Send OpenTelemetry traces to Agent Analytics

Amplitude's OTLP endpoint accepts OpenTelemetry GenAI spans and translates them into the same [Agent] events the AI SDK produces, so sessions, enrichment, and every chart work the same way. If your stack already emits GenAI spans, point your exporter at Amplitude. You don't need the Amplitude SDK or new instrumentation.

Use this path when you already run an OpenTelemetry exporter or Collector. If you instrument a Node or Python app with the AI SDK instead, use the SDK's in-process OTel exporters, which are a separate path. Before you start, decide your session ID and privacy mode.

Configure your exporter

Set these environment variables on your exporter or Collector:

OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT=https://api.amplitude.com/otlp/v1/traces   # US
# OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT=https://api.eu.amplitude.com/otlp/v1/traces  # EU
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="Authorization=Bearer <project API key>"
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf   # or http/json

The OTLP HTTP endpoint is generally available in the US and EU. A valid project API key is enough. Amplitude doesn't require a per-project enablement request, and the receiver never returns 403 for a missing allowlist.

• Protocol: OTLP over HTTP only. Amplitude accepts http/protobuf (the OpenTelemetry SDK and Collector default) and http/json, with optional gzip. Amplitude doesn't support OTLP/gRPC, so bridge gRPC traffic through a local Collector with an OTLP/HTTP exporter.
• Authentication: Pass the project API key as a Bearer token or as an api_key query parameter.
• Supported instrumentation: OpenTelemetry GenAI semantic conventions, OpenInference (llm.*), OpenLLMetry and Traceloop (traceloop.*), OpenLIT, and LiteLLM. Amplitude ignores non-GenAI spans, so you can point a mixed Collector at Amplitude.

Set session and user attributes

The session attribute is the one change worth making to your instrumentation. Amplitude maps everything else automatically.

An Amplitude agent session is a whole conversation, not one trace. Without a conversation attribute, every trace becomes its own single-turn session. Task completion and abandonment then read as noise, and because billing is per agent session, one conversation bills as several.

Set these attributes on your GenAI spans:

• Session: gen_ai.conversation.id, set to your conversation, ticket, or run ID. Refer to Choose a session ID.
• User: enduser.id, set to the same user ID you use for product analytics. Never send a placeholder such as anonymous. Refer to Set user IDs.
• Agent: gen_ai.agent.id, or Amplitude falls back to the resource service.name.

Amplitude also reads other common attributes, such as session.id and Traceloop association properties. For the full resolution order, refer to Attribute resolution order.

To report cost, also set gen_ai.usage.cost. Amplitude doesn't calculate a cost when this attribute is absent.

Apply your privacy mode

Most OpenTelemetry GenAI instrumentation treats message content as opt-in.

• Content capture off: You get the metadata_only shape: cost, tokens, latency, model, and sessions, with no transcripts.
• Content capture on: gen_ai.input.messages, gen_ai.output.messages, and gen_ai.system_instructions flow into $llm_message and [Agent] System Prompt, where Amplitude's redaction and enrichment apply.

Redaction that must happen before data leaves your network belongs in a Collector processor. For what each mode sends, refer to Agent Analytics privacy modes.

Keep delivery reliable

Delivery is at least once. Run a Collector with a persistent sending queue and keep retries enabled, because an in-memory queue loses buffered spans on restart. A 200 response can carry a partial_success body listing rejected events. For limits and response codes, refer to Delivery, limits, and responses.

Verify

Send one traced conversation, then confirm in Live Events that the events arrive with:

1. A real [Agent] Session ID, not a trace ID.
2. A populated [Agent] Agent ID.
3. Your own user IDs, not unknown.

Those three values come from the attributes in Set session and user attributes. For the full checklist, refer to Verify your Agent Analytics instrumentation.