Registry / observability / opentelemetry-api

opentelemetry-api

library1.44.0pypypi✓ verified 26d ago

OpenTelemetry Python API package. Current version: 1.40.0 (Mar 2026). TWO separate packages: 'opentelemetry-api' (interfaces + no-op implementations) and 'opentelemetry-sdk' (actual implementation). Installing only opentelemetry-api produces silent no-ops — all tracing calls succeed but nothing is recorded or exported. Must also install opentelemetry-sdk AND configure a TracerProvider AND call trace.set_tracer_provider(). Exporters (OTLP, Jaeger, Zipkin) are separate packages. All packages must be the same version.

observability

pip install opentelemetry-api opentelemetry-sdk

github ↗package ↗homepage ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · OPENTELEMETRY-API

opentelemetry-api

observabilitypythonv1.44.0

Install

3.5s avg

Import

86ms

Disk

48MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v1.44.0 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.915 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.089s · 49.9MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.915 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 3.5s · import 0.083s · 48MB

48MB installed

● package 48MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

TracerProvider setup

✓ from opentelemetry import trace from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import BatchSpanProcessor from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.trace_exporter import OTLPSpanExporter from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource # Configure provider with resource and exporter resource = Resource.create({'service.name': 'my-service'}) provider = TracerProvider(resource=resource) exporter = OTLPSpanExporter(endpoint='http://localhost:4317') processor = BatchSpanProcessor(exporter) provider.add_span_processor(processor) # MUST register globally before any tracing trace.set_tracer_provider(provider) # Get tracer tracer = trace.get_tracer(__name__) # Use tracer with tracer.start_as_current_span('my-operation') as span: span.set_attribute('user.id', '42') # do work

✗ # Wrong: API only — all no-ops, nothing exported from opentelemetry import trace tracer = trace.get_tracer(__name__) # returns NoopTracer # Wrong: forgot to call set_tracer_provider — still no-op from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider provider = TracerProvider() tracer = trace.get_tracer(__name__) # still NoopTracer — provider not registered

trace.get_tracer() returns a NoopTracer unless trace.set_tracer_provider() has been called with a real TracerProvider. No error is raised — spans are silently discarded.

OpenTelemetry Python — TracerProvider setup with ConsoleSpanExporter.

# pip install opentelemetry-api opentelemetry-sdk from opentelemetry import trace from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import BatchSpanProcessor, ConsoleSpanExporter from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource # Setup — do this once at app startup resource = Resource.create({'service.name': 'my-service', 'service.version': '1.0.0'}) provider = TracerProvider(resource=resource) # ConsoleSpanExporter for local dev — replace with OTLPSpanExporter in production provider.add_span_processor(BatchSpanProcessor(ConsoleSpanExporter())) # Register globally — MUST be before any trace.get_tracer() calls trace.set_tracer_provider(provider) # Get tracer tracer = trace.get_tracer(__name__) # Create spans with tracer.start_as_current_span('main-operation') as span: span.set_attribute('env', 'production') with tracer.start_as_current_span('db-query') as child: child.set_attribute('db.system', 'postgresql') child.set_attribute('db.statement', 'SELECT * FROM users') # do DB work # Flush remaining spans on shutdown provider.shutdown()

Debug

Known issues

breakingInstalling only 'opentelemetry-api' gives silent no-ops. All tracing calls succeed without errors but nothing is recorded. Must also install 'opentelemetry-sdk'.

fix

pip install opentelemetry-api opentelemetry-sdk

affects: all

breakingtrace.get_tracer() returns NoopTracer until trace.set_tracer_provider() is called. Forgetting this line means all spans are silently discarded. Warning: 'No TracerProvider configured, using NoopTracerProvider' only shows with debug logging enabled.

fix

Always call trace.set_tracer_provider(provider) after creating TracerProvider, before any trace.get_tracer() calls.

affects: all

breakingExporters are separate packages not included in opentelemetry-sdk. OTLP requires 'opentelemetry-exporter-otlp'. Jaeger requires 'opentelemetry-exporter-jaeger'. ConsoleSpanExporter is included in SDK.

fix

pip install opentelemetry-exporter-otlp for production. Use ConsoleSpanExporter for local development.

affects: all

breakingAll opentelemetry-* packages must be the same version. Mixing versions (e.g. api=1.20, sdk=1.25) causes ImportError or unexpected behavior.

fix

Pin all packages to same version: pip install 'opentelemetry-api==1.40.0' 'opentelemetry-sdk==1.40.0' 'opentelemetry-exporter-otlp==1.40.0'

affects: all

gotchaAuto-instrumentation packages (opentelemetry-instrumentation-fastapi etc.) are in the separate 'opentelemetry-python-contrib' repo — not in the main SDK. Must be installed separately.

fix

pip install opentelemetry-instrumentation-fastapi opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy etc.

affects: all

gotchaprovider.shutdown() must be called on app exit to flush buffered spans. Without it, spans in the BatchSpanProcessor queue are lost on process exit.

fix

Call provider.shutdown() in app shutdown handler or use atexit.register(provider.shutdown).

affects: all

gotchaservice.name resource attribute is not set by default. Without it, traces appear as 'unknown_service' in your backend.

fix

Resource.create({'service.name': 'my-service'}) or set OTEL_SERVICE_NAME env var.

affects: all

Upgrade

Version history

1.44.0latest on PyPI · released Jul 16, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

opentelemetry-sdkrequiredRequired for actual telemetry. API alone gives no-ops.

opentelemetry-semantic-conventionsrequiredRequired by SDK. Installed automatically.

Agent activity

21 hits · last 30 days

node

OpenAI (training)

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/opentelemetry-api/ ↗

homepagehttps://opentelemetry.io ↗