Span Name Documentation

This page contains documentation for known span names. You can use this documentation to understand how to create the name attribute for a span, when you have the span's other attributes.

Generating Names

Span names are generated via string template. Each span category of work has a set of templates for the span name. Curly brackets in the template indicate that the contents inside the curly brackets should be replaced with the contents of the span attribute of the name within the brackets.

The templates should be evaluated in order of appearance. The final template should be a static string, to be used as a fallback when none of the attribute-based templates can be satisfied.

Example

Given templates:

{{http.request.method}} {{http.route}}
{{http.request.method}}
HTTP

And attributes http.request.method = "GET", http.route = "/users/:id":

Result: "GET /users/:id"

Browser

Pageload

A full page load of a web application.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

pageload

Templates

{{url.template}}
Pageloadfallback

Examples

/users/:id/homePageload

Cache lookup

The cache lookup / fetch start phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.cache

Templates

Cache lookupfallback

Examples

Cache lookup

DNS lookup

The DNS domain lookup phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.dns

Templates

DNS lookupfallback

Examples

DNS lookup

Connect

The connection phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.connect

Templates

Connectfallback

Examples

Connect

TLS handshake

The secure connection (TLS/SSL) phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.tls_ssl

Templates

TLS handshakefallback

Examples

TLS handshake

Redirect

The redirect phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.redirect

Templates

Redirectfallback

Examples

Redirect

Request

The request phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.request

Templates

Requestfallback

Examples

Request

Response

The response phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.response

Templates

Responsefallback

Examples

Response

Unload event

The unload event phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.unload_event

Templates

Unload eventfallback

Examples

Unload event

DOMContentLoaded event

The DOMContentLoaded event phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.dom_content_loaded_event

Templates

DOMContentLoaded eventfallback

Examples

DOMContentLoaded event

Load event

The load event phase of a browser navigation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.load_event

Templates

Load eventfallback

Examples

Load event

Paint

A paint timing entry reported by the browser.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

browser.paint

Templates

{{browser.paint.type}}
Paintfallback

Examples

first-paintfirst-contentful-paintPaint

Cache

Cache operations

Operations that interact with a cache, such as reading or writing cached values.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

cachecache.getcache.putcache.remove

Templates

cache.{{cache.operation}}
Cache operationfallback

Examples

cache.getcache.putcache.removeCache operation

Database

Queries

Operations that act on the data in a database. Includes operations like fetching, updating, and deleting records. Does not include operations like connecting to the database server.

Affected `op`s

dbdb.querydb.sql.querydb.sql.prismadb.sql.active_recorddb.sql.executedb.sql.roomdb.sql.transactiondb.redisredis

Templates

{{db.query.summary}}
{{db.operation.name}} {{db.collection.name}}
{{db.operation.name}} {{db.stored_procedure.name}}
{{db.operation.name}} {{db.namespace}}
{{db.operation.name}} {{server.address}}:{{server.port}}
{{db.collection.name}}
{{db.stored_procedure.name}}
{{db.namespace}}
{{server.address}}:{{server.port}}
{{db.system.name}}
Database operationfallback

Examples

SELECT usersfindAndModify productsuserspostgres

Function

Function execution

The execution of a function or a set of instructions that isn't covered by a more specific operation.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

function

Templates

{{code.function.name}}
Function executionfallback

Examples

server_requesthandleSubmitFunction execution

Generative AI

Agent

Generative AI agent operations (e.g., spawning a new agent, an agent performing an action on behalf of a user, and agent handing off work to another agent).

Our definition differs from OpenTelemetry. The "gen_ai.handoff" operation is not present in OpenTelemetry.

Affected `op`s

gen_ai.create_agentgen_ai.handoffgen_ai.invoke_agent

Templates

{{gen_ai.operation.name}} {{gen_ai.agent.name}}
{{gen_ai.operation.name}} {{gen_ai.pipeline.name}}
{{gen_ai.operation.name}} {{gen_ai.function_id}}
{{gen_ai.operation.name}}
Generative AI agent operationfallback

Examples

text_completion Zedtext_completion Claude Codeinvoke_agent format_promptinvoke_agent weather_agentembeddings

Inference

Generative AI inference operations. Requests to a generative AI model to perform some unit of work (e.g., autocomplete, translation, chat completion, response to a query).

