Instrumentation

For a system to be observable it must be instrumented: its code must emit signals such as traces, metrics, and logs. OpenTelemetry offers two primary ways: code-based solutions via official APIs and SDKs, giving deeper insight from the application itself, and zero-code solutions for getting started or when you cannot modify the application, with rich telemetry from libraries and the environment it runs in. You can use both simultaneously; code-based telemetry acts as an essential complement to zero-code telemetry. Libraries can leverage the OpenTelemetry API as a dependency with no impact on applications unless the SDK is imported. Built-in context propagation correlates signals regardless of where they are generated, and Resources and Instrumentation Scopes group signals by entities like the host or K8s cluster. Scope: OpenTelemetry. Reviewed October 4, 2026.