opentelemetry-propagator-aws-xray

What it is and what it does

This package provides an OpenTelemetry propagator that handles the AWS X-Ray trace context format, specifically the X-Amzn-Trace-Id header. It allows traces initiated in one AWS service to be correctly linked to downstream services by injecting and extracting tracing context in the format X-Ray expects.

The propagator integrates with OpenTelemetry's global propagation system, either via environment variable (OTEL_PROPAGATORS=xray) or by explicitly setting it in code. It is a thin adapter layer between OpenTelemetry's span context model and AWS X-Ray's header format, with no external dependencies beyond opentelemetry-api itself.

Use it for:

• Trace requests flowing through multiple AWS Lambda functions, ECS tasks, or EC2 instances using OpenTelemetry.
• Correlate logs and metrics with X-Ray traces when using AWS CloudWatch and X-Ray together.
• Export OpenTelemetry spans to AWS X-Ray for visualization and analysis of distributed request flows.
• Integrate on-premises or third-party services into an AWS X-Ray tracing pipeline via OpenTelemetry.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Injects and extracts AWS X-Ray tracing context into OpenTelemetry spans, enabling trace propagation across AWS services.

Yes. This is a production-stable, actively maintained library with no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and a permissive license. Install it if you are using OpenTelemetry in an AWS environment and need X-Ray trace propagation. Note the documentation caveat: ensure X-Amzn-Trace-Id headers include Sampled=1 to enable child span sampling.

Install

opentelemetry-propagator-aws-xray on PyPI

pip install opentelemetry-propagator-aws-xray

uv add opentelemetry-propagator-aws-xray

poetry add opentelemetry-propagator-aws-xray

Installing opentelemetry-propagator-aws-xray

Before you install

Low friction installation with a single runtime dependency (opentelemetry-api). Actively maintained with recent commits and production-stable status.

License in practice

Licensed under Apache Software License (permissive), allowing commercial and private use without restriction.

Quickstart

pip install opentelemetry-propagator-aws-xray

from opentelemetry.propagate import set_global_textmap
from opentelemetry.propagators.aws import AwsXRayPropagator

set_global_textmap(AwsXRayPropagator())

Requires opentelemetry-api to be installed; Python 3.8 or later.

Verify before relying

• Whether X-Amzn-Trace-Id headers are automatically set to Sampled=1 or require manual configuration in all deployment scenarios.
• Performance impact when propagating traces across high-volume AWS service calls.

Package facts

Evidence: opentelemetry_propagator_aws_xray-1.0.2-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

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