Methods, systems, and computer program products to generate a telemetry pipeline. In embodiments, the system includes a communication interface that receives one or more user-defined functions for the telemetry pipeline. The system also includes control logic that implements programmatically the one or more user-defined functions to collect telemetry data at a plurality of layers in the telemetry pipeline based on the one or more user-defined functions and calculate smart metrics at different layers of the plurality of layers in the telemetry pipeline. The smart metrics may be calculated at a layer closest to where associated telemetry data is collected.