otel

Name: otel
Author: microsoft

Add and maintain OpenTelemetry instrumentation across Copilot Chat agent flows.

Stars

★ 187,441

Source

GitHub

Updated

2026-07-11

// securityLow risk

Prompt only, no code
Open source
Community-trusted· 187.4k

Running security audit…

Credentials
Network egress
Code execution
Data access
Supply chain

// install

Copy the install command and let the AI configure it · recommended for beginners

Please install the "otel" skill from askskill:
1. Download https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/vscode/main/.github/skills/otel/SKILL.md
2. Save it as ~/.claude/skills/otel/SKILL.md
3. Reload skills and tell me it's ready

// download

Download SKILL.mdInstall manifest ↗

// examples

Instrument a new agent entry point

Prompt

Design an OpenTelemetry instrumentation plan for a new Copilot Chat agent execution entry point. Specify which spans, metrics, and events to add, the naming conventions to follow, and which monitoring docs should be updated.

Expected

A complete instrumentation checklist with telemetry items, naming conventions, and documentation update recommendations.

Review span changes

Prompt

I changed the OTel span emission logic in the Copilot CLI bridge. Review whether the changes align with the existing IOTelService abstraction, span conventions, and the user/developer monitoring documentation.

Expected

A review report highlighting consistency issues, potential risks, and recommended fixes.

Update monitoring documentation

Prompt

Based on the latest Claude span, metrics, and events implementation, draft an update outline for `extensions/copilot/docs/monitoring/agent_monitoring*.md`, including the mapping between code behavior and documentation.

Expected

A structured documentation outline listing telemetry fields, meanings, and their corresponding code locations.

// docs

OpenTelemetry Instrumentation Skill

When adding, changing, or reviewing OTel telemetry in the Copilot Chat extension, always read the two source-of-truth docs first and always keep them in sync with the code you change.

1. Authoritative Documents

The extensions/copilot/docs/monitoring/ directory contains the two specs that define the OTel contract for the extension. Treat them like the layout / layer specs in vs/sessions.

Document	Path	Audience	Covers
User-facing	`extensions/copilot/docs/monitoring/agent_monitoring.md`	Extension users	Quick start, settings, env vars, exported spans/metrics/events, backend setup guides
Architecture	`extensions/copilot/docs/monitoring/agent_monitoring_arch.md`	Developers	Multi-agent strategies, span hierarchies, file structure, instrumentation points, `IOTelService`, configuration channels
Visual flow	`extensions/copilot/docs/monitoring/otel-data-flow.html`	Developers	Renders the bridge data flow for the in-process Copilot CLI agent

If the implementation changes, you must update the relevant doc in the same PR. The arch doc is the most likely to drift; treat divergence as a bug.

2. Architecture at a Glance

The extension has four agent execution paths, each with a different OTel strategy:

Agent	Process Model	Strategy	Debug Panel Source
Foreground (`toolCallingLoop`)	Extension host	Direct `IOTelService` spans	Extension spans
Copilot CLI in-process	Extension host (same process)	Bridge SpanProcessor — SDK creates spans natively; bridge forwards to debug panel	SDK native spans via bridge
Copilot CLI terminal	Separate terminal process	Forward OTel env vars	N/A (separate process)
Claude Code	Child process (Node fork)	Synthesized from SDK messages — extension intercepts the Claude SDK message stream in `claudeMessageDispatch.ts` and emits GenAI spans; LLM calls are proxied through `claudeLanguageModelServer.ts` (which calls `chatMLFetcher`, producing standard `chat` spans).	Extension spans

Why asymmetric? The CLI SDK runs in-process with full trace hierarchy (subagents, permissions, hooks). A bridge captures this directly. Claude runs as a separate process — internal spans are inaccessible, so the extension synthesizes spans by translating SDK messages and proxying the model API.

3. Where Things Live (canonical map)

extensions/copilot/src/platform/otel/
├── common/
│   ├── otelService.ts          # IOTelService interface + ISpanHandle + injectCompletedSpan
│   ├── otelConfig.ts           # Config resolution (env → settings → defaults), enabledVia, dbSpanExporter
│   ├── noopOtelService.ts      # Zero-cost no-op (used by chatLib / tests)
│   ├── inMemoryOTelService.ts  # ← actually under node/, see below
│   ├── agentOTelEnv.ts         # deriveCopilotCliOTelEnv / deriveClaudeOTelEnv
│   ├── genAiAttributes.ts      # ⚠ Single source of truth for attribute keys & enums
│   ├── genAiEvents.ts          # Event emitter helpers (emit*Event)
│   ├── genAiMetrics.ts         # GenAiMetrics class
│   ├── messageFormatters.ts    # truncateForOTel, normalizeProviderMessages, toSystemInstructions, …
│   ├── workspaceOTelMetadata.ts
│   ├── sessionUtils.ts
│   └── index.ts                # ⚠ Public barrel — re-export new helpers/constants here
└── node/
    ├── otelServiceImpl.ts      # NodeOTelService + DiagnosticSpanExporter + FilteredSpanExporter + EXPORTABLE_OPERATION_NAMES
    ├── inMemoryOTelService.ts  # InMemoryOTelService (used when OTel is disabled — feeds debug panel only)
    ├── fileExporters.ts        # File-based span/log/metric exporters
    └── sqlite/                 # OTelSqliteStore + SqliteSpanExporter (dbSpanExporter pipeline)

extensions/copilot/src/extension/
├── chatSessions/
│   ├── copilotcli/node/

…

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