diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/tracing.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/tracing.ts
index 4d7141d63994f7..38b1fcc253755e 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/tracing.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/tracing.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 import * as opentracing from 'opentracing';
 import { TracingConfig, initTracerFromEnv } from 'jaeger-client';
 import { Sampler, SamplingDecision } from './jaeger-client-types';
-import { initGlobalTracer } from 'opentracing';
+import { followsFrom, initGlobalTracer } from 'opentracing';
 import { injectable } from 'inversify';
 import { ResponseError } from 'vscode-jsonrpc';
 import { log, LogContext } from './logging';
@@ -22,13 +22,15 @@ export type TraceContextWithSpan = TraceContext & {
 
 
 export namespace TraceContext {
-    export function startSpan(operation: string, parentCtx?: TraceContext): opentracing.Span {
-        let options: opentracing.SpanOptions | undefined = undefined;
+    export function startSpan(operation: string, parentCtx?: TraceContext, ...referencedSpans: (opentracing.Span | opentracing.SpanContext | undefined)[]): opentracing.Span {
+        const options: opentracing.SpanOptions = {};
         if (parentCtx) {
-            options = {
-                childOf: parentCtx.span
-            };
+            options.childOf = parentCtx.span;
         }
+        if (referencedSpans) {
+            options.references = referencedSpans.filter(s => s !== undefined).map(s => followsFrom(s!));
+        }
+
         return opentracing.globalTracer().startSpan(operation, options);
     }
 
diff --git a/components/server/src/websocket/websocket-connection-manager.ts b/components/server/src/websocket/websocket-connection-manager.ts
index 865f276b82c4fa..52420dd3b8d260 100644
--- a/components/server/src/websocket/websocket-connection-manager.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/websocket/websocket-connection-manager.ts
@@ -244,10 +244,21 @@ class GitpodJsonRpcConnectionHandler<T extends object> extends JsonRpcConnection
     onConnection(connection: MessageConnection, request?: object): void {
         const clientMetadata = ClientMetadata.fromRequest(request);
 
+        // trace the ws connection itself
+        const span = opentracing.globalTracer().startSpan("ws-connection");
+        const ctx = { span };
+        traceClientMetadata(ctx, clientMetadata);
+        TraceContext.setOWI(ctx, {
+            userId: clientMetadata.userId,
+            sessionId: clientMetadata.sessionId,
+        });
+        connection.onClose(() => span.finish());
+
         const factory = new GitpodJsonRpcProxyFactory<T>(
             this.createAccessGuard(request),
             this.createRateLimiter(clientMetadata.id, request),
             clientMetadata,
+            ctx,
         );
         const proxy = factory.createProxy();
         factory.target = this.targetFactory(proxy, request);
@@ -272,6 +283,7 @@ class GitpodJsonRpcProxyFactory<T extends object> extends JsonRpcProxyFactory<T>
         protected readonly accessGuard: FunctionAccessGuard,
         protected readonly rateLimiter: RateLimiter,
         protected readonly clientMetadata: ClientMetadata,
+        protected readonly connectionCtx: TraceContext,
     ) {
         super();
     }
@@ -283,7 +295,7 @@ class GitpodJsonRpcProxyFactory<T extends object> extends JsonRpcProxyFactory<T>
             increaseApiCallUserCounter(method, "anonymous");
         }
 
-        const span = opentracing.globalTracer().startSpan(method);
+        const span = TraceContext.startSpan(method, undefined, this.connectionCtx.span);
         const ctx = { span };
         const userId = this.clientMetadata.userId;
         try {