About distributed-tracing
distributed-tracing is an implementation guide for engineers instrumenting service journeys with OpenTelemetry. It covers context propagation, exporter and backend configuration, privacy checks, and verification using staging requests; it does not install a tracing backend.
Key features
- 01Configure OpenTelemetry SDK and OTLP exporter
- 02Propagate context across services and messages
- 03Configure Jaeger or existing Tempo/collector
- 04Verify spans and exporter behavior
- 05Review privacy, storage, and retention
Use cases
- 01Trace requests across service boundaries
- 02Diagnose latency and error propagation
- 03Validate tracing with staging traffic
- 04Check exporter failure and shutdown behavior
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/ / github.com/ sickn33/ agentic-awesome-skills --skill distributed-tracingAfter installing, type/distributed-tracingin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Bundled files
References and scripts installed along with SKILL.md.
references/instrumentation.mdjaeger-setup.mdresources/implementation-playbook.mdDetails
From the project READMEDistributed Tracing
When to Use
Trace a request across services, diagnose latency and error propagation, or add observable boundaries to a new integration.
Inputs and prerequisites
Record installed SDK and backend versions, permitted collector endpoints, the service graph and a staging request. Inspect the installed version's primary documentation before selecting exporter APIs or deployment configuration. This bundle does not install a tracing backend.
Procedure
- Read
resources/implementation-playbook.mdand identify one user journey. - Configure the matching OpenTelemetry SDK and OTLP exporter before loading instrumented frameworks. Use
references/instrumentation.mdfor propagation, shutdown and privacy checks. - Configure Jaeger using
references/jaeger-setup.md, or the existing Tempo/collector deployment's supported configuration. Review listeners, authentication, transport protection, storage and retention before any deployment. - Propagate context over HTTP and asynchronous messages. Use stable operation names and allowlisted attributes. Do not log credentials, raw request bodies or sensitive query values.
- Send successful and failing staging requests and verify connected spans in the backend. Record service identity, parentage, duration units and exporter errors.
- Measure queue loss and overhead. Select sampling based on those observations; no fixed percentage guarantees coverage or performance.
Example
A checkout calls inventory and payment. Verify that the root request and both downstream operations share a trace, that a simulated payment timeout is recorded, and that no card data is present. Repeat with exporter connectivity unavailable: request handling must retain the application's defined behavior.
Verification
- Actual trace evidence for each exercised boundary, including queue consumers.
- Allowed fields only; bounded attribute cardinality.
- Shutdown flush and exporter failure behavior observed.
- Access, storage and retention checked independently from UI availability.
Limitations
Head sampling can discard errors before tail sampling sees them. In-memory demos do not prove durable storage. Context propagation and cross-service clocks need actual integration tests; this guide is not a runnable multi-service application.
Sources
- OpenTelemetry exporter documentation — use the installed SDK's matching documentation.