This document defines the shared attributes used to report an error.
Attribute | Type | Description | Examples | Stability |
---|---|---|---|---|
error.type |
string | Describes a class of error the operation ended with. [1] | timeout ; java.net.UnknownHostException ; server_certificate_invalid ; 500 |
[1]: The error.type
SHOULD be predictable, and SHOULD have low cardinality.
When error.type
is set to a type (e.g., an exception type), its
canonical class name identifying the type within the artifact SHOULD be used.
Instrumentations SHOULD document the list of errors they report.
The cardinality of error.type
within one instrumentation library SHOULD be low.
Telemetry consumers that aggregate data from multiple instrumentation libraries and applications
should be prepared for error.type
to have high cardinality at query time when no
additional filters are applied.
If the operation has completed successfully, instrumentations SHOULD NOT set error.type
.
If a specific domain defines its own set of error identifiers (such as HTTP or gRPC status codes), it's RECOMMENDED to:
- Use a domain-specific attribute
- Set
error.type
to capture all errors, regardless of whether they are defined within the domain-specific set or not.
error.type
has the following list of well-known values. If one of them applies, then the respective value MUST be used; otherwise, a custom value MAY be used.
Value | Description | Stability |
---|---|---|
_OTHER |
A fallback error value to be used when the instrumentation doesn't define a custom value. |