microsoft-opentelemetry 0.1.0a1

Minimal template for the Microsoft OpenTelemetry distro for Python

microsoft-opentelemetry

Repository Setup

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Python package for a Microsoft OpenTelemetry distribution that provides a single onboarding experience for observability across Azure Monitor, OTLP-compatible backends, and Microsoft Agent 365 style integrations.

This repository starts from the POC described in azure-data/microsoft-opentelemetry-distro-poc, but is intentionally kept minimal while the package shape and delivery plan are being defined.

Goal

The target package should reduce fragmented setup across multiple observability stacks to one import and one configuration function.

Intended API shape:

from microsoft.opentelemetry import use_microsoft_opentelemetry

use_microsoft_opentelemetry(
	azure_monitor_connection_string="InstrumentationKey=...;IngestionEndpoint=...",
)

Available Configuration Options

Keyword argument	Type	Default	Description
enable_azure_monitor	bool	True	Enable Azure Monitor export.
azure_monitor_connection_string	str	None	Connection string for Application Insights. Also read from APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING env var.
azure_monitor_exporter_credential	TokenCredential	None	Azure AD token credential for authentication.
azure_monitor_enable_live_metrics	bool	True	Enable live metrics collection.
azure_monitor_enable_performance_counters	bool	True	Enable performance counter collection.
azure_monitor_exporter_disable_offline_storage	bool	False	Disable offline retry storage for failed telemetry.
azure_monitor_exporter_storage_directory	str	None	Custom directory for offline telemetry storage.
azure_monitor_browser_sdk_loader_config	dict	None	Browser SDK loader configuration.
disable_logging	bool	False	Disable the logging pipeline.
disable_tracing	bool	False	Disable the tracing pipeline.
disable_metrics	bool	False	Disable the metrics pipeline.
resource	Resource	auto	OpenTelemetry Resource.
span_processors	list	[]	Additional span processors.
log_record_processors	list	[]	Additional log record processors.
metric_readers	list	[]	Additional metric readers.
views	list	[]	Metric views.
logger_name	str	None	Logger name for log collection.
logging_formatter	Formatter	None	Formatter for collected logs.
instrumentation_options	dict	None	Per-library instrumentation enable/disable options.
enable_trace_based_sampling_for_logs	bool	False	Enable trace-based sampling for logs.

Sampling Configuration

Sampling is configured via standard OpenTelemetry environment variables:

Environment variable	Description
OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER	Sampler type to use (see supported values below).
OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG	Argument for the sampler (e.g. sample ratio or traces per second).

Supported sampler values for OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER:

Value	Description
always_on	Sample every trace.
always_off	Drop every trace.
trace_id_ratio	Sample a fixed percentage based on trace ID. Set ratio with OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG (0–1).
parentbased_always_on	Parent-based, defaults to always on.
parentbased_always_off	Parent-based, defaults to always off.
parentbased_trace_id_ratio	Parent-based with trace ID ratio fallback.
microsoft.fixed_percentage	Azure Monitor fixed-percentage sampler. Set ratio with OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG (0–1).
microsoft.rate_limited	Azure Monitor rate-limited sampler. Set target with OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG (traces per second, default 5).

Example:

export OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER=trace_id_ratio
export OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG=0.1

Planned Scope

• Azure Monitor exporter support
• OTLP exporter support
• Microsoft-specific agent observability extensions
• GenAI instrumentation toggles for OpenAI, OpenAI Agents, and LangChain
• Standard Python web and HTTP instrumentations
• Environment-variable driven configuration
• A stable package surface for downstream agent applications

Reference POC Highlights

The source POC positions the distro around three outcomes:

• one package, one API, one documentation surface
• less duplicated exporter and instrumentation wiring across teams
• much less application boilerplate compared with manual OpenTelemetry setup

The POC also describes this execution model:

1. Configure Azure Monitor when enabled
2. Otherwise create standalone OpenTelemetry providers
3. Attach OTLP exporters when requested
4. Attach Microsoft-specific exporters when requested
5. Enable standard instrumentations
6. Enable Microsoft-specific observability instrumentations
7. Enable GenAI contrib instrumentations

Development

Create an environment and install the project with test dependencies:

pip install -e .[test]
pytest

Reference

• POC repo: https://github.com/azure-data/microsoft-opentelemetry-distro-poc
• Planning document: PLANNING.md

Contributing

Read our contributing guide to learn about our development process, how to propose bugfixes and improvements, and how to build and test your changes to this distribution.

Data Collection

As this SDK is designed to enable applications to perform data collection which is sent to the Microsoft collection endpoints the following is required to identify our privacy statement.

The software may collect information about you and your use of the software and send it to Microsoft. Microsoft may use this information to provide services and improve our products and services. You may turn off the telemetry as described in the repository. There are also some features in the software that may enable you and Microsoft to collect data from users of your applications. If you use these features, you must comply with applicable law, including providing appropriate notices to users of your applications together with a copy of Microsoft’s privacy statement. Our privacy statement is located at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=824704. You can learn more about data collection and use in the help documentation and our privacy statement. Your use of the software operates as your consent to these practices.

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft’s Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party’s policies.

License

MIT