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Use OpenTelemetry Java agent extensions without hiding incident traces

Filter noise, normalize routes, and tune sampling in the Java agent without changing the application or breaking incident investigations.

A practical guide to rolling out OpenTelemetry Java agent extensions with guardrails: baseline, a minimal extension, canary checks, Collector metrics, and proof that errors remain visible.

Created: August 22, 2026

Published: August 22, 2026

Estimated time45 min

LevelAdvanced

Before you startA Java application already instrumented with the OpenTelemetry Java agent

PlatformsLinux / Docker

WhatsApp X LinkedIn

Linux

Build a minimal Java agent extension, run it in a canary, and validate volume, errors, queues, and trace search before promoting it.

JDK 17+Maven or Gradlecurloptional promtoolkubectl if the service runs on Kubernetes

Build the extension

mvn -q -DskipTests=false package

Start the canary with the extension

java -javaagent:/otel/opentelemetry-javaagent.jar -Dotel.javaagent.extensions=/otel/extensions/incident-trace-guardrails.jar -Dotel.service.name=checkout-api -jar app.jar

Check Collector metrics

curl -s localhost:8888/metrics | egrep "otelcol_receiver_accepted_spans|otelcol_exporter_sent_spans|otelcol_exporter_send_failed|otelcol_exporter_queue"

Also available inUsar extensiones del agente Java de OpenTelemetry sin ocultar trazas de incidente

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