# Opentelemetry MCP Server (MCP server)

> Opentelemetry MCP Server is an MCP server that adds developer tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. Unified MCP server for querying OpenTelemetry traces across multiple backends (Jaeger, Tempo, Traceloop, etc.), enabling AI agents to analyze… It has 204 GitHub stars, is released under the Apache-2.0 license and runs locally with uvx opentelemetry-mcp.

Query and analyze LLM traces with AI assistance. Ask Claude to find expensive API calls, debug errors, compare model performance, or track token usage—all from your IDE.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | https://github.com/traceloop/opentelemetry-mcp-server |
| GitHub stars | 204 |
| License | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python |
| Transport | stdio |
| Packages | pypi: opentelemetry-mcp |
| Remote URL | none |
| Needs API key | yes |
| Official | yes |
| Works with | Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code |
| Category | Developer tools |
| Latest release | 0.2.2 (Feb 8, 2026) |
| Last commit | Jun 21, 2026 |

## Install

### Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "opentelemetry-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "opentelemetry-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BACKEND_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Settings > Developer > Edit Config. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.

### Claude Code

```sh
claude mcp add --env BACKEND_API_KEY=your-value --transport stdio opentelemetry-mcp-server -- uvx opentelemetry-mcp
```

### Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "opentelemetry-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "opentelemetry-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BACKEND_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Project file; use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to enable it in every project.

### VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "backend_api_key",
      "description": "BACKEND_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "opentelemetry-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "opentelemetry-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BACKEND_API_KEY": "${input:backend_api_key}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Config formats checked against the official docs on 2026-10-07.

## Environment variables

- `BACKEND_TYPE`: Shown in the README's example configuration.
- `BACKEND_URL`: Shown in the README's example configuration.
- `BACKEND_API_KEY` (secret): Shown in the README's example configuration.

## Tools

- `search_traces`: Search traces with advanced filters
- `search_spans`: Search individual spans
- `get_trace`: Get complete trace details
- `get_llm_usage`: Aggregate token usage metrics
- `list_services`: List available services
- `find_errors`: Find traces with errors
- `list_llm_models`: Discover models in use
- `get_llm_model_stats`: Get model performance stats
- `get_llm_expensive_traces`: Find highest token usage
- `get_llm_slow_traces`: Find slowest operations

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