datadog-agent

What is datadog-agent?

The datadog-agent image runs the Datadog Agent, a lightweight process that collects system metrics, logs, traces, and events, and forwards them to the Datadog platform for observability and monitoring.

The agent supports auto-discovery of services, container-aware telemetry, APM (application performance monitoring), and integrations with over 600+ technologies. It can run as a container (on Docker or Kubernetes) or as a native system service, depending on the deployment environment.

The datadog-agent image is typically deployed as a sidecar, daemonset, or standalone container, and is essential for teams using Datadog for infrastructure, application, or security monitoring in containerized environments.

How to use this image

The agent requires a valid Datadog API key and should be granted access to host or container-level metrics, depending on the setup.

Run the agent in Docker:

‍<code>docker run -d --name datadog-agent \  -e DD_API_KEY=<your_api_key> \  -e DD_SITE="datadoghq.com" \  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \  -v /proc:/host/proc:ro \  -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/host/sys/fs/cgroup:ro \  gcr.io/datadoghq/agent:latest</code>

Deploy as a DaemonSet in Kubernetes:

‍Use the official Helm chart:

<code>helm repo add datadog https://helm.datadoghq.comhelm install datadog-agent datadog/datadog \  --set datadog.apiKey=<your_api_key> \  --set datadog.site=datadoghq.com \  --set daemonset.useHostPort=true</code>

Enable log collection (optional):

<code>Edit-e DD_LOGS_ENABLED=true-e DD_LOGS_CONFIG_CONTAINER_COLLECT_ALL=true</code>

Ports and behavior:

• Metrics, logs, and traces are sent outbound to Datadog.
• The agent itself listens locally but is not typically accessed directly.

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Image variants

Datadog publishes images under gcr.io/datadoghq/agent and datadog/agent (Docker Hub). Tags reflect features and base system architecture:

datadog/agent:latest

Full agent with support for metrics, logs, traces, and dogstatsd.Use for most standard deployments.•

datadog/agent:<version>

Tagged by release version (e.g. 7.52.1).

Recommended for production to pin consistent behavior.

datadog/agent:alpine

Lightweight image with reduced size and fewer dependencies.Use where size is critical, though some features may be limited.•

datadog/agent:arm64

Architecture-specific build for ARM64 systems.Datadog also publishes separate images for the Cluster Agent, Security Agent, and APM-only variants.