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+# shell exporter
+
+Shell scripts can now query netdata:
+
+```sh
+eval "$(curl -s 'http://localhost:19999/api/v1/allmetrics')"
+```
+
+after this command, all the netdata metrics are exposed to shell. Check:
+
+```sh
+# source the metrics
+eval "$(curl -s 'http://localhost:19999/api/v1/allmetrics')"
+
+# let's see if there are variables exposed by netdata for system.cpu
+set | grep "^NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU"
+
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_GUEST=0
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_GUEST_NICE=0
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_IDLE=95
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_IOWAIT=0
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_IRQ=0
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_NICE=0
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_SOFTIRQ=0
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_STEAL=0
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_SYSTEM=1
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_USER=4
+NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_VISIBLETOTAL=5
+
+# let's see the total cpu utilization of the system
+echo ${NETDATA_SYSTEM_CPU_VISIBLETOTAL}
+5
+
+# what about alarms?
+set | grep "^NETDATA_ALARM_SYSTEM_SWAP_"
+NETDATA_ALARM_SYSTEM_SWAP_RAM_IN_SWAP_STATUS=CRITICAL
+NETDATA_ALARM_SYSTEM_SWAP_RAM_IN_SWAP_VALUE=53
+NETDATA_ALARM_SYSTEM_SWAP_USED_SWAP_STATUS=CLEAR
+NETDATA_ALARM_SYSTEM_SWAP_USED_SWAP_VALUE=51
+
+# let's get the current status of the alarm 'ram in swap'
+echo ${NETDATA_ALARM_SYSTEM_SWAP_RAM_IN_SWAP_STATUS}
+CRITICAL
+
+# is it fast?
+time curl -s 'http://localhost:19999/api/v1/allmetrics' >/dev/null
+
+real  0m0,070s
+user  0m0,000s
+sys   0m0,007s
+
+# it is...
+# 0.07 seconds for curl to be loaded, connect to netdata and fetch the response back...
+```
+
+The `_VISIBLETOTAL` variable sums up all the dimensions of each chart.
+
+The format of the variables is:
+
+```sh
+NETDATA_${chart_id^^}_${dimension_id^^}="${value}"
+```
+
+The value is rounded to the closest integer, since shell script cannot process decimal numbers.