OpenTelemetry Instrumentation Attributes
AppSignal supports multiple OpenTelemetry language integrations. However, the data model may not always align perfectly, which can affect how OpenTelemetry data is displayed in the AppSignal interface. By using the attributes listed on this page, you can customize the appearance of trace and span data.
Accessing a span
When customizing the trace or span, first import the OpenTelemetry trace module in the file you want to customize the reported trace data:
Using that trace module, create a new span or fetch the current active one:
AppSignal attributes
Namespace
- Attribute name:
appsignal.namespace
- Value type:
String
Group traces by namespace for better organization in the AppSignal interface.
Namespaces are grouped per OpenTelemetry service name with the format <Service name>/<Namespace>
, e.g. "Web server/admin" or "Background worker/billing". This attribute allows you to configure the namespace part only. The default namespace for all traces is <Service name>/default
.
Root action name
- Attribute name:
appsignal.action_name
- Value type:
String
Set the action name of the trace that will be used to create incidents and group tracing on AppSignal.com. This will overwrite any automated mapping done by the AppSignal support for specific instrumentation. It is useful for traces that are not created by supported libraries. If your trace is grouped with other not named or poorly grouped traces, it may be missing this attribute.
We aim to improve our automatic grouping over time, so please let us know when you find that this attribute is needed.
Tag
- Attribute name:
appsignal.tag.<tag_name>
- Value type:
String
Tag traces to bring them to the front on the trace detail pages and filter traces in the AppSignal interface. Multiple tags can be set on spans in a trace. Tags can be added to any span in a trace on any level on the trace.
The tag attribute key is built up out of two parts, the appsignal.tag
prefix, and the tag key. For the tag user_id
, this becomes appsignal.tag.user_id
as an attribute key.