The following is a list of metrics exposed by an application:http_requests_total{code="500"} 10http_requests_total{code="200"} 20http_requests_total{code="400"} 30http_requests_total{verb="POST"} 30http_requests_total{verb="GET"}...

Prometheus requires that asingle metric name represents one well-defined thing, and all time series in that metricshare the same set of label keysso the value’s meaning is consistent across dimensions. The official guidance states that metrics should not “mix different dimensions under the same name,” and that a metric name should have aconsistent label schema; otherwise, “the same metric name would represent different things,” making queries ambiguous and aggregations error-prone. In the example, http_requests_total{code="…"} expressesper-status-code request counts, while http_requests_total{verb="…"} expressesper-HTTP-method request counts. Because some series have only code and others only verb, thevalue changes its meaning across label sets, violating the consistency principle for a metric family. The correct approach is to exposeone metric with both labels present on every series, e.g., http_requests_total{code="200", method="GET"}, ensuring every time series has the same label keys and the value always means “count of requests,” sliced by thesamedimensions. A missing application prefix is optional and not the core issue here.