@absolutejs/telemetry

Tiny shared OpenTelemetry substrate for the AbsoluteJS substrate packages.

Docs: absolutejs.com/documentation/telemetry-overview

What it is. Type-replicated OTel surface + noop implementations + the tracerOrNoop() helper + ABS_ATTRS semantic conventions. ~250 LOC, zero runtime deps.

What it solves. The deep-research audit's G2 gap: substrate packages (runtime / sync / queue / router / secrets / rate-limit / isolated-jsc) need OTel spans for the "one trace from edge → runtime → sync → queue → secret" SRE narrative. Without a shared substrate, every package writes its own peer-dep / noop-fallback boilerplate and picks its own attribute names.

How it's wired. Every substrate package factory takes an optional tracerProvider?: TracerProvider. Internally it calls:

const tracer = tracerOrNoop(options.tracerProvider, '@absolutejs/<pkg>');

and uses tracer.startActiveSpan(name, options, fn) in hot paths. When the user passes their @opentelemetry/api TracerProvider, real spans flow through. When they don't, the noop tracer executes the callback with zero allocations.

Install

bun add @absolutejs/telemetry
# Optional — only if you want real OTel spans:
bun add @opentelemetry/api @opentelemetry/sdk-node

The package has no runtime dependencies. It does not peer-dep @opentelemetry/api — its types are structurally compatible, so a real OTel TracerProvider satisfies the shape this package expects.

Usage

As a substrate-package author

import { tracerOrNoop, ABS_ATTRS, type TracerProvider } from '@absolutejs/telemetry';

export type MyPackageOptions = {
  // existing options...
  tracerProvider?: TracerProvider;
};

export const createMyPackage = (options: MyPackageOptions) => {
  const tracer = tracerOrNoop(options.tracerProvider, '@absolutejs/my-package');

  return {
    doWork: async (input: string) => {
      return tracer.startActiveSpan(
        'my-package.doWork',
        { attributes: { [ABS_ATTRS.tenant]: input } },
        async (span) => {
          try {
            const result = await actuallyDoWork(input);
            return result;
          } catch (error) {
            span.recordException(error);
            throw error;
          } finally {
            span.end();
          }
        }
      );
    },
  };
};

Or use the convenience wrapper withSpan(tracer, name, options, fn) that auto-sets status + recordException + end() for the common case.

As a consumer wiring it all together

import { NodeTracerProvider } from '@opentelemetry/sdk-node';
import { createMyPackage } from '@absolutejs/my-package';

const tracerProvider = new NodeTracerProvider({ /* exporter, sampler, etc */ });
tracerProvider.register();

const pkg = createMyPackage({ tracerProvider });
// Spans now flow through to your configured exporter.

API

tracerOrNoop(provider, name, version?)

Returns provider.getTracer(name, version) if provider is defined; otherwise a noop tracer. The canonical entry point for substrate packages.

withSpan(tracer, name, options, fn) / withSpanSync(...)

Wrap an async (or sync) callback in a span that auto-sets:

• status: OK on success
• status: ERROR + recordException(error) on throw
• span.end() in either case (finally)

const result = await withSpan(
  tracer,
  'sync.runMutation',
  { attributes: { [ABS_ATTRS.mutation]: 'createIssue' } },
  async (span) => {
    span.setAttribute(ABS_ATTRS.mutationAttempt, 1);
    return await engine.runMutation('createIssue', args, ctx);
  }
);

createNoopSpan() / createNoopTracer() / createNoopTracerProvider()

Singletons. Useful in tests + as default fallbacks.

ABS_ATTRS

Standard attribute names. Use these instead of inline string literals so cross-package queries (abs.tenant = "acme") resolve in one filter:

abs.tenant                  // tenant / shard key
abs.shard.id

// sync
abs.engine.id
abs.collection
abs.mutation
abs.mutation.attempt
abs.subscription.id
abs.batch.size
abs.cluster.origin

// queue
abs.job.id
abs.job.kind
abs.job.attempt
abs.job.max_attempts
abs.worker.id

// runtime
abs.runtime.key
abs.runtime.pid
abs.runtime.port
abs.runtime.exit_reason
abs.runtime.readiness_ms

// router
abs.route.shard
abs.route.decision

// secrets
abs.secret.name
abs.secret.fingerprint

// audit
abs.audit.kind

Adding NEW attributes is a minor bump; renaming an existing one is a breaking change (anyone querying their span store has hard-coded the old name).

Type re-exports

Tracer, Span, TracerProvider, SpanContext, SpanStatus, SpanStatusCode, SpanKind, SpanOptions, Attributes, AttributeValue, AbsAttrName. Mirror @opentelemetry/api exactly; a real OTel TracerProvider satisfies these types structurally.

License

Apache 2.0. Tier B substrate-adjacent under the AbsoluteJS licensing policy.