OpenTelemetry export for the Claude API (beta): trace Messages API and Managed Agents calls in your own tools
What is it?
This exports Messages API requests, tool use and Managed Agents sessions as OpenTelemetry spans (OpenTelemetry is the industry standard for shipping observability data). Add a destination in the Claude Console to get API-side spans; register a tracer in any of the seven SDK languages, including Python, TypeScript, Go and Java, to get SDK-side spans. By default only metadata such as token counts and latency goes out; turn on 'Full content' to include prompts and responses.
Why does it matter?
Any tool that accepts OTLP, such as Datadog, Grafana, Langfuse or Sentry, can now show Claude calls stitched into your service's own traces, so slow requests and failed tool calls show up on one screen. You can also build eval sets from real traffic. Delivery is best effort and spans can go missing, though, so use the Usage API for cost accounting.
Maturity
BetaBeta. Setting up a Console destination needs admin rights, and organizations with HIPAA or similar data restrictions export metadata only, whatever the setting.
How to track it
- General availability: watch the Claude Platform release notes for the beta label to come off.
- Coverage: check the support table in the OpenTelemetry docs for API tracing on other clouds such as Bedrock and Vertex AI.
- Integrations: watch partner changelogs from Datadog, Langfuse and others for Claude-specific dashboards.