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rippled/docs/build/telemetry.md
Pratik Mankawde 0628dc172e updated build doc
Signed-off-by: Pratik Mankawde <3397372+pratikmankawde@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-06-09 17:55:41 +01:00

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# OpenTelemetry Tracing for xrpld
This document explains how to build xrpld with OpenTelemetry distributed tracing support, configure the runtime telemetry options, and set up the observability backend to view traces.
- [OpenTelemetry Tracing for xrpld](#opentelemetry-tracing-for-xrpld)
- [Overview](#overview)
- [Building with Telemetry](#building-with-telemetry)
- [Summary](#summary)
- [Build steps](#build-steps)
- [Install dependencies](#install-dependencies)
- [Call CMake](#call-cmake)
- [Build](#build)
- [Building without telemetry](#building-without-telemetry)
- [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
- [Conan lockfile error](#conan-lockfile-error)
- [CMake target not found](#cmake-target-not-found)
- [Conditional compilation](#conditional-compilation)
## Overview
xrpld supports optional [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io/) distributed tracing.
When enabled, it instruments RPC requests with trace spans that are exported via
OTLP/HTTP to an OpenTelemetry Collector, which forwards them to a tracing backend
such as Grafana Tempo.
Telemetry is **off by default** at both compile time and runtime:
- **Compile time**: The Conan option `telemetry` and CMake option `telemetry` must be set to `True`/`ON`.
When disabled, all `SpanGuard` calls compile to inline no-ops (defined in `SpanGuard.h`)
with zero overhead — no OTel SDK dependency required.
- **Runtime**: The `[telemetry]` config section must set `enabled=1`.
When disabled at runtime, a no-op implementation is used.
## Building with Telemetry
### Summary
Follow the same instructions as mentioned in [BUILD.md](../../BUILD.md) but with the following changes:
1. Pass `-o telemetry=True` to `conan install` to pull the `opentelemetry-cpp` dependency.
2. CMake will automatically pick up `telemetry=ON` from the Conan-generated toolchain.
3. Build as usual.
---
### Build steps
```bash
cd /path/to/xrpld
rm -rf .build
mkdir .build
cd .build
```
#### Install dependencies
The `telemetry` option adds `opentelemetry-cpp/1.26.0` as a dependency.
If the Conan lockfile does not yet include this package, bypass it with `--lockfile=""`.
```bash
conan install .. \
--output-folder . \
--build missing \
--settings build_type=Debug \
-o telemetry=True \
-o tests=True \
-o xrpld=True \
--lockfile=""
```
> **Note**: The first build with telemetry may take longer as `opentelemetry-cpp`
> and its transitive dependencies are compiled from source.
#### Call CMake
The Conan-generated toolchain file sets `telemetry=ON` automatically.
No additional CMake flags are needed beyond the standard ones.
```bash
cmake .. -G Ninja \
-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:FILEPATH=build/generators/conan_toolchain.cmake \
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug \
-Dtests=ON -Dxrpld=ON
```
You should see in the CMake output:
```
-- OpenTelemetry tracing enabled
```
#### Build
```bash
cmake --build . --parallel $(nproc)
```
## Building without telemetry
Omit the `-o telemetry=True` option (or pass `-o telemetry=False`).
The `opentelemetry-cpp` dependency will not be downloaded,
the `XRPL_ENABLE_TELEMETRY` preprocessor define will not be set,
and all tracing macros will compile to no-ops.
The resulting binary is identical to one built before telemetry support was added.
## Troubleshooting
### Conan lockfile error
If you see `ERROR: Requirement 'opentelemetry-cpp/1.26.0' not in lockfile 'requires'`,
the lockfile was generated without the telemetry dependency.
Pass `--lockfile=""` to bypass the lockfile, or regenerate it with telemetry enabled.
### CMake target not found
If CMake reports that `opentelemetry-cpp` targets are not found,
ensure you ran `conan install` with `-o telemetry=True` and that the
Conan-generated toolchain file is being used.
The Conan package provides a single umbrella target
`opentelemetry-cpp::opentelemetry-cpp` (not individual component targets).
## Conditional compilation
All OpenTelemetry SDK types are hidden behind the pimpl idiom in `SpanGuard.cpp`.
When `XRPL_ENABLE_TELEMETRY` is not defined, `SpanGuard.h` provides an all-inline
no-op stub class with zero overhead and zero OTel dependencies.
At runtime, if `enabled=0` is set in config (or the section is omitted), a
`NullTelemetry` implementation is used that returns no-op spans.
This two-layer approach ensures zero overhead when telemetry is not wanted.