opentelemetry · bobmatnyc — Claude Code skill: tracing and OTLP export
A skill with OpenTelemetry patterns: traces, metrics, logs, context propagation and Collector pipelines. Useful when a service needs instrumenting instead of guesswork.
npx skills add bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --skill opentelemetry -a claude-codeWhat opentelemetry does
The skill covers instrumenting a service with OpenTelemetry and shipping OTLP traces, metrics and logs through a Collector. Three references sit inside: references/concepts.md on signals, context propagation, sampling and semantic conventions, references/collector-and-otlp.md on pipelines, processors and tail sampling, and references/instrumentation-and-troubleshooting.md on manual spans, propagation pitfalls, cardinality and debugging.
Quick start is five steps: set service.name, add auto-instrumentation, export OTLP, deploy a Collector, correlate logs with trace IDs. Resource attributes are meant to be standardized up front — service.name, service.version, deployment.environment — or you will not be able to compare data across environments later. Manual spans and log correlation come after auto-instrumentation, not instead of it.
You cannot invoke it yourself: the frontmatter sets user-invocable: false and disable-model-invocation: true, so it loads from task context rather than a slash command. The entry point runs about 150 tokens, the full text around 9000, against a context limit of 900. No extra tools are required.
What it helps with
- wire traces, metrics and logs for one service
- export OTLP through a Collector instead of a vendor SDK
- tie log lines to trace IDs during an incident
- pick a sampling strategy without blowing up metric cardinality
- track down a broken context propagation between services
Example prompts for the agent
- add OpenTelemetry auto-instrumentation to this service and set up OTLP export
- why are trace IDs missing from the logs — check context propagation in references/concepts.md
- build a Collector pipeline with tail sampling for these services
How to install opentelemetry
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --skill opentelemetry -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/opentelemetry/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/opentelemetry/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --skill opentelemetry -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/opentelemetry/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --skill opentelemetry -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/opentelemetry/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills opentelemetry2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/opentelemetry/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --skill opentelemetry -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --path universal/observability/opentelemetryManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/opentelemetry/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --skill opentelemetry -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about opentelemetry
How do I install opentelemetry in Claude?
Run npx skills add bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --skill opentelemetry -a claude-code. The skill lands at ~/.claude/skills/opentelemetry/SKILL.md.
What does the opentelemetry skill do?
It gives you instrumentation patterns: traces, metrics, logs, context propagation, OTLP export and Collector pipelines. There is a separate reference for troubleshooting.
Can I run it as a slash command?
No. The frontmatter sets user-invocable: false and disable-model-invocation: true, so the skill loads from task context instead.
Source text
SKILL.md · MIT
---
name: opentelemetry
description: "OpenTelemetry observability patterns: traces, metrics, logs, context propagation, OTLP export, Collector pipelines, and troubleshooting"
user-invocable: false
disable-model-invocation: true
version: 1.0.0
category: universal
author: Claude MPM Team
license: MIT
progressive_disclosure:
entry_point:
summary: "Instrument services with OpenTelemetry and export OTLP traces/metrics/logs through a Collector for correlation and troubleshooting"
when_to_use: "When building production observability, adding tracing to distributed systems, or standardizing telemetry across languages"
quick_start: "1. Set service.name 2. Add auto-instrumentation 3. Export OTLP 4. Deploy Collector 5. Correlate logs with trace IDs"
token_estimate:
entry: 150
full: 9000
context_limit: 900
tags:
- observability
- opentelemetry
- tracing
- metrics
- logs
- otlp
requires_tools: []
---
# OpenTelemetry
## Quick Start (signal design)
- Export OTLP via an OpenTelemetry Collector (vendor-neutral endpoint).
- Standardize resource attributes: `service.name`, `service.version`, `deployment.environment`.
- Start with auto-instrumentation, then add manual spans and log correlation.
## Load Next (References)
- `references/concepts.md` — traces/metrics/logs, context propagation, sampling, semantic conventions
- `references/collector-and-otlp.md` — Collector pipelines, processors, deployment patterns, tail sampling
- `references/instrumentation-and-troubleshooting.md` — manual spans, propagation pitfalls, cardinality, debugging
© Claude MPM Team · MIT · bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills
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