Semantic Conventions for HTTP

Status: Mixed

This document defines semantic conventions for HTTP spans, metrics and logs. They can be used for http and https schemes and various HTTP versions like 1.1, 2 and SPDY.

Warning Existing HTTP instrumentations that are using v1.20.0 of this document (or prior):

• SHOULD NOT change the version of the HTTP or networking conventions that they emit by default until the HTTP semantic conventions are marked stable (HTTP stabilization will include stabilization of a core set of networking conventions which are also used in HTTP instrumentations). Conventions include, but are not limited to, attributes, metric and span names, and unit of measure.
• SHOULD introduce an environment variable OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN in the existing major version which is a comma-separated list of values. The only values defined so far are:
  • http - emit the new, stable HTTP and networking conventions, and stop emitting the old experimental HTTP and networking conventions that the instrumentation emitted previously.
  • http/dup - emit both the old and the stable HTTP and networking conventions, allowing for a seamless transition.
  • The default behavior (in the absence of one of these values) is to continue emitting whatever version of the old experimental HTTP and networking conventions the instrumentation was emitting previously.
  • Note: http/dup has higher precedence than http in case both values are present
• SHOULD maintain (security patching at a minimum) the existing major version for at least six months after it starts emitting both sets of conventions.
• SHOULD drop the environment variable in the next major version.

Semantic conventions for HTTP are defined for the following signals:

• HTTP Spans: Semantic Conventions for HTTP client and server spans.
• HTTP Metrics: Semantic Conventions for HTTP client and server metrics.

For help migrating from non-stable to stable conventions, see the migration guide.