Claude API OpenTelemetry Tracing: Console Setup for 2026
Originally published at WowHow Since 14 October 2026 the Claude API can send one OpenTelemetry trace per request or Managed Agents session to the observability backend you already run, and the first thing to decide is the destination's content mode: Metadata only or Full content. [4] Metadata only exports identifiers, timing, status and token counts. Full content also exports prompts and responses, and they then live under your backend's retention rules, not Anthropic's. [2] The feature is in public beta. An organization admin adds a destination in the Claude Console, you need no code changes for the server-side half, and an optional SDK half adds client spans that join the same trace. This post covers what each half does, the exact Console fields, a Honeycomb walk-through, the span names worth knowing, and what the docs say about limits and delivery. TL;DR Two independent halves: API spans (emitted by Anthropic, delivered to a destination you register) and SDK spa...