@@ -9,24 +9,33 @@ description: How to use OpenTelemetry with Renovate
!!! warning "This feature is flagged as experimental"
Experimental features might be changed or even removed at any time.
Renovate supports OpenTelemetry which is an emerging monitoring standard.
Renovate partially supports OpenTelemetry, the emerging monitoring standard.
OpenTelemetry supports three types of observability data:
OpenTelemetry has three types of observability data:
- traces
- metrics
- logs
Renovate can only send traces and only via the OpenTelemetryProtocol (OTLP), other observability data or transfer protocols are not supported.
## Limitations
While OTLP support traces, metrics, and logs, Renovate only supports traces.
This means Renovate does not support other observability data like: stats on caching, error events, number of found updates, and so on.
Renovate uses [`@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http) under the hood.
This means that Renovate sends traces via [OTLP/HTTP](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/reference/specification/protocol/otlp/#otlphttp) in JSON-encoded protobuf format only.
## Usage
To activate the instrumentation, the environment variable `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT` has to be set.
This sets the endpoint where to send the telemetry data.
If this endpoint is set, all other environment variables defined by the [OpenTelemetry specification](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/specification/sdk-environment-variables.md) are supported.
To activate the instrumentation, you must set the `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT` environment variable.
This variable controls the endpoint for the telemetry data.
Once this endpoint is set, you can use all environment variables listed in the [OpenTelemetry specification](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/specification/sdk-environment-variables.md).
## Debugging
For debugging purposes the telemetry can also be printed to the console if the environment variable `RENOVATE_TRACING_CONSOLE_EXPORTER` is set.
To help you debug, you can print the telemetry to the console.
Use the environment variable `RENOVATE_TRACING_CONSOLE_EXPORTER`.
## Examples
An usage example with a local OpenTelemetry setup can be found in the [OpenTelemetry examples](examples/opentelemetry.md)
An example with a local OpenTelemetry setup can be found on the [OpenTelemetry examples](examples/opentelemetry.md) page.
