opentelemetry-api

OpenTelemetry Python API

opentelemetry-api Permissive license Apache-2.0 Active ★ 2,586 v1.44.0 released 2026-07-16

Install

opentelemetry-api on PyPI

pip

pip install opentelemetry-api

uv

uv add opentelemetry-api

poetry

poetry add opentelemetry-api

Package facts

License	Apache-2.0 (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (>=3.10)
Install friction	low — pure-Python wheel
Runtime dependencies	1 — typing-extensions
Maintenance	actively maintained — 28 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-08-13
First released	2019-10-01
Popularity	one of the 100 most-downloaded packages on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-13)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-13)

Evidence: opentelemetry_api-1.44.0-py3-none-any.whl

Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableFramework :: OpenTelemetryIntended Audience :: DevelopersProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Typing :: Typed

About opentelemetry-api

from the package's own PyPI description — quoted content, verbatim

OpenTelemetry Python

Slack (image) Build Status (image) Minimum Python Version (image) Release (image) Read the Docs (image) OpenSSF Best Practices (image)

Project Status

See the OpenTelemetry Instrumentation for Python.

Signal	Status	Project
Traces	Stable	...

Read as markdown · JSON record · Source repository · Homepage

AI interpretation — verify before relying

AI-generated interpretation of the package facts above; every digit, version, license, or vulnerability id it cites is grounded in the facts already shown on this page

Provides abstract API classes and no-op implementations for instrumenting Python applications with distributed tracing, metrics, and logging following the OpenTelemetry specification.

Low friction: single pure-Python wheel with only typing-extensions as a runtime dependency. Actively maintained with a release 28 days ago and continuous commits; part of a top-100 PyPI package with 2586 GitHub stars.

Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; suitable for both library and application dependencies.

Usage

pip install opentelemetry-api

from opentelemetry import trace
tracer = trace.get_tracer(__name__)
with tracer.start_as_current_span("my-span"):
    pass

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verdict: Production-stable API package (1.44.0) with active maintenance, zero known vulnerabilities, and minimal dependencies. Designed as the specification-compliant foundation for telemetry instrumentation; libraries should depend on this, while applications choose the SDK. Permissive licensing and broad Python version support (3.10–3.14) make it a safe foundational choice.

Needs verification

Whether the Logs signal's development status and announced breaking changes affect stability guarantees for trace/metrics signals specifically.
Whether typing-extensions introduces any platform-specific or environment-specific installation friction beyond the pure-Python wheel.

opentelemetry tracing apidistributed tracing pythonobservability instrumentationotel metrics loggingtelemetry data collectionapplication monitoring apitraces metrics logs python