OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions

Use this skill when you need released semantic convention guidance for naming, attributes, or compliance checks.

Workflow

1. Start with released semantic conventions, not model memory.

• do not load the full semantic convention spec into context
• use the bundled lookup script to query only the needed released group or attribute
• for local verification against a checked-out upstream repo, set OTEL_SEMCONV_REPO=/path/to/semantic-conventions

2. Choose the closest released group before inventing custom keys.

• identify the boundary type such as http, db, messaging, rpc, or network
• pick one primary group first, then add related groups only when they add needed context
• for gen_ai.*, OpenAI, or MCP conventions, use the dedicated OpenTelemetry GenAI semantic conventions repository; the core repository keeps only deprecated GenAI-era stubs after v1.42.0
• see references/semconv-selection.md