# open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification

Specifications for OpenTelemetry

Repository: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/opentelemetry-specification
Homepage: https://opentelemetry.io
Language: Makefile
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: opentelemetry
Last push: 2026-08-26T03:57:46+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 96, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2681, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 26, "gap_med": 28, "n_releases_24m": 24}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4325, forks 996 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:42.054039+00:00)

## What it is
The canonical specification for OpenTelemetry, defining cross-language requirements and expectations for all OpenTelemetry implementations covering traces, metrics, logs, baggage, and semantic conventions. It is a versioned standards document maintained by the CNCF, not executable software.

## Use cases
- implement an OpenTelemetry SDK for a new programming language
- check which signals and semantic conventions an OTel implementation must support
- understand how context propagation and baggage should work across services
- verify language SDK compliance against the spec compliance matrix
- propose or review changes to OpenTelemetry standards
- learn how traces, metrics, and logs are defined in OpenTelemetry

## When to choose
- you are building or contributing to an OpenTelemetry SDK, instrumentation library, or collector component
- you need the authoritative definition of OTel behavior, signals, or semantic conventions
- you want to check a vendor's or language's compliance with the OpenTelemetry spec

## When to avoid
- you want a runnable library or SDK to instrument your application - use a language-specific opentelemetry-* repo instead
- you need a deployable collector or backend - use opentelemetry-collector or an observability backend
- you want tutorials or getting-started docs - use opentelemetry.io/docs instead

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: active
- function: monitoring, tracing, logging, developer-tools, documentation
- domain: monitoring, cloud-computing, microservices
- platform: cross-platform, cloud, self-hosted
- tags: specification, opentelemetry, observability, telemetry, distributed-tracing, metrics, semantic-conventions, standards, cncf, devops

## Member repositories
- open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:42.054039+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 2026-08-29T18:21:42.309675+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:42.054039+00:00, sha 2394966e4191)
  - homepage: https://opentelemetry.io (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.261962+00:00, sha 51756d27c4f1)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.271181+00:00, sha 06566227bba9)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/what-is-opentelemetry (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.273303+00:00, sha dd58475f7d30)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/demo (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.275544+00:00, sha 03a34a004b8f)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/traces (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.277665+00:00, sha 123b7f8bc630)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/metrics (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.279636+00:00, sha 5fe9fc342c92)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/logs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.281419+00:00, sha 126e1fa6c0a2)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/baggage (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.283275+00:00, sha fc18d0d07d4b)
  - site_page: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/instrumentation/zero-code (fetched 2026-08-29T09:10:47.284781+00:00, sha c811260b8c51)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.