Python Instrumentation

Instrument Flask, FastAPI, Django, requests, SQLAlchemy, and more automatically using the OpenTelemetry bootstrap tool. No config file. No import order to manage.

1. Install

bash

pip install opentelemetry-distro opentelemetry-exporter-otlp

# Auto-install instrumentation packages for your dependencies
opentelemetry-bootstrap -a install

opentelemetry-bootstrap -a install scans your installed packages and installs the matching OTel instrumentation — e.g. if you have FastAPI installed, it addsopentelemetry-instrumentation-fastapi automatically.

2. Set environment variables

.env

OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=my-python-service
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://la-ingest-gateway.lightarch.workers.dev
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS=x-la-dsn=la_live_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf

OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf is required — the Python distro defaults to gRPC, which Lightarch doesn't accept.

3. Run your app

Prefix your normal start command with opentelemetry-instrument:

bash

# FastAPI
opentelemetry-instrument uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

# Flask
opentelemetry-instrument flask run

# Django
opentelemetry-instrument python manage.py runserver

# Any Python script
opentelemetry-instrument python your_script.py

No changes to your application code required.

Screenshot needed

Traces page showing Python service spans with service='my-python-service', environment='production', waterfall showing FastAPI routes.

Verify it's working

bash

la query "SELECT service, severity, body, duration_ms FROM recent_spans WHERE service = 'my-python-service' ORDER BY timestamp DESC LIMIT 10"

la logs tail --service my-python-service

Custom spans

python

from opentelemetry import trace

tracer = trace.get_tracer("my-service")

def process_payment(order_id: str):
    with tracer.start_as_current_span("payment.process") as span:
        span.set_attribute("order.id", order_id)
        try:
            result = charge_card(order_id)
            span.set_attribute("payment.status", result["status"])
            return result
        except Exception as e:
            span.record_exception(e)
            span.set_status(trace.StatusCode.ERROR, str(e))
            raise

Advanced: manual config file (for custom resource attributes or fine-grained control)

eo_config.py

from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import BatchSpanProcessor
from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.http.trace_exporter import OTLPSpanExporter
from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource
import os

LA_DSN = os.environ["LA_DSN"]

resource = Resource.create({
    "service.name": "my-python-service",
    "deployment.environment": os.getenv("ENVIRONMENT", "production"),
})

provider = TracerProvider(resource=resource)
exporter = OTLPSpanExporter(
    endpoint="https://la-ingest-gateway.lightarch.workers.dev/v1/traces",
    headers={"x-la-dsn": LA_DSN},
)
provider.add_span_processor(BatchSpanProcessor(exporter))
trace.set_tracer_provider(provider)

main.py

import eo_config  # must be first import

from fastapi import FastAPI
from opentelemetry.instrumentation.fastapi import FastAPIInstrumentor

app = FastAPI()
FastAPIInstrumentor.instrument_app(app)

Import eo_config as the first import — before FastAPI, requests, or any other library you want traced.