opentelemetry-python-otlp

name	opentelemetry-python-otlp
description	Configure OTLP exporters (HTTP/protobuf and gRPC) for Python OpenTelemetry SDK — traces, metrics, collector setup, temporality presets, and console fallback.
tech_stack	["backend"]
language	["python"]
capability	["observability"]
version	OpenTelemetry Python SDK (exporters page, 2026-01-14)
collected_at	"2026-01-14T00:00:00.000Z"

OpenTelemetry OTLP Exporters (Python)

Source: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/python/exporters/

Purpose

Configure the OpenTelemetry Python SDK to export traces and metrics to an OTLP-compatible backend (Collector, Jaeger, Prometheus, or vendor). Covers both HTTP/protobuf and gRPC transports, BatchSpanProcessor / PeriodicExportingMetricReader wiring, temporality presets, and the console exporter for local development.

When to Use

• You have set up TracerProvider / MeterProvider and need to ship telemetry out of the process.
• Choosing between opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http and opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc.
• Running a local OpenTelemetry Collector in Docker for development.
• Setting delta vs cumulative temporality for metrics backends (e.g., Datadog wants DELTA).
• Debugging locally with ConsoleSpanExporter before connecting to a real backend.

Basic Usage

Install (pick one):

pip install opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http   # HTTP/protobuf
pip install opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc   # gRPC

Minimal traces-only setup (HTTP/protobuf):

from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import SERVICE_NAME, Resource
from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.http.trace_exporter import OTLPSpanExporter
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import BatchSpanProcessor

resource = Resource.create(attributes={SERVICE_NAME: "your-service-name"})

tracer_provider = TracerProvider(resource=resource)
tracer_provider.add_span_processor(
    BatchSpanProcessor(OTLPSpanExporter(endpoint="http://localhost:4318/v1/traces"))
)
trace.set_tracer_provider(tracer_provider)

Key APIs (Summary)

Exporters

Transport	Trace Exporter	Metric Exporter	Package
HTTP/protobuf	OTLPSpanExporter from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.http.trace_exporter	OTLPMetricExporter from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.http.metric_exporter	opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http
gRPC	OTLPSpanExporter from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.trace_exporter	OTLPMetricExporter from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.metric_exporter	opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc
Console (dev)	ConsoleSpanExporter from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export	ConsoleMetricExporter from opentelemetry.sdk.metrics.export	included in opentelemetry-sdk

Endpoint conventions

• HTTP/protobuf traces: http://<host>:4318/v1/traces
• HTTP/protobuf metrics: http://<host>:4318/v1/metrics
• gRPC: http://<host>:4317 (no path suffix)

Span Processors

• BatchSpanProcessor(exporter) — buffers spans and exports in batches. Always use for production.
• SimpleSpanProcessor(exporter) — exports each span synchronously. Dev/debug only.

Metric Readers

• PeriodicExportingMetricReader(exporter) — periodically flushes metrics on a configurable interval.

Temporality Preset

Env var: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_TEMPORALITY_PREFERENCE

Value	Counter	Histogram	ObservableCounter	Use case
CUMULATIVE (default)	CUMULATIVE	CUMULATIVE	CUMULATIVE	Prometheus, most backends
DELTA	DELTA	DELTA	DELTA	Datadog, delta-friendly backends
LOWMEMORY	DELTA	DELTA	CUMULATIVE	Memory-constrained environments

Invalid values silently fall back to CUMULATIVE with a warning.

Caveats

• Always use the Collector in production. Sending SDK spans directly to a backend bypasses buffering, retries, and sampling control.
• HTTP/protobuf needs explicit /v1/traces or /v1/metrics paths on the endpoint; gRPC does not.
• SimpleSpanProcessor blocks on every span — never use it in production.
• Console exporters (ConsoleSpanExporter, ConsoleMetricExporter) ship with opentelemetry-sdk — no extra install.
• Temporality is per-instrumentation-kind, not per-instrument. The env var applies a preset globally.
• Collector default ports: gRPC 4317, HTTP 4318.

Composition Hints

• Pair with FastAPI instrumentor — the exporter is the "output" side while the instrumentor is the "input" side of the tracing pipeline.
• In development, start with ConsoleSpanExporter to verify spans are being created, then swap to OTLP.
• For Jaeger, run jaegertracing/all-in-one:latest (it supports OTLP natively on 4317/4318) and point your OTLP exporter at it.
• For Prometheus metrics, either use the OTLP exporter (if Prometheus has the OTLP receiver enabled) or the dedicated PrometheusMetricReader from opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus.
• The Resource with SERVICE_NAME is required by most backends — always set it.