc123 \
  --browser

Use cases: Deep linking from alert notifications to the relevant trace or dashboard, scripted navigation for runbooks, and building custom integrations that open Dynatrace views with pre-filled context.

Deleting Apps

# Delete an app by ID
dtctl delete app app-123

Required Scopes