Dash0 Agent Skills

---
name: 'otel-instrumentation'
description: Configures trace spans, defines custom metrics, sets up log exporters, and optimizes sampling strategies for OpenTelemetry instrumentation. Use when instrumenting applications with traces, metrics, or logs. Triggers on requests for observability, telemetry, tracing, metrics collection, logging integration, or OTel setup.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  author: dash0
  version: '2.0.0'
  workflow_type: 'advisory'
  supports-traces: "true"
  supports-metrics: "true"
  supports-logs: "true"
---

# OpenTelemetry Instrumentation Guide

Expert guidance for implementing high-quality, cost-efficient OpenTelemetry telemetry.

## Rules & Quick Reference

| Use Case / Rule | Description |
|-----------------|-------------|
| [telemetry](./rules/telemetry.md) | **Entrypoint** — signal types, correlation, and navigation |
| [resolve-values](./rules/resolve-values.md) | Resolving configuration values from the codebase |
| [verify-dependencies](./rules/verify-dependencies.md) | Verifying instrumentation packages and versions exist before adding them |
| [resources](./rules/resources.md) | Resource attributes — service identity and environment |
| [k8s](./rules/platforms/k8s.md) | Kubernetes deployment — downward API, pod spec |
| [spans](./rules/spans.md) | Spans — naming, kind, status, and hygiene |
| [logs](./rules/logs.md) | Logs — structured logging, severity, trace correlation |
| [metrics](./rules/metrics.md) | Metrics — instrument types, naming, units, cardinality |
| [sensitive-data](./rules/sensitive-data.md) | Sensitive data — PII prevention, sanitization, redaction |
| [capture-database-query-parameters](./rules/capture-database-query-parameters.md) | Prepared-statement parameter capture per language (Java, .NET, Python, Node.js, Go) |
| [validation](./rules/validation.md) | Telemetry validation — post-deployment verification checklist |
| [nodejs](./rules/sdks/nodejs.md) | Node.js instrumentation setup |
| [go](./rules/sdks/go.md) | Go instrumentation setup |
| [python](./rules/sdks/python.md) | Python instrumentation setup |
| [java](./rules/sdks/java.md) | Java instrumentation setup |
| [scala](./rules/sdks/scala.md) | Scala instrumentation setup |
| [dotnet](./rules/sdks/dotnet.md) | .NET instrumentation setup |
| [ruby](./rules/sdks/ruby.md) | Ruby instrumentation setup |
| [php](./rules/sdks/php.md) | PHP instrumentation setup |
| [browser](./rules/sdks/browser.md) | Browser instrumentation setup |
| [nextjs](./rules/sdks/nextjs.md) | Next.js full-stack instrumentation (App Router) |

## Official documentation

- [OpenTelemetry Documentation](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/)
- [Semantic Conventions](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/)
- [Dash0 Integration Hub](https://www.dash0.com/hub/integrations)

## Getting started