open-telemetry / open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification
SDK Startup Specification
@dyladan is already working on this.
Since Oct 27, 2025.
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Description
Goal
Define a clear specification for how SDK components ({*}Providers) are created together focusing on:
- How they share a notion of
Resource - How
ResourceDetectors are provided / configured.
This captures an open question in OTEP 4316
Context
As part of the Entities SIG - we'd like to move Resource specification to be a stable API vs. just an SDK feature.
This should enable semantic convention tooling (e.g code generation) and a more clear ecosystem for extensions (Today, extending resource detection can be awkward and diverge per-SDK).
Additionally, the Client-Side / Browser SIG would like to allow resources to be updated during the lifetime of an SDK.
This places an even greater requirement on sorting out SDK startup concerns and ensuring we have a legitimate resource before first returning telemetry while also expanding our capabilities to meet the needs of the browser SIG.
Contributor guide
First steps
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Assessment
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