OpenTelemetry Logging Patterns

Table of Contents

• Purpose
• Quick Start
• Instructions
  • Step 1: Configure OTEL Logging Provider
  • Step 2: Integrate Structured Logging Library
  • Step 3: Add Trace Context Propagation
  • Step 4: Set Up Log Exporters
  • Step 5: Implement Instrumentation
  • Step 6: Add Error and Exception Logging
• Requirements
• Common Patterns
• Testing OTEL Logging
• Troubleshooting
• Supporting Resources

Purpose

This skill provides production-grade OpenTelemetry logging patterns for Python applications. It covers:

• OTEL Logging Architecture: Provider and processor configuration
• Trace Correlation: Automatic trace context injection into logs
• Structured Logging: Integration with structlog for context preservation
• Log Exporters: OTLP, Jaeger, console, and file exporters
• Error Handling: Comprehensive exception and error logging
• Testing Patterns: Unit and integration tests for logging infrastructure
• Performance: Optimization tips to minimize logging overhead

This enables production observability where logs, traces, and metrics are correlated through trace IDs for efficient debugging and monitoring.

Quick Start

For this project, use the authoritative OTEL logging module. Get started in 3 simple steps:

1. Initialize OTEL at application startup (once):

from app.core.monitoring.otel_logger import initialize_otel_logger

# Call once at app startup
initialize_otel_logger(
    log_level="INFO",
    enable_console=True,
    enable_otlp=True,
    otlp_endpoint="localhost:4317"
)

2. Get logger and tracer in each module:

from app.core.monitoring.otel_logger import logger, get_tracer

# Module-level initialization
logger = logger(__name__)
tracer = get_tracer(__name__)

3. Use trace_span for operations:

from app.core.monitoring.otel_logger import trace_span, logger

logger = logger(__name__)

# Logs automatically include trace_id and span_id
with trace_span("process_order", order_id="12345") as span:
    logger.info("processing_order", order_id="12345")
    # Do work...
    logger.info("order_processed", result_count=5)

That's it! All logs automatically include trace context, and spans are created with attributes.

Key Benefits:

• ✅ Single entry point: app/core/monitoring/otel_logger.py
• ✅ No direct imports of structlog or opentelemetry needed
• ✅ Automatic trace context propagation
• ✅ Automatic exception handling in spans
• ✅ Works with async and sync functions

Instructions

Step 1: Configure OTEL Logging Provider

Set up the core OpenTelemetry logging infrastructure with provider and exporter configuration.

Basic setup (console exporter for development):

# app/shared/otel_config.py
from opentelemetry import logs
from opentelemetry.sdk.logs import LoggerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.logs.export import ConsoleLogExporter, SimpleLogRecordExporter
from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource

def setup_console_logging(service_name: str) -> LoggerProvider:
    """Set up OTEL logging with console exporter."""
    resource = Resource.create({"service.name": service_name})
    logger_provider = LoggerProvider(resource=resource)

    exporter = ConsoleLogExporter()
    processor = SimpleLogRecordExporter(exporter)
    logger_provider.add_log_record_processor(processor)
    logs.set_logger_provider(logger_provider)

    return logger_provider

For production OTLP/Jaeger setup, see references/advanced-patterns.md

Step 2: Integrate Structured Logging Library

Set up structlog with OTEL trace context integration:

# app/shared/logging_setup.py
import structlog
from opentelemetry.instrumentation.logging import LoggingInstrumentor

def setup_structlog() -> None:
    """Configure structlog with OTEL trace context integration."""
    # Enable OTEL logging instrumentation
    LoggingInstrumentor().instrument()

    # Configure structlog
    structlog.configure(
        processors=[
            structlog.contextvars.merge_contextvars,
            structlog.processors.TimeStamper(fmt="iso"),
            structlog.processors.ExceptionRenderer(),
            structlog.processors.JSONRenderer(),
        ],
        logger_factory=structlog.logging.LoggerFactory(),
        cache_logger_on_first_use=True,
    )

def get_logger(name: str):
    """Get a logger instance with trace context support."""
    return structlog.logger(name)

For advanced structlog configuration, see references/advanced-patterns.md

Step 3: Add Trace Context Propagation

Ensure trace context flows through logs automatically:

# app/shared/observability.py
from contextvars import ContextVar
from opentelemetry import trace

# Context variables for request tracking
request_id_var: ContextVar[str | None] = ContextVar("request_id", default=None)
user_id_var: ContextVar[str | None] = ContextVar("user_id", default=None)

class ObservabilityContext:
    """Manage observability context (trace IDs, request IDs, user IDs)."""

    @staticmethod
    def set_request_id(request_id: str) -> None:
        """Set request ID in context."""
        request_id_var.set(request_id)

    @staticmethod
    def get_tracer(name: str):
        """Get tracer instance."""
        return trace.get_tracer(name)

    @staticmethod
    def set_span_attribute(key: str, value: any) -> None:
        """Set attribute on current span."""
        span = trace.get_current_span()
        if span.is_recording():
            span.set_attribute(key, value)

For complete ObservabilityContext class, see references/advanced-patterns.md

Step 4: Set Up Log Exporters

Configure different exporters for different environments:

# app/config.py
from pydantic import Field
from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings

class Config(BaseSettings):
    """Configuration for OTEL logging."""

    otel_enabled: bool = Field(default=True)
    otel_exporter_type: str = Field(default="console")  # 'otlp', 'jaeger', or 'console'
    otel_otlp_endpoint: str = Field(default="localhost:4317")
    otel_jaeger_host: str = Field(default="localhost")
    otel_jaeger_port: int = Field(default=6831)

Then use config in main:

