Building HTTP-Based Sinks

HTTP sinks (Loki, Datadog HTTP intake, Splunk HEC, Elastic ingest) share a core pattern:

1. Async HTTP client: use httpx.AsyncClient with timeouts.

2. Batching: accumulate events with size/time triggers; respect provider limits.

3. Authentication: support bearer tokens or basic auth via headers.

4. Retry/backoff: handle 429/5xx with exponential backoff; emit diagnostics.

5. Circuit breaker: contain repeated failures per sink.

6. Fast path: implement write_serialized when the sink consumes raw bytes/strings.

Reference implementations:

• fapilog.plugins.sinks.contrib.loki (Grafana Loki HTTP push)

• docs/plugins/sinks/loki.md (configuration)

• tests/integration/test_loki_sink.py (Docker-backed CI pattern)

Testing tips:

• Use dockerized services (Loki) in CI; gate tests on env vars to avoid local failures.

• Stub the HTTP client in unit tests to avoid network calls and assert payload shapes.

• Enable FAPILOG_CORE__INTERNAL_LOGGING_ENABLED=true when capturing diagnostics during tests.