--- /dev/null
+#!/usr/bin/python3
+import time
+
+# time series in 5s steps
+series = {
+ 'thing_count': {
+ 'type': 'counter',
+ 'help': 'how many things ran',
+ 'series': [0] * 6 + [1] * 6 + [2] * 6 + [7] * 12 + [8] * 12
+ },
+ 'thing_failures': {
+ 'type': 'counter',
+ 'help': 'how many things failed',
+ 'series': [0] * 12 + [1] * 6 + [5] * 24
+ },
+}
+
+num = len(series[list(series)[0]]['series'])
+now = int(time.time() * 1000)
+timestamps = [now - 5000 * (num - i) for i in range(num)]
+
+for metric, data in series.items():
+ assert len(data['series']) == num
+ print(f'# TYPE {metric} {data["type"]}')
+ print(f'# HELP {metric} {data["help"]}')
+ for (time, datum) in zip(timestamps, data['series']):
+ print(f'{metric} {datum} {time}')
+ print()