# open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js

OpenTelemetry JavaScript Client

Repository: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/opentelemetry-js
Homepage: https://opentelemetry.io
Language: TypeScript
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: telemetry, distributed-tracing, metrics, monitoring, api
Last push: 2026-08-26T21:02:26+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 93/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 82, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2673, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 43, "gap_med": 3, "n_releases_24m": 68}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3446, forks 1148 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:05.187466+00:00)

## What it is
The official OpenTelemetry JavaScript API and SDK for instrumenting Node.js and browser applications to generate distributed traces, metrics, and logs. It is vendor-neutral, exporting telemetry to any observability backend such as Jaeger, Prometheus, or commercial vendors.

## Use cases
- instrument a nodejs app with distributed tracing
- export metrics to prometheus from javascript
- correlate traces across microservices in typescript
- add observability to a browser frontend app
- auto-instrument express or http requests without code changes
- send logs and traces to jaeger from node
- avoid vendor lock-in for application telemetry

## When to choose
- you need vendor-neutral traces, metrics, or logs in JavaScript or TypeScript
- you run microservices and need cross-service context propagation
- you want to switch observability backends without changing instrumentation code

## When to avoid
- you need a full observability backend with storage and visualization - OpenTelemetry only generates and exports data
- you need a stable, fully-GA SDK for every signal; some JavaScript components remain beta
- you want zero-code instrumentation for runtimes other than Node.js

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: tracing, monitoring, logging, sdk, middleware
- domain: monitoring, microservices, developer-tools
- platform: browser, cross-platform, cloud
- tags: opentelemetry, telemetry, distributed-tracing, metrics, observability, vendor-neutral, otlp, instrumentation, devops, nodejs, web-server

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

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:05.187466+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 2026-08-29T18:37:36.770727+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:05.187466+00:00, sha 8c1561682b02)
  - homepage: https://opentelemetry.io (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.403768+00:00, sha 51756d27c4f1)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.412869+00:00, sha 06566227bba9)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/what-is-opentelemetry (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.414651+00:00, sha dd58475f7d30)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/demo (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.416510+00:00, sha 03a34a004b8f)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/traces (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.418279+00:00, sha 123b7f8bc630)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/metrics (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.420309+00:00, sha 5fe9fc342c92)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/logs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.422271+00:00, sha 126e1fa6c0a2)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/baggage (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.424256+00:00, sha fc18d0d07d4b)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/instrumentation/zero-code (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:40.426152+00:00, sha c811260b8c51)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.