Skill v1.0.1
currentLLM-judged scan95/100+3 new
version: "1.0.1" name: opentelemetry description: > OpenTelemetry observability for .NET 10 applications. Covers traces, metrics, and logs using the OpenTelemetry SDK with OTLP export. Includes custom ActivitySource, IMeterFactory metrics, resource configuration, and Aspire Dashboard integration. Load this skill when setting up distributed tracing, custom metrics, OTLP export, or when the user mentions "OpenTelemetry", "OTLP", "traces", "spans", "Activity", "ActivitySource", "metrics", "IMeterFactory", "Meter", "Counter", "Histogram", "Gauge", "telemetry", "observability", "distributed tracing", "OTEL", or "Aspire Dashboard".
OpenTelemetry
Core Principles
- Three pillars, one setup — Configure traces, metrics, and logs through a single
AddOpenTelemetry()call. UseUseOtlpExporter()for cross-cutting export to any OTLP-compatible backend. - Use `IMeterFactory` for metrics — Never create
Meterinstances withnew. The factory manages lifetime through DI and prevents leaks. - Null-safe activities —
StartActivity()returnsnullwhen no listener is attached. Always use?.when setting tags or events. - Environment variables over code — Use
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINTandOTEL_SERVICE_NAMEso deployments control telemetry routing without code changes. - Low-cardinality metric tags — Keep metric tag combinations under ~1000 per instrument. Use span attributes or logs for high-cardinality data like user IDs or request IDs.
Patterns
Full Setup with All Three Signals
// Program.csvar builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);builder.Services.AddOpenTelemetry().ConfigureResource(resource => resource.AddService(serviceName: builder.Environment.ApplicationName,serviceVersion: "1.0.0")).WithTracing(tracing => tracing.AddAspNetCoreInstrumentation().AddHttpClientInstrumentation().AddEntityFrameworkCoreInstrumentation().AddSource("MyApp.Orders")).WithMetrics(metrics => metrics.AddAspNetCoreInstrumentation().AddHttpClientInstrumentation().AddRuntimeInstrumentation().AddMeter("MyApp.Orders")).WithLogging() // no per-signal exporter here —.UseOtlpExporter(); // UseOtlpExporter covers all three signals// UseOtlpExporter replaces per-signal AddOtlpExporter calls. Never combine// the two — mixing them throws NotSupportedException (see Anti-patterns).
The OTLP endpoint defaults to http://localhost:4317 (gRPC). Override via:
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://collector:4317OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=MyApp.Api
Custom Metrics with IMeterFactory
Register a metrics class as a singleton. IMeterFactory handles Meter disposal through DI.
public sealed class OrderMetrics{private readonly Counter<int> _ordersCreated;private readonly Histogram<double> _orderDuration;private readonly UpDownCounter<int> _activeOrders;private readonly Gauge<double> _queueDepth;public OrderMetrics(IMeterFactory meterFactory){var meter = meterFactory.Create("MyApp.Orders");_ordersCreated = meter.CreateCounter<int>("myapp.orders.created", "{orders}", "Number of orders created");_orderDuration = meter.CreateHistogram<double>("myapp.orders.duration", "s", "Order processing duration",advice: new InstrumentAdvice<double>{HistogramBucketBoundaries = [0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 10]});_activeOrders = meter.CreateUpDownCounter<int>("myapp.orders.active", "{orders}", "Currently active orders");_queueDepth = meter.CreateGauge<double>("myapp.orders.queue_depth", "{items}", "Current queue depth");}public void OrderCreated() => _ordersCreated.Add(1);public void RecordDuration(double seconds) => _orderDuration.Record(seconds);public void OrderStarted() => _activeOrders.Add(1);public void OrderCompleted() => _activeOrders.Add(-1);public void SetQueueDepth(double depth) => _queueDepth.Record(depth);}// Registrationbuilder.Services.AddSingleton<OrderMetrics>();
Multi-Dimensional Metric Tags
Three or fewer tags are allocation-free. For more, use TagList.
