mcpbeat Sign in

183 Java Observability Tracing Opentelemetry Agent Skill

by jabrena

Use when you need to implement or improve distributed tracing with OpenTelemetry in Java — including trace/span modeling, context propagation, semantic conventions, span attributes/events/status, sampling strategy, baggage usage, privacy safeguards, and backend integration with OTLP collectors. This should trigger for requests such as Improve tracing; Apply OpenTelemetry tracing; Add distributed tracing; Refactor tracing instrumentation; Instrument Java services with OpenTelemetry spans. Part of Plinth Toolkit

4k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
2
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
423
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository 
npx skills add https://github.com/jabrena/plinth --skill 183-java-observability-tracing-opentelemetry

The instruction itself

5 sections, as written by the author

Java Distributed Tracing with OpenTelemetry

Implement robust distributed tracing in Java with OpenTelemetry by modeling meaningful spans, preserving context propagation, and instrumenting critical business and infrastructure paths with low-overhead, privacy-safe telemetry.

What is covered in this Skill?

  • OpenTelemetry tracing fundamentals for Java services
  • Span design: boundaries, parent/child relationships, and operation naming
  • Context propagation across HTTP, messaging, async tasks, and thread boundaries
  • Semantic conventions and stable attribute naming
  • Error/status/event recording best practices
  • Sampling strategy and performance/cost trade-offs
  • Privacy and security controls for trace attributes
  • Testing and verification of trace propagation and span correctness

Scope: Distributed tracing quality in application and integration layers, focused on diagnosability, consistency, and operational safety.

Constraints

Tracing instrumentation must preserve context correctly and avoid leaking sensitive data. Over-instrumentation and high-cardinality attributes can harm cost and signal quality.

  • PROPAGATION FIRST: Ensure context propagation across all sync/async boundaries before adding extra span detail
  • NO SENSITIVE DATA: Never store secrets, credentials, tokens, raw payloads, or PII in span attributes/events
  • LOW CARDINALITY ATTRIBUTES: Avoid unbounded values in attributes that are used for aggregation/search
  • VERIFY: Run ./mvnw clean verify or mvn clean verify after applying tracing changes

When to use this skill

  • Improve tracing
  • Apply OpenTelemetry tracing
  • Add distributed tracing
  • Refactor tracing instrumentation
  • Instrument Java services with OpenTelemetry spans

Workflow

  • Define trace model and critical flows

Identify high-value request and async flows, define operation boundaries, and choose span names/attributes aligned with semantic conventions.

  • Instrument and propagate context

Add OpenTelemetry spans to key boundaries and ensure trace context is propagated across HTTP clients/servers, messaging, and executor-based async work.

  • Harden span data and sampling

Record status/errors/events consistently, remove sensitive data, control attribute cardinality, and configure sampling/exporters according to environment needs.

  • Validate traces end-to-end

Verify parent-child relationships, propagation continuity, and backend visibility through tests and runtime checks.

Reference

For detailed guidance, examples, and constraints, see references/183-java-observability-tracing-opentelemetry.md.

Other skills for the same job

different authors, same section of the catalogue
Fresh Eyes Review
by ComeOnOliver
×1

This skill should be used as a mandatory final sanity check before git commit, PR creation, or declaring work done. Triggers on "commit", "push", "PR", "pull request", "done", "finished", "complete", "ship", "deploy", "ready to merge". Catches security vulnerabilities, logic errors, and business rule bugs that slip through despite passing tests.

4k tokens
Style Audit
by ComeOnOliver
×1

Audits code against CI/CD style rules, quality guidelines, and best practices, then rewrites code to meet standards without breaking functionality. Use this skill after functionality validation to ensure code is not just correct but also maintainable, readable, and production-ready. The skill applies linting rules, enforces naming conventions, improves code organization, and refactors for clarity while preserving all behavioral correctness verified by functionality audits.

10k tokens
Create Implementation Plan
by github
vendor

Create a new implementation plan file for new features, refactoring existing code or upgrading packages, design, architecture or infrastructure.

2k tokens
Mcore Cicd
by NVIDIA
vendor

CI/CD reference for Megatron-LM. Covers CI pipeline structure, PR scope labels, triggering internal GitLab CI (which force-pushes the current branch to a pull-request/BRANCH ref — always dry-run and verify the destination first; never run against shared or protected branches), and CI failure investigation.

4k tokens
Sarif Parsing
by trailofbits

>- Parses and processes SARIF files from static analysis tools like CodeQL, Semgrep, or other scanners. Triggers on "parse sarif", "read scan results", "aggregate findings", "deduplicate alerts", or "process sarif output". Handles filtering, deduplication, format conversion, and CI/CD integration of SARIF data. Does NOT run scans — use the Semgrep or CodeQL skills for that.

8k tokens scripts
Tactical Ddd
by tech-leads-club

Detects anemic domain models, validates and refactors them into rich domain models, and enforces tactical DDD patterns (Entities, Value Objects, Aggregates, Domain Services, Domain Events). Use when the user asks to validate, review, or check domain models or DDD code; detect anemia; refactor domain objects; improve encapsulation; or mentions terms like "anemic model", "rich domain", "aggregate", "value object", "domain event", "ubiquitous language", "is this good DDD", "does this follow DDD", or "check my domain". Do NOT use for module or service boundary design, architectural decomposition, strategic DDD context mapping, or code outside the domain layer (DTOs, controllers, infrastructure adapters).

5k tokens
Ios Redteam Pipeline
by elementalsouls

End-to-end iOS red-team pipeline — IPA acquisition (App Store extraction, TestFlight, enterprise/ad-hoc sideload), class-dump/Hopper/Ghidra static analysis, Info.plist + entitlements + Keychain secret extraction, App Transport Security (ATS) misconfig + certificate-pinning bypass (frida-ios-dump, objection, SSL Kill Switch 2), URL-scheme / Universal Link hijack, exported-service enumeration, Frida runtime instrumentation. Companion to apk-redteam-pipeline for the iOS side of a mobile app catalogue. Use when target has an iOS app (App Store listing, TestFlight link, enterprise MDM distribution), when an IPA URL is found hosted on a web server, or when post-recon mentions "iOS app" / "mobile app" in scope alongside an Apple developer account.

4k tokens
Kql Validator
by Azure

Validate KQL (Kusto Query Language) files used in Azure Quick Review (azqr) against their recommendation definitions. Use when the user wants to validate KQL syntax, check semantic alignment with recommendations, verify property names against Azure REST API schemas, or audit KQL queries before a pull request. WHEN: "validate kql", "check kql files", "kql syntax error", "validate aks kql", "run kql validator", "validate azure resource graph queries", "check recommendations alignment", "validate kql for <service>".

8k tokens

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take jabrena/183-java-observability-tracing-opentelemetry from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.