Affected `op`s

gen_aigen_ai.chatgen_ai.embeddingsgen_ai.execute_toolgen_ai.generate_contentgen_ai.rerankgen_ai.responsesgen_ai.text_completion

Templates

{{gen_ai.operation.name}} {{gen_ai.request.model}}
{{gen_ai.operation.name}} {{gen_ai.tool.name}}
{{gen_ai.operation.name}}
Generative AI model operationfallback

Examples

text_completion gpt-4embeddings huggingfacechat claude-opus-4execute_tool get_weatherchat

GraphQL

Any and all operations that fall under GraphQL

Our definition differs from OpenTelemetry. Unlike OTel, we prefix GraphQL operations with the word "GraphQL" (e.g., "GraphQL query" vs. "query").

Affected `op`s

http.graphqlhttp.graphql.queryhttp.graphql.mutationhttp.graphql.subscriptiongraphql.executegraphql.parsegraphql.resolvegraphql.requestgraphql.querygraphql.mutationgraphql.subscriptiongraphql.validate

Templates

GraphQL {{graphql.operation.type}}
GraphQL {{graphql.processing.type}}
GraphQL Operationfallback

Examples

GraphQL queryGraphQL mutationGraphQL subscriptionGraphQL parseGraphQL resolveGraphQL Operation

HTTP

Client

Operations that represent outgoing HTTP requests.

Affected `op`s

http.clienthttp.client.stream

Templates

{{http.request.method}} {{http.route}}
{{http.request.method}} {{url.template}}
{{http.request.method}} {{url.domain}}
{{http.request.method}}
HTTPfallback

Examples

GET /users/:idGET api.mydomain.comGETHTTP

Server

Operations that represent processing incoming HTTP requests in a web server.

Affected `op`s

http.server

Templates

{{http.request.method}} {{http.route}}
{{http.request.method}} {{url.template}}
{{http.request.method}}
HTTPfallback

Examples

GET /users/:idGETHTTP

Messaging

Operations that represent working with messages on topics in streaming data systems and queues (e.g., producing and consuming messages in Kafka, RabbitMQ).

Affected `op`s

topictopic.sendtopic.receivetopic.processqueuequeue.taskqueue.task.celeryqueue.task.rqqueue.task.delayed_jobqueue.task.active_jobqueue.submitqueue.submit.celeryqueue.resquequeue.sidekiq

Templates

{{messaging.operation.type}} {{messaging.destination.name}}
{{messaging.operation.type}} {{server.address}}:{{server.port}}
{{messaging.operation.type}}
Messagingfallback

Examples

send user.datapublish

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Server

MCP server-side operations. Processing of incoming MCP requests or notifications initiated by a client, such as tool calls, prompt requests, and resource reads.

Our definition differs from OpenTelemetry. OpenTelemetry uses gen_ai.tool.name and gen_ai.prompt.name for the target in the span name.

Affected `op`s

mcp.server

Templates

{{mcp.method.name}} {{gen_ai.tool.name}}
{{mcp.method.name}} {{gen_ai.prompt.name}}
{{mcp.method.name}}
MCP server operationfallback

Examples

tools/call get-weatherprompts/get analyze-coderesources/readinitialize

Notification

MCP notifications. One-way messages exchanged between an MCP client and server that do not expect a response.

Our definition differs from OpenTelemetry. OpenTelemetry does not model notifications as distinct operations; they are covered by the MCP Client and Server spans.

Affected `op`s

mcp.notification.client_to_servermcp.notification.server_to_client

Templates

{{mcp.method.name}}
MCP notificationfallback

Examples

notifications/initializednotifications/cancellednotifications/progress

Resource

Resources

Loading of resources in the browser.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

resourceresource.scriptresource.cssresource.linkresource.imgresource.audioresource.videoresource.iframeresource.other

Templates

{{url.domain}}
Resourcefallback

Examples

example.com

Routing

Router

Operations that match and dispatch requests or navigations through an application router.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

router

Templates

Examples

UserProfile/users/:id/users/{id}Router

Serverless (FAAS)

Serverless function execution

The invocation of a serverless function on a cloud provider.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

function.awsfunction.gcpfunction.azure

Templates

{{faas.name}}
Serverless function executionfallback

Examples

my_functionprocess-uploadServerless function execution

Web server

Request handler

Handling of an incoming request by a web server route handler.

Names for this category are not specified in OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions.

Affected `op`s

handler

Templates

{{http.route}}
Request handlerfallback

Examples

/users/:idRequest handler

Span Name Documentation

Generating Names

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