Exercised August 29, 2026
OpenTelemetry GenAI development snapshot → OTLP 1.11
OpenTelemetry GenAI development snapshotUnreleased development snapshot; core semantic conventions 1.44.0
OTLP 1.11.0 HTTP/protobufOTLP 1.11.0
The Trace Map
AI agent trace formats
A trace format defines how recorded activity is represented or exported. Format presence does not by itself establish that principal identity, authority, external effects, integrity, or privacy controls survive.
Direct answer
Portability requires meaning, not just parseable fields.
JSON, JSONL, OTLP, OpenInference, W3C trace context, and vendor exports can transport records while still losing identifiers, authority evidence, event relationships, or redaction semantics. v0.1 records documented format claims; v0.2 adds selected, directional mappings with explicit loss and evidence boundaries.
Compatibility v0.2
Evidence-bound format mappings
Selected profiles bind exact source and destination versions, show what is preserved or lost, and keep documented semantics separate from local fixture evidence.
Open compatibility intelligenceRead semantic evidence
Exercised August 29, 2026
OpenInference 0.1.33 → OTLP 1.11
OpenInference semantic conventionsPython package tag d10212b2049d097e101f7ec0fa5a7dd814a7d9c9
OTLP 1.11.0 HTTP/protobufOTLP 1.11.0
Exercised August 29, 2026
MLflow native 3.15.2 → OTLP 1.11
MLflow Tracing native OTLP representationMLflow v3.15.2 commit ca15da96555ef1ef80a61393bf8559ffe5c2e8df
OTLP 1.11.0 HTTP/protobufOTLP 1.11.0
Exercised August 29, 2026
MLflow 3.15.2 native → GenAI-transformed OTLP
MLflow Tracing native OTLP representationMLflow v3.15.2 commit ca15da96555ef1ef80a61393bf8559ffe5c2e8df
MLflow GenAI-semconv transformed OTLP representationMLflow v3.15.2 transformer; not asserted as conformance to the unreleased current OTel GenAI snapshot
Current corpus
Formats named by published profiles
Each label is profile metadata, paired with that system's family-level portability posture. Open the profile for the bounded observations and primary sources. The table is descriptive, not a compatibility ranking or a field-level format claim.
| Format or representation | Documenting system | System type | Version scope | Portability posture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agent Trace JSON | Cursor Agent Trace | Trace format | Observed 2026-08-28: Agent Trace 0.1.0 RFC, January 2026. | Documented |
| App-server JSON-RPC | OpenAI Codex CLI | Coding agent | Current official public OpenAI documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned JSONL event schema asserted. | Documented |
| Application-defined serialized state | LangGraph | Runtime / framework | Current Python OSS documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned checkpoint schema asserted. | Unknown |
| application/vnd.agent-trace.record+json | Cursor Agent Trace | Trace format | Observed 2026-08-28: Agent Trace 0.1.0 RFC, January 2026. | Documented |
| Blob export | Langfuse | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; Observations API v2, with self-hosted v4+ noted on the reviewed API page. | Documented |
| Braintrust spans | Braintrust | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned public trace schema asserted. | Partially documented |
| Bulk export | LangSmith | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; unversioned run data format. | Documented |
| DataFrame extraction | Arize Phoenix | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; phoenix-otel>=0.16.0 on the reviewed setup page and retention policies documented for Phoenix 9.0+. | Documented |
| HTTP headers | W3C Trace Context | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: Trace Context Level 1, W3C Recommendation dated 2021-11-23. | Documented |
| JSON | Braintrust | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned public trace schema asserted. | Partially documented |
| JSON | OpenInference | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: current unversioned public specification; no stability or maturity label asserted in the reviewed pages. | Documented |
| JSON Schema | Model Context Protocol | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: MCP core specification 2026-07-28; related OpenTelemetry MCP spans are Development. | Partially documented |
| JSON Schema 2020-12 | Cursor Agent Trace | Trace format | Observed 2026-08-28: Agent Trace 0.1.0 RFC, January 2026. | Documented |
| JSON-RPC 2.0 | Model Context Protocol | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: MCP core specification 2026-07-28; related OpenTelemetry MCP spans are Development. | Partially documented |
| JSONL event stream | OpenAI Codex CLI | Coding agent | Current official public OpenAI documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned JSONL event schema asserted. | Documented |
| Langfuse Observations API | Langfuse | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; Observations API v2, with self-hosted v4+ noted on the reviewed API page. | Documented |
| LangGraph checkpoints | LangGraph | Runtime / framework | Current Python OSS documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned checkpoint schema asserted. | Unknown |
| LangSmith run data | LangSmith | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; unversioned run data format. | Documented |
| Local JSONL session | Claude Code / Claude Agent SDK | Coding agent | Current public documentation observed 2026-08-28; distributed tracing is beta and no versioned session JSONL schema is asserted. | Documented |