# main.py
from app.config import Config
from app.shared.logging_setup import setup_structlog, get_logger
from app.shared.otel_config import OTELConfig

async def main() -> None:
    """Main entry point."""
    config = Config()
    setup_structlog()

    if config.otel_enabled:
        otel_config = OTELConfig(
            service_name="my-service",
            exporter_type=config.otel_exporter_type,
            otlp_endpoint=config.otel_otlp_endpoint,
        )
        otel_config.setup_logging()
        otel_config.setup_tracing()

    logger = get_logger(__name__)
    logger.info("service_started")

For complete exporter configuration, see references/advanced-patterns.md

Step 5: Implement Instrumentation

Add tracing and logging to key application flows:

# app/use_cases/extract_orders.py
from opentelemetry import trace
from app.shared.logging_setup import get_logger

class ExtractOrdersUseCase:
    """Use case with observability."""

    def __init__(self, gateway, publisher) -> None:
        self.gateway = gateway
        self.publisher = publisher
        self.logger = get_logger(__name__)
        self.tracer = trace.get_tracer(__name__)

    async def execute(self) -> int:
        """Execute with tracing."""
        with self.tracer.start_as_current_span("extract_orders") as span:
            self.logger.info("starting_extraction")

            try:
                orders = await self.gateway.fetch_all_orders()
                self.logger.info("orders_fetched", count=len(orders))

                for order in orders:
                    await self.publisher.publish(order)

                span.set_attribute("orders_processed", len(orders))
                self.logger.info("extraction_completed", total=len(orders))
                return len(orders)

            except Exception as e:
                self.logger.error("extraction_failed", error=str(e))
                span.record_exception(e)
                raise

For advanced instrumentation patterns, see examples/examples.md

Step 6: Add Error and Exception Logging

Implement comprehensive error logging with context:

# app/error_handlers.py
from fastapi import FastAPI, Request
from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse
from app.shared.logging_setup import get_logger
from app.shared.observability import ObservabilityContext

logger = get_logger(__name__)

async def global_exception_handler(request: Request, exc: Exception) -> JSONResponse:
    """Global exception handler with OTEL logging."""
    request_id = ObservabilityContext.get_request_id()

    logger.error(
        "unhandled_exception",
        error=str(exc),
        error_type=type(exc).__name__,
        request_id=request_id,
        path=request.url.path,
        method=request.method,
        exc_info=True,  # Include full stack trace
    )

    return JSONResponse(
        status_code=500,
        content={"detail": "Internal server error", "request_id": request_id},
    )

def setup_error_handlers(app: FastAPI) -> None:
    """Register error handlers."""
    app.add_exception_handler(Exception, global_exception_handler)

For complete error handling patterns, see examples/examples.md

Requirements

Production OTEL logging requires:

• opentelemetry-api>=1.22.0 - OTEL API
• opentelemetry-sdk>=1.22.0 - OTEL SDK with logging support
• opentelemetry-exporter-otlp>=0.43b0 - OTLP exporter for gRPC
• opentelemetry-instrumentation-logging>=0.43b0 - Logging instrumentation
• structlog>=23.2.0 - Structured logging library
• pydantic>=2.5.0 - Configuration management
• Python 3.11+ with type checking

Common Patterns

Trace Context Propagation

Logs automatically include trace_id and span_id when logged within a span:

from opentelemetry import trace
from app.shared.logging_setup import get_logger

logger = get_logger(__name__)
tracer = trace.get_tracer(__name__)

with tracer.start_as_current_span("process_payment"):
    logger.info("payment_started", customer_id="cust-123")
    logger.info("payment_completed", amount=99.99)
    # All logs have same trace_id and span_id

Context Variables

Use context variables for request-scoped data:

from app.shared.observability import ObservabilityContext

ObservabilityContext.set_request_id("req-12345")
ObservabilityContext.set_user_id("user-456")

logger.info("user_action", action="login")
# Log includes request_id and user_id automatically

For complete pattern examples, see examples/examples.md

Testing OTEL Logging

Unit Testing

Test logging configuration without external dependencies:

import pytest
from opentelemetry import logs
from opentelemetry.sdk.logs import LoggerProvider

def test_logging_configuration():
    """Test OTEL logging provider setup."""
    logger_provider = LoggerProvider()
    assert logger_provider is not None
    logs.set_logger_provider(logger_provider)
    assert logs.get_logger_provider() == logger_provider

Integration Testing

Test log export with real exporters:

@pytest.fixture
def in_memory_log_exporter():
    """In-memory exporter for testing."""
    class InMemoryExporter:
        def __init__(self):
            self.records = []

        def emit(self, log_records):
            self.records.extend(log_records)

    return InMemoryExporter()

def test_trace_context_in_logs(in_memory_log_exporter):
    """Verify trace context is included in logs."""
    # Setup logger and tracer
    # Log within span
    # Verify trace context in exported logs
    pass

For comprehensive testing patterns, see examples/examples.md

Troubleshooting

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue: Trace IDs not appearing in logs

• Ensure LoggingInstrumentor().instrument() is called before logging
• Verify logs are being created within a span context
• Check that OTEL trace provider is set before creating loggers

Issue: OTLP exporter connection refused

• Verify OTEL Collector is running on specified endpoint
• Check endpoint configuration (default: localhost:4317)
• Use console exporter in development
• Check firewall rules for gRPC port 4317

Issue: High logging overhead

• Use BatchLogRecordExporter instead of SimpleLogRecordExporter
• Increase batch size for fewer exports (e.g., 512 records)
• Filter verbose DEBUG logs in production

Issue: Logs not appearing in output

• Verify logger is initialized with setup_structlog()
• Check Python logging level (INFO, WARNING, ERROR)
• Verify structlog configuration has JSONRenderer processor

For detailed troubleshooting, see references/advanced-patterns.md

Supporting Resources