# open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp

The OpenTelemetry C++ Client

Repository: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/opentelemetry-cpp
Homepage: https://opentelemetry.io/
Language: C++
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: distributed-tracing, metrics, telemetry, sdk, api, opentelemetry
Last push: 2026-08-26T13:54:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 93/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 81, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2630, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 48, "gap_med": 57, "n_releases_24m": 12}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1357, forks 617 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:29.541507+00:00)

## What it is
The official OpenTelemetry C++ client providing APIs and SDKs for distributed tracing, metrics, and logs. It enables vendor-neutral instrumentation of C++ applications with export to any observability backend.

## Use cases
- instrument a C++ service with distributed traces
- collect metrics from a C++ application
- add structured logging with trace correlation in C++
- export telemetry to Jaeger or Prometheus from C++
- propagate trace context across microservices written in C++
- avoid vendor lock-in when instrumenting native applications

## When to choose
- you need OpenTelemetry instrumentation in a C++14-or-later codebase
- you want vendor-neutral traces, metrics, and logs with a stable SDK
- you build cross-platform native services on Linux, macOS, or Windows

## When to avoid
- you need a C (not C++) API
- you need zero-code auto-instrumentation, which is not offered for C++
- your stack is in a language with a more mature OTel SDK like Go, Java, or Python

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: monitoring, tracing, logging, sdk
- domain: monitoring, microservices, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: opentelemetry, distributed-tracing, metrics, telemetry, observability, otlp, devops, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp (main) score 93

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:29.541507+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:41:51.000118+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:29.541507+00:00, sha bf46cb331443)
  - homepage: https://opentelemetry.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.149938+00:00, sha 51756d27c4f1)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/logs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.163068+00:00, sha 126e1fa6c0a2)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/baggage (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.165355+00:00, sha fc18d0d07d4b)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.152564+00:00, sha 06566227bba9)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/what-is-opentelemetry (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.154514+00:00, sha dd58475f7d30)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/demo (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.156858+00:00, sha 03a34a004b8f)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/traces (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.158679+00:00, sha 123b7f8bc630)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/metrics (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.160813+00:00, sha 5fe9fc342c92)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/instrumentation/zero-code (fetched 2026-08-29T12:00:07.167251+00:00, sha c811260b8c51)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.