| MLflow trace JSON | MLflow Tracing | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; JSON span storage from 3.3.0, OTLP ingestion behavior from 3.6+, and GenAI semantic-convention mapping for 3.11+. | Documented |
| OpenAI Agents SDK traces | OpenAI Agents SDK tracing | Runtime / framework | Observed 2026-08-28: current unversioned official OpenAI documentation; no maturity label asserted on the reviewed page. | Partially documented |
| OpenInference | Arize Phoenix | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; phoenix-otel>=0.16.0 on the reviewed setup page and retention policies documented for Phoenix 9.0+. | Documented |
| OpenTelemetry | Langfuse | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; Observations API v2, with self-hosted v4+ noted on the reviewed API page. | Documented |
| OpenTelemetry | LangSmith | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; unversioned run data format. | Documented |
| OpenTelemetry GenAI semantic conventions | MLflow Tracing | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; JSON span storage from 3.3.0, OTLP ingestion behavior from 3.6+, and GenAI semantic-convention mapping for 3.11+. | Documented |
| OpenTelemetry ingestion | Braintrust | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned public trace schema asserted. | Partially documented |
| OpenTelemetry spans | Model Context Protocol | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: MCP core specification 2026-07-28; related OpenTelemetry MCP spans are Development. | Partially documented |
| OpenTelemetry spans | OpenInference | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: current unversioned public specification; no stability or maturity label asserted in the reviewed pages. | Documented |
| OpenTelemetry spans | OpenTelemetry GenAI Semantic Conventions | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: dedicated repository main branch, Development; related core Semantic Conventions 1.44.0. | Partially documented |
| OTLP | Arize Phoenix | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; phoenix-otel>=0.16.0 on the reviewed setup page and retention policies documented for Phoenix 9.0+. | Documented |
| OTLP | Claude Code / Claude Agent SDK | Coding agent | Current public documentation observed 2026-08-28; distributed tracing is beta and no versioned session JSONL schema is asserted. | Documented |
| OTLP | MLflow Tracing | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; JSON span storage from 3.3.0, OTLP ingestion behavior from 3.6+, and GenAI semantic-convention mapping for 3.11+. | Documented |
| OTLP | OpenAI Codex CLI | Coding agent | Current official public OpenAI documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned JSONL event schema asserted. | Documented |
| OTLP | OpenInference | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: current unversioned public specification; no stability or maturity label asserted in the reviewed pages. | Documented |
| OTLP | OpenTelemetry GenAI Semantic Conventions | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: dedicated repository main branch, Development; related core Semantic Conventions 1.44.0. | Partially documented |
| OTLP JSONL | OpenTelemetry Protocol | Trace format | Observed 2026-08-28: OTLP Specification 1.11.0; trace transport Stable. | Documented |
| OTLP/gRPC | OpenTelemetry Protocol | Trace format | Observed 2026-08-28: OTLP Specification 1.11.0; trace transport Stable. | Documented |
| OTLP/HTTP JSON | OpenTelemetry Protocol | Trace format | Observed 2026-08-28: OTLP Specification 1.11.0; trace transport Stable. | Documented |
| OTLP/HTTP Protobuf | OpenTelemetry Protocol | Trace format | Observed 2026-08-28: OTLP Specification 1.11.0; trace transport Stable. | Documented |
| Parquet | Braintrust | Observability platform | Current documentation observed 2026-08-28; no versioned public trace schema asserted. | Partially documented |
| Protocol Buffers | OpenInference | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: current unversioned public specification; no stability or maturity label asserted in the reviewed pages. | Documented |
| traceparent | W3C Trace Context | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: Trace Context Level 1, W3C Recommendation dated 2021-11-23. | Documented |
| tracestate | W3C Trace Context | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: Trace Context Level 1, W3C Recommendation dated 2021-11-23. | Documented |
| W3C Trace Context | Claude Code / Claude Agent SDK | Coding agent | Current public documentation observed 2026-08-28; distributed tracing is beta and no versioned session JSONL schema is asserted. | Documented |
| W3C Trace Context | Model Context Protocol | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: MCP core specification 2026-07-28; related OpenTelemetry MCP spans are Development. | Partially documented |
| W3C Trace Context | OpenTelemetry GenAI Semantic Conventions | Standard | Observed 2026-08-28: dedicated repository main branch, Development; related core Semantic Conventions 1.44.0. | Partially documented |
Format labels summarize the representations named while researching each published documentation profile; they are not independently source-linked field assertions, exercised exports, conversion guarantees, or proof of semantic equivalence.
Next question
What must survive a move?
Start with a named reconstruction use case, then identify the identity, authority, action, outcome, integrity, and privacy evidence it requires.