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TRACE FORMAT · Profile revision 1

OpenTelemetry Protocol

The OpenTelemetry wire and file protocol for exporting trace, metric, and log telemetry between sources, collectors, and backends.

standardformatopentelemetryotlptransport

Why it is in the map

OTLP is a widely used transport and serialization layer whose delivery and portability semantics must remain separate from GenAI meaning and reconstruction sufficiency.

Tracevity boundary

A documented field can support reconstruction, but its presence alone does not prove completeness, authenticity, authorization, or external settlement.

Profile findings

What the documentation can—and cannot—establish

Each row distinguishes source evidence from Tracevity's bounded interpretation. “Not documented” describes the reviewed sources; it does not prove an implementation cannot record the artifact.

01

System identity

Partially documented

Generic telemetry source and trace correlation data can be transported.

Tracevity interpretation

These fields may carry system identity from another layer; OTLP itself does not define agent identity.

Limit

Product, runtime, agent instance/definition, session, and subagent semantics require a semantic convention.

Primary evidence (1)
02

Principal and delegation

Not documented

Principal and delegation evidence is outside the protocol.

Tracevity interpretation

Generic attributes do not constitute standardized authority evidence.

Limit

A semantic convention and identity-system correlation are required.

Primary evidence (1)
03

Instruction and context

Not documented

Instruction and context evidence is outside the protocol.

Tracevity interpretation

Payload capacity does not establish field meaning or presence.

Limit

Another semantic convention must define and populate these fields.

Primary evidence (1)
04

Decision artifacts

Not documented

Decision artifacts are outside the protocol.

Tracevity interpretation

Another semantic convention is required.

Limit

Transporting a generic attribute does not standardize its decision meaning.

Primary evidence (1)
05

Model activity

Not documented

Model activity semantics are outside the protocol.

Tracevity interpretation

A GenAI semantic convention is required.

Limit

Successful OTLP export does not establish that model details were captured.

Primary evidence (1)
06

Tool and MCP activity

Not documented

Tool and MCP semantics are outside the protocol.

Tracevity interpretation

Another semantic convention is required.

Limit

Successful transport does not establish tool trace completeness.

Primary evidence (1)
07

Effects

Not documented

External effect semantics are outside the protocol.

Tracevity interpretation

Collector acceptance is not provider acceptance or destination-state change.

Limit

Effect verification requires application and destination evidence.

Primary evidence (1)
08

Human control

Not documented

Human-control evidence is outside the protocol.

Tracevity interpretation

Another semantic convention or correlated control system is required.

Limit

Transporting custom attributes does not standardize control evidence.

Primary evidence (1)
09

Outcome

Not documented

Agent outcome semantics are outside the protocol.

Tracevity interpretation

Export acceptance proves only telemetry-delivery behavior, not tool or external success.

Limit

Application outcomes, rollback, and compensation require another source.

Primary evidence (1)
10

Trace integrity

Partially documented

Transport protection and delivery behavior are documented, but end-to-end trace integrity is not.

Tracevity interpretation

A protected channel or acknowledgment is not evidence that stored records are immutable or independently verifiable.

Limit

Collector and backend custody require separate assessment.

Primary evidence (1)
11

Portability

Documented

Multiple standardized wire and file representations are documented.

Tracevity interpretation

This is strong transport portability, not proof that destinations preserve GenAI semantics without loss.

Limit

Partial acceptance, duplicate retries, ordering, import behavior, and semantic mappings require care.

Primary evidence (1)
12

Privacy

Partially documented

Transport security is documented; payload privacy lifecycle is not.

Tracevity interpretation

Secure transport does not prevent sensitive prompts, outputs, code, PII, or tool data from being captured and retained.

Limit

Capture filtering, hashing, storage duration, and deletion remain SDK, collector, or backend concerns.

Primary evidence (1)

Related compatibility evidence

Directional mappings involving this system

These mappings preserve their own format/version, evidence, and fixture scope. They do not change the documentation posture in the twelve findings above.

Exercised August 29, 2026

OpenTelemetry GenAI development snapshot → OTLP 1.11

Representative GenAI agent, model, and tool attributes survive local HTTP/protobuf serialization, while principal, approval, destination state, and complete-capture claims remain outside the representation.

OpenTelemetry GenAI development snapshotcommit 67dff024110be5bd9f318006e733f4078e0f4c97
OTLP 1.11.0 HTTP/protobuf1.11.0
Read the mapping evidence

Exercised August 29, 2026

OpenInference 0.1.33 → OTLP 1.11

OpenInference kinds and attributes remain ordinary OTLP span attributes, but parseability does not repair broken correlation or prove a complete capture.

OpenInference semantic conventionsopeninference-semantic-conventions 0.1.33
OTLP 1.11.0 HTTP/protobuf1.11.0
Read the mapping evidence

Exercised August 29, 2026

MLflow native 3.15.2 → OTLP 1.11

MLflow's actual local exporter carries native mlflow.* model, tool, input, output, and trace structure through OTLP, but those vendor semantics are not automatically portable to a generic consumer.

MLflow Tracing native OTLP representationmlflow-tracing 3.15.2
OTLP 1.11.0 HTTP/protobuf1.11.0
Read the mapping evidence

Reconstruction reading

Do not collapse these findings into one score.

This profile describes documented evidence surfaces. Whether they are sufficient depends on the reconstruction question and the other identity, authorization, tool, and destination records available.

Potentially useful evidence

  • Identity: Generic telemetry source and trace correlation data can be transported.
  • Integrity: Transport protection and delivery behavior are documented, but end-to-end trace integrity is not.
  • Portability: Multiple standardized wire and file representations are documented.
  • Privacy: Transport security is documented; payload privacy lifecycle is not.

Explicit gaps or uncertainty

  • Principal: A semantic convention and identity-system correlation are required.
  • Context: Another semantic convention must define and populate these fields.
  • Decisions: Transporting a generic attribute does not standardize its decision meaning.
  • Models: Successful OTLP export does not establish that model details were captured.
  • Tools: Successful transport does not establish tool trace completeness.

Source register

3 reviewed primary sources

  1. OTLP Specification 1.11.0OpenTelemetry project / CNCF · STANDARD SPECIFICATION · observed August 28, 2026 · current
    Open source ↗
  2. OpenTelemetry Protocol ExporterOpenTelemetry project / CNCF · STANDARD SPECIFICATION · observed August 28, 2026 · current
    Open source ↗
  3. OpenTelemetry Protocol File ExporterOpenTelemetry project / CNCF · STANDARD SPECIFICATION · observed August 28, 2026 · current
    Open source ↗

Next question

What evidence does your use case require?

Move from documented field presence to an explicit reconstruction target, or examine selected directional format mappings without changing this system's documentation posture.

Trace Reconstruction Requirements Explore compatibility evidence