title: Is there a way to use a Prometheus counter with a holt_winters function call?
body: <p>In the Prometheus documentation it describes the <a href="https://prometheus.io/docs/querying/functions/#holt_winters()" rel="nofollow noreferrer">holt_winters()</a> function that can be used generate a smoothed curve.</p>
  
  <p>However the documentation states it should only be used with Gauges. (Obviously I could use it with a counter bu then I just get a smoothed line that is always going up, not terribly useful)</p>
  
  <p>I would like to leverage the <code>holt_winters()</code> function against a counter like <code>http_request_total</code>.</p>
  
  <p>Something like;</p>
  
  <pre><code>holt_winters(rate(http_request_total[5m])) by (path)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is this possible? Or is there a better way to approach this?</p>