GenAI Instrumentation for Honeycomb

Instrumenting LLM and agent applications using OTel Semantic Conventions for GenAI (currently v1.40.0, Development status). For conceptual foundations, see the observability-fundamentals skill.

Base OTEL Setup (Required First)

BEFORE implementing GenAI instrumentation, ensure your base OpenTelemetry configuration is complete.

Use the otel-instrumentation skill to configure all standard OTEL environment variables (OTEL_SERVICE_NAME, OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT, OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS, OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL, signal-specific endpoints, etc.) and verify basic spans are flowing to Honeycomb.

GenAI instrumentation adds GenAI-specific configuration on top of that base setup.

Critical Requirements (Non-Negotiable)

BEFORE implementing any GenAI instrumentation, complete these steps in order: