Datadog Audit Trail

Investigate user activity, configuration changes, access patterns, and compliance evidence using pup audit-logs.

Sub-Skills

Sub-skill	Use when
security-investigation	"Who changed X?", "What did this user do?", "Show me deletions in the last 24h"
key-compromise	"Was this API key compromised?", "What did key XYZ do?", "Investigate suspicious key activity"
cost-spike-investigation	"Why did my bill go up?", "What caused this usage spike?", "Investigate LLM cost increase"
compliance-report	"Generate SOC 2 evidence", "PCI audit log", "User provisioning report for auditor"
ai-activity-audit	"What did the AI assistant do?", "Audit MCP tool calls", "AI governance report"

Prerequisites

pup auth login   # OAuth2 (recommended)
# or set DD_API_KEY + DD_APP_KEY with audit_logs_read scope

Commands

# List recent events
pup audit-logs list --from 1h --limit 100

# Search with a query
pup audit-logs search --query "@action:deleted" --from 24h

# JSON output for piping to jq
pup audit-logs search --query "@usr.email:alice@example.com" --from 7d -o json | jq '.data[].attributes'

Event Schema Quick Reference

Field	Description	Example values
@usr.email	Actor email	alice@example.com
@evt.actor.type	How action was taken	USER, API_KEY, SUPPORT_USER
@action	Verb	created, modified, deleted, accessed, login
@evt.name	Event category	Dashboard, Monitor, Authentication, Access Management
@asset.type	Resource type	dashboard, monitor, api_key, role, user
@asset.id	Resource identifier	abc-123
@metadata.api_key.id	API key used (if applicable)	key_abc123
@metadata.app_key.id	App key used (if applicable)	app_abc123
@network.client.ip	Client IP address	1.2.3.4
@network.client.geoip.country.name	Country	United States
@network.client.geoip.as.name	ASN name	Amazon.com
@http.url_details.path	API endpoint path	/api/v1/dashboard/xyz

Search Syntax

Same Lucene-style syntax as Log Explorer:

Query	Meaning
@evt.name:Dashboard	Exact field match
@action:deleted	Action filter
@usr.email:alice@example.com	Specific user
@evt.name:Monitor AND @action:modified	Compound
-@action:deleted	Negation
@usr.email:*	Field exists
@network.client.ip:1.2.3.4	IP filter

Retention

Default retention is 90 days. If querying beyond 90 days, archive to S3/GCS/Azure Blob must be configured. Always check whether the requested time window falls within retention before running a query.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
403 Forbidden	Missing audit_logs_read scope	Add scope to app key in Datadog UI
Empty results	Time window outside retention	Check archive config; default max is 90 days
Timeout	Query too broad	Narrow time window or add more filters
No IP data	Internal action or pre-enrichment event	Not all events have geo data

References

• Audit Trail API
• Audit Trail documentation
• Search syntax