OpenTelemetry Inputs

OpenTelemetry is a source format, not an evidence type. Choose AI Execution or Operational Execution separately.

OpenTelemetry V1 input contract

V1 accepts exactly one recognizable OpenTelemetry span JSON object per request.

{
  "traceId": "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736",
  "spanId": "00f067aa0ba902b7",
  "parentSpanId": "7a1f4c2d9e8b1234",
  "name": "chat completion",
  "startTime": "2026-09-11T10:15:00.000Z",
  "endTime": "2026-09-11T10:15:01.200Z",
  "attributes": {
    "gen_ai.system": "openai",
    "gen_ai.request.model": "gpt-4.1",
    "gen_ai.input": { "prompt": "Summarize this complaint." },
    "gen_ai.output": { "summary": "The customer requests a refund." },
    "gen_ai.request.temperature": 0.2,
    "gen_ai.request.max_tokens": 250,
    "gen_ai.request.top_p": 0.9,
    "gen_ai.request.seed": 7,
    "gen_ai.execution.role": "advisory"
  },
  "resource": { "service.name": "support-agent" },
  "scope": { "name": "example.ai.instrumentation", "version": "1.0.0" },
  "status": { "code": "OK" }
}

Requirements

• traceId MUST be a non-zero 32-character hexadecimal identifier.
• spanId MUST be a non-zero 16-character hexadecimal identifier.
• parentSpanId, when present, MUST be a valid non-zero span identifier.
• startTime and optional endTime MUST be ISO 8601.
• attributes, resource, scope and status, when present, MUST be objects.

Rejected inputs

• arrays of spans and multiple-span requests
• resourceSpans, scopeSpans or spans batch envelopes
• protobuf and OTLP/gRPC
• collector or exporter infrastructure
• arbitrary JSON that is not a recognizable span
• all-zero trace or span identifiers

Auto-map behavior

Auto-map recognizes approved exact paths for:

• spanId and startTime
• attributes["gen_ai.system"]
• attributes["gen_ai.request.model"]
• attributes["gen_ai.input"] and attributes["gen_ai.output"]
• approved generation parameters and attributes["gen_ai.execution.role"]
• traceId and resource["service.name"]

Unknown attributes, nested lookalikes, HTTP fields, database statements, authorization headers, webhook payloads, exception data and vendor-specific lookalikes remain unmapped unless a user adds explicit reviewed rules.

Use a logical event identifier for idempotency. For span-based events, traceId:spanIdis safer than traceId alone.

Create an OpenTelemetry profile, or review profile authoring first.