nc://otel

OpenTelemetry for a Nodecode session: every tool call, model round and failed turn becomes a span, posted as OTLP/HTTP JSON to the collector you name — or kept in one local file when you name none. A Nodecode rewrite of briancaffey/hermes-otel by briancaffey.

Get it

Tell the agent "add the otel cell", or run nodecode add nc://otel.

Set it up

Nothing is required: without an endpoint every span stays in ~/.nodecode/otel/spans.jsonl and nothing leaves the machine.

To export, name one OTLP/HTTP traces URL in the otel section of ~/.nodecode/config.jsonc (or /settings, or the page's Settings tab):

{
  "otel": {
    "endpoint": "http://localhost:6006/v1/traces",
    "headers": ["x-api-key: ${PHOENIX_API_KEY}"]
  }
}

A secret stays out of the file: headers reads ${VAR} from the environment, and api_key_env names a variable holding a bearer token that goes in authorization.

How much text rides along is content_capture: full sends whole tool arguments and results, preview (the default) the first preview_chars of each, off none at all. api_key_env, service_name, local_store, max_spans, flush_seconds and timeout_seconds are the rest — see config.example.jsonc.

Use it

• /otel — what is exported where, how much has been recorded and sent, and how the last export went; /otel spans 20, /otel send, /otel clear for the local file.
• otel_status, otel_spans (newest first, filter by a word in the name) and otel_mark — the last one lets the model put a marker span on the trace at a milestone, so a person reading the spans later finds the moment.
• Every tool call is a CLIENT span named tool <name> with gen_ai.tool.name, the arguments and result previews, the result size and its status; a failed call is an error span.
• Every completed model round is chat <provider>/<model> with the time to the first token and the stream's length, and each round's usage is usage <provider>/<model> with gen_ai.usage.input_tokens, output_tokens, cached_input_tokens, the finish reason and the cost. A failed turn is an error span carrying the reason.
• All spans of one turn share a trace id, so a collector shows the round, its tool calls and its spend together.

The local file is ~/.nodecode/otel/spans.jsonl, newest max_spans kept.

What leaves the machine

Only to the endpoint you name, and only over that one connection: nothing is discovered, fetched or updated. Read /otel before you trust the quiet.

License

Apache-2.0, as the original: see LICENSE and NOTICE.