Getting Started • Getting Involved • Getting In Touch
OpenTelemetry Instrumentation for Java
* [About](#about)
* [Getting Started](#getting-started)
* [Configuring the Agent](#configuring-the-agent)
* [Supported libraries, frameworks, and application servers](#supported-libraries-frameworks-and-application-servers)
* [Creating agent extensions](#creating-agent-extensions)
* [Manually instrumenting](#manually-instrumenting)
* [Logger MDC auto-instrumentation](#logger-mdc-mapped-diagnostic-context-auto-instrumentation)
* [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
* [Contributing](#contributing)
## About
This project provides a Java agent JAR that can be attached to any Java 8+
application and dynamically injects bytecode to capture telemetry from a
number of popular libraries and frameworks.
You can export the telemetry data in a variety of formats.
You can also configure the agent and exporter via command line arguments
or environment variables. The net result is the ability to gather telemetry
data from a Java application without code changes.
This repository also publishes standalone instrumentation for several libraries (and growing)
that can be used if you prefer that over using the Java agent.
Please see the standalone library instrumentation column
on [Supported Libraries](docs/supported-libraries.md#libraries--frameworks).
If you are looking for documentation on using those.
## Getting Started
Download
the [latest version](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java-instrumentation/releases/download/v2.5.0/opentelemetry-javaagent.jar).
This package includes the instrumentation agent as well as
instrumentations for all supported libraries and all available data exporters.
The package provides a completely automatic, out-of-the-box experience.
Enable the instrumentation agent using the `-javaagent` flag to the JVM.
```
java -javaagent:path/to/opentelemetry-javaagent.jar \
-jar myapp.jar
```
By default, the OpenTelemetry Java agent uses
[OTLP exporter](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/tree/main/exporters/otlp)
configured to send data to
[OpenTelemetry collector](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/blob/main/receiver/otlpreceiver/README.md)
at `http://localhost:4317`.
Configuration parameters are passed as Java system properties (`-D` flags) or
as environment variables. See [the configuration documentation][config]
for the full list of configuration items. For example:
```
java -javaagent:path/to/opentelemetry-javaagent.jar \
-Dotel.resource.attributes=service.name=your-service-name \
-Dotel.traces.exporter=zipkin \
-jar myapp.jar
```
## Configuring the Agent
The agent is [highly configurable][config]! Many aspects of the agent's behavior can be
configured for your needs, such as exporter choice, exporter config (like where
data is sent), trace context propagation headers, and much more.
[Click here to see the detailed list of configuration environment variables and system properties][config].
*Note: Config parameter names are very likely to change over time, so please check
back here when trying out a new version!
Please [report any bugs](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java-instrumentation/issues)
or unexpected behavior you find.*
## Supported libraries, frameworks, and application servers
We support an impressively huge number
of [libraries and frameworks](docs/supported-libraries.md#libraries--frameworks) and
a majority of the most
popular [application servers](docs/supported-libraries.md#application-servers)...right out of the
box!
[Click here to see the full list](docs/supported-libraries.md) and to learn more about
[disabled instrumentation](docs/supported-libraries.md#disabled-instrumentations)
and how to [suppress unwanted instrumentation][suppress].
## Creating agent extensions
[Extensions](examples/extension/README.md) add new features and capabilities to the agent without
having to create a separate distribution or to fork this repository. For example, you can create
custom samplers or span exporters, set new defaults, and embed it all in the agent to obtain a
single jar file.
## Manually instrumenting
For most users, the out-of-the-box instrumentation is completely sufficient and nothing more has to
be done. Sometimes, however, users wish to add attributes to the otherwise automatic spans,
or they might want to manually create spans for their own custom code.
For detailed instructions, see [Manual instrumentation][manual].
## Logger MDC (Mapped Diagnostic Context) auto-instrumentation
It is possible to inject trace information like trace IDs and span IDs into your
custom application logs. For details, see [Logger MDC
auto-instrumentation](docs/logger-mdc-instrumentation.md).
## Troubleshooting
To turn on the agent's internal debug logging:
`-Dotel.javaagent.debug=true`
**Note**: These logs are extremely verbose. Enable debug logging only when needed.
Debug logging negatively impacts the performance of your application.
## Contributing
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).
Triagers ([@open-telemetry/java-instrumentation-triagers](https://github.com/orgs/open-telemetry/teams/java-instrumentation-triagers)):
- [Jonas Kunz](https://github.com/JonasKunz), Elastic
- [Steve Rao](https://github.com/steverao), Alibaba
- [Sylvain Juge](https://github.com/SylvainJuge), Elastic
Approvers ([@open-telemetry/java-instrumentation-approvers](https://github.com/orgs/open-telemetry/teams/java-instrumentation-approvers)):
- [Gregor Zietlinger](https://github.com/zeitlinger), Grafana
- [Jack Berg](https://github.com/jack-berg), New Relic
- [Jason Plumb](https://github.com/breedx-splk), Splunk
- [Jean Bisutti](https://github.com/jeanbisutti), Microsoft
- [John Watson](https://github.com/jkwatson), Verta.ai
Maintainers ([@open-telemetry/java-instrumentation-maintainers](https://github.com/orgs/open-telemetry/teams/java-instrumentation-maintainers)):
- [Lauri Tulmin](https://github.com/laurit), Splunk
- [Trask Stalnaker](https://github.com/trask), Microsoft
Emeritus maintainers:
- [Mateusz Rzeszutek](https://github.com/mateuszrzeszutek)
- [Nikita Salnikov-Tarnovski](https://github.com/iNikem)
- [Tyler Benson](https://github.com/tylerbenson)
Learn more about roles in
the [community repository](https://github.com/open-telemetry/community/blob/main/community-membership.md).
Thanks to all the people who already contributed!