telegraf/docs/AGGREGATORS.md

### Aggregator Plugins

This section is for developers who want to create a new aggregator plugin.

### Aggregator Plugin Guidelines

* A aggregator must conform to the [telegraf.Aggregator][] interface.
* Aggregators should call `aggregators.Add` in their `init` function to
  register themselves.  See below for a quick example.
* To be available within Telegraf itself, plugins must add themselves to the
  `github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/aggregators/all/all.go` file.
- The `SampleConfig` function should return valid toml that describes how the
  plugin can be configured. This is included in `telegraf config`.  Please
  consult the [SampleConfig][] page for the latest style guidelines.
* The `Description` function should say in one line what this aggregator does.
* The Aggregator plugin will need to keep caches of metrics that have passed
  through it. This should be done using the builtin `HashID()` function of
  each metric.
* When the `Reset()` function is called, all caches should be cleared.
- Follow the recommended [CodeStyle][].

### Aggregator Plugin Example

```go
package min

// min.go

import (
	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/aggregators"
)

type Min struct {
	// caches for metric fields, names, and tags
	fieldCache map[uint64]map[string]float64
	nameCache  map[uint64]string
	tagCache   map[uint64]map[string]string
}

func NewMin() telegraf.Aggregator {
	m := &Min{}
	m.Reset()
	return m
}

var sampleConfig = `
  ## period is the flush & clear interval of the aggregator.
  period = "30s"
  ## If true drop_original will drop the original metrics and
  ## only send aggregates.
  drop_original = false
`

func (m *Min) SampleConfig() string {
	return sampleConfig
}

func (m *Min) Description() string {
	return "Keep the aggregate min of each metric passing through."
}

func (m *Min) Add(in telegraf.Metric) {
	id := in.HashID()
	if _, ok := m.nameCache[id]; !ok {
		// hit an uncached metric, create caches for first time:
		m.nameCache[id] = in.Name()
		m.tagCache[id] = in.Tags()
		m.fieldCache[id] = make(map[string]float64)
		for k, v := range in.Fields() {
			if fv, ok := convert(v); ok {
				m.fieldCache[id][k] = fv
			}
		}
	} else {
		for k, v := range in.Fields() {
			if fv, ok := convert(v); ok {
				if _, ok := m.fieldCache[id][k]; !ok {
					// hit an uncached field of a cached metric
					m.fieldCache[id][k] = fv
					continue
				}
				if fv < m.fieldCache[id][k] {
                    // set new minimum
					m.fieldCache[id][k] = fv
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

func (m *Min) Push(acc telegraf.Accumulator) {
	for id, _ := range m.nameCache {
		fields := map[string]interface{}{}
		for k, v := range m.fieldCache[id] {
			fields[k+"_min"] = v
		}
		acc.AddFields(m.nameCache[id], fields, m.tagCache[id])
	}
}

func (m *Min) Reset() {
	m.fieldCache = make(map[uint64]map[string]float64)
	m.nameCache = make(map[uint64]string)
	m.tagCache = make(map[uint64]map[string]string)
}

func convert(in interface{}) (float64, bool) {
	switch v := in.(type) {
	case float64:
		return v, true
	case int64:
		return float64(v), true
	default:
		return 0, false
	}
}

func init() {
	aggregators.Add("min", func() telegraf.Aggregator {
		return NewMin()
	})
}
```

[telegraf.Aggregator]: https://godoc.org/github.com/influxdata/telegraf#Aggregator
[SampleConfig]: https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/wiki/SampleConfig
[CodeStyle]: https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/wiki/CodeStyle