OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions

Use this skill when you need released semantic convention guidance for naming, attributes, or compliance checks.

Workflow

1. Start with released semantic conventions, not model memory.

• do not load the full semantic convention spec into context
• use the bundled lookup script to query only the needed released group or attribute
• for local verification against a checked-out upstream repo, set OTEL_SEMCONV_REPO=/path/to/semantic-conventions

2. Choose the closest released group before inventing custom keys.

• identify the boundary type such as http, db, messaging, rpc, or network
• pick one primary group first, then add related groups only when they add needed context
• for gen_ai.*, OpenAI, or MCP conventions, use open-telemetry/semantic-conventions-genai; it has no tagged release as of 2026-10-19, so cite the commit and label the guidance unreleased (the lookup script does not cover it); the core repository keeps only deprecated GenAI-era stubs after v1.42.0
• see references/semconv-selection.md
• to target a version a language's semconv package actually exposes (works offline, dated), see references/sdk-semconv-packages.md

3. Query only the released guidance you need.

• list groups: ./scripts/query-otel-semantic-conventions.sh --groups
• inspect one group: ./scripts/query-otel-semantic-conventions.sh http
• inspect one kind: ./scripts/query-otel-semantic-conventions.sh http spans
• inspect one exact attribute or entry: ./scripts/query-otel-semantic-conventions.sh http http.request.method
• see references/otel-semantic-conventions.md
• after changing the parser, run OTEL_SEMCONV_REPO=/path/to/semantic-conventions bash ./scripts/test-query-otel-semantic-conventions.sh

4. Apply the released naming and attribute rules directly.

• use required and recommended attributes before optional ones
• derive semconv-governed span names directly from the released naming rule
• do not prepend or append protocol labels, hostnames, product names, business hints, or other custom prose to semconv-governed span names
• if the released naming rule does not provide a low-cardinality target, use the simpler fallback allowed by that convention
• if no released key exists, use a stable custom namespace and keep values bounded

5. Return the result with exact source context.

• include the group name, released version, and source URL from the script output
• call out any concrete compatibility limitation if the implementation cannot fully match the released guidance