// Allocation-free (3 or fewer tags)_ordersCreated.Add(1,new KeyValuePair<string, object?>("order.type", "standard"),new KeyValuePair<string, object?>("payment.method", "credit_card"));// 4+ tags — use TagList to avoid allocationsvar tags = new TagList{{ "order.type", "standard" },{ "payment.method", "credit_card" },{ "region", "us-east" },{ "priority", "high" }};_ordersCreated.Add(1, tags);
Custom ActivitySource for Distributed Tracing
public sealed class OrderService(ILogger<OrderService> logger){private static readonly ActivitySource Source = new("MyApp.Orders");public async Task<Order> ProcessOrderAsync(CreateOrderRequest request, CancellationToken ct){using var activity = Source.StartActivity("ProcessOrder", ActivityKind.Internal);activity?.SetTag("order.customer_id", request.CustomerId);try{await ValidateOrder(request, ct);activity?.AddEvent(new ActivityEvent("OrderValidated"));var order = await SaveOrder(request, ct);activity?.SetTag("order.id", order.Id.ToString());activity?.SetStatus(ActivityStatusCode.Ok);return order;}catch (Exception ex){activity?.SetStatus(ActivityStatusCode.Error, ex.Message);activity?.RecordException(ex);throw;}}}
Register the source: .AddSource("MyApp.Orders") in the tracing builder.
Aspire Dashboard for Local Development
Run the standalone Aspire Dashboard without Aspire orchestration:
docker run --rm -it -p 18888:18888 -p 4317:18889 \mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspire-dashboard:latest
Then point your app at it:
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4317
Dashboard UI is at http://localhost:18888.
Source-Generated Logging with OTel
For maximum performance, use [LoggerMessage] — eliminates boxing and allocations.
public partial class OrderService(ILogger<OrderService> logger){[LoggerMessage(Level = LogLevel.Information,Message = "Processing order {OrderId} for customer {CustomerId}")]partial void LogOrderProcessing(Guid orderId, Guid customerId);}
OpenTelemetry logging automatically includes TraceId and SpanId when an Activity is current.
Anti-patterns
Don't Create Meters Per Request
// BAD — new Meter per request causes memory leakspublic void HandleRequest(){var meter = new Meter("MyApp");meter.CreateCounter<int>("requests").Add(1);}// GOOD — singleton via IMeterFactorypublic class MyMetrics(IMeterFactory meterFactory){private readonly Counter<int> _requests =meterFactory.Create("MyApp").CreateCounter<int>("myapp.requests");public void RequestHandled() => _requests.Add(1);}
Don't Skip Null Checks on Activity
// BAD — NullReferenceException when no listener is attachedusing var activity = source.StartActivity("Work");activity.SetTag("key", "value");// GOOD — null-safeactivity?.SetTag("key", "value");
Don't Use High-Cardinality Metric Tags
// BAD — unbounded cardinality causes memory explosion in collectors_counter.Add(1, new("request.id", Guid.NewGuid().ToString()));_counter.Add(1, new("user.id", userId));// GOOD — low-cardinality dimensions only_counter.Add(1, new("http.method", "GET"), new("http.status_code", 200));
Don't Mix UseOtlpExporter with AddOtlpExporter
// BAD — throws NotSupportedException at runtimebuilder.Services.AddOpenTelemetry().UseOtlpExporter().WithTracing(t => t.AddOtlpExporter());// GOOD — use one approachbuilder.Services.AddOpenTelemetry().UseOtlpExporter();
Don't Forget to Register Custom Sources
// BAD — activities silently dropped (no listener registered)var source = new ActivitySource("MyApp.Custom");using var activity = source.StartActivity("Work"); // null!// GOOD — register in the tracing builderotel.WithTracing(t => t.AddSource("MyApp.Custom"));otel.WithMetrics(m => m.AddMeter("MyApp.Custom"));
Decision Guide
| Scenario | Recommendation | |
|---|---|---|
| Full observability setup | AddOpenTelemetry() with all three signals + UseOtlpExporter() | |
| Custom business metrics | IMeterFactory + singleton metrics class | |
| Custom trace spans | ActivitySource + StartActivity() | |
| Local development backend | Aspire Dashboard standalone container | |
| Production backend | OTel Collector as intermediary to Grafana/Datadog/etc. | |
| Sampling in production | OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER=parentbased_traceidratio with 10% ratio | |
| High-performance logging | [LoggerMessage] source generator | |
| Metric tag cardinality | Max ~1000 combinations per instrument | |
| Environment configuration | OTEL_* env vars (also work via appsettings.json) |