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Status Future consideration
Workspace Instana
Categories Tracing
Created by Guest
Created on Dec 9, 2025

RELATED IDEAS

Ability to augment Instana Autotrace traces with OpenTelemetry spans without the need to use the Instana SDK

Hi,

As a company we want to move towards OpenTelemetry in order to be ready for future developments. In some application we need to augment traces with some special information (e.g. compiled SQL statements and others) which we want to do with OTel means.

Right now it is not possible to simply get the trace context from Instana autotrace without using the Instana SDK. We want ideally only to use OpenTelemetry to rid us from any future changes should we follow a pure OTel approach. It should be like: getTraceContext -> startSpan span.setAttribute without reaching out to the Instana SDK to get the context.

We are mainly developing in Java with a handful of .NET applications.

Thanks and regards,

Rainer

Idea priority Medium
  • Admin
    Rodoljub Radivojevic
    Apr 17, 2026

    Hello @Guest

    Thank you for taking the time to provide your ideas to IBM. Your request may not be delivered within the release currently under development, but the theme aligns with our current roadmap and, as such, is being tagged for future consideration. IBM may consider and evaluate any community feedback for your request through activities such as voting and we may reach out to you about this request to discuss additional details with you in the future.

    We truly value our relationship with you and appreciate your willingness to share details about your experience, your recommendations, and ideas.

    If you have any additional feedback or thoughts, or if there is anything else I can do, please do not hesitate to reply to this message to continue the conversation.

    Please note: IBM's statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at IBM's sole discretion.

    Thank you!

    Reply
  • Admin
    Paras Kampasi
    Jan 14, 2026

    Hi,

    Thanks for reaching out. Is the requirement to provide OTel SDK or zero code agents from Instana?
    Today you should be able to use these provided by the community and then add span attributes as necessary. These attributes will then be available for filtering and visualizations within Instana.

    Kind regards,
    Paras Kampasi

    1 reply

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