Record external-service failures
Use the@aient/otel helpers to attach a failed external call to its span. First configure the Node.js SDK. The helpers mark an existing span as an error and add an exception event; they do not retry the call or change your application’s error handling.
Record a failure
CallrecordExternalFailure inside an active OpenTelemetry span. It records the external system, attempted operation and error:
fetchCatalogue() represents your application’s external call. If you already hold the span, use recordExternalFailureOnSpan(span, input) with the same input fields.
For a failure reported as a reason string, use recordExternalFailureReason({ system, operation, reason }). It records an ExternalServiceError exception event without inventing a stack trace. Both active-span helpers do nothing when no span is active.
Optional attributes add diagnostic context, and statusDescription overrides the span’s error description. Keep error messages and attributes free of secrets, tokens and sensitive request data.
Update attribute queries
From@aient/otel 2.1.1, these helpers write the following span attributes:
Update filters or queries that use the older
glimt.external.* names. Previously stored telemetry keeps its original keys, and applications running older SDK versions continue to emit them. When querying across versions, read the corresponding legacy field when the Aient field is absent.
Custom diagnostic attributes do not change the authenticated organisation or environment. The publishable key identifies the telemetry source.