OpenTelemetry .NET Instrumentation Skill

Description

Provides guidance for implementing OpenTelemetry instrumentation in .NET codebases, covering tracing (Activities/Spans), metrics, naming conventions, error handling, performance, and API design best practices.

When to Use

• Adding OpenTelemetry instrumentation to .NET code
• Creating or modifying ActivitySources and metrics
• Reviewing telemetry implementations for compliance
• Optimizing instrumentation performance
• Designing telemetry APIs that become part of the public surface

Prerequisites

• .NET application with OpenTelemetry SDK
• Understanding of System.Diagnostics.Metrics and ActivitySource APIs
• Access to observability backend (e.g., Jaeger, Prometheus, Grafana)

Core Principles