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This page covers instrumenting an Erlang or Elixir application with the OpenTelemetry SDK to send logs and traces to Bronto over OTLP/HTTP via a local OTel Collector. Logs are captured via the kernel logger handler automatically. Traces are created using the OTel API macros and functions.
If you don’t have a Collector and want to export directly from your application to Bronto, see Direct export to Bronto at the bottom of this page.

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Prerequisites

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Install dependencies

def deps do
  [
    {:opentelemetry_api, "~> 1.4"},
    {:opentelemetry, "~> 1.4"},
    {:opentelemetry_exporter, "~> 1.7"}
  ]
end
PackagePurpose
opentelemetry_apiCore OTel API
opentelemetrySDK — LoggerProvider, processors, kernel log handler
opentelemetry_exporterOTLP/HTTP exporter

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Configure the log bridge

The OTel SDK ships an Erlang kernel logger handler (otel_log_handler) that captures all log events emitted via :logger (Erlang) or Logger (Elixir). Configure it in your application config. 
import Config

config :opentelemetry,
  resource: [
    service: [
      name: "my-service",
      namespace: "my-team"
    ],
    "deployment.environment": "production"
  ],
  logs_exporter: :otlp

config :opentelemetry_exporter,
  otlp_protocol: :http_protobuf,
  otlp_logs_endpoint: "http://localhost:4318/v1/logs"
No code changes are required — the kernel logger handler is installed automatically when the opentelemetry application starts.

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Set resource attributes

Resource attributes are attached to every log record exported from this process. Two attributes drive how Bronto organises incoming logs:
OTel attributeBronto conceptDescription
service.nameDatasetGroups logs from one service
service.namespaceCollectionGroups related services or a team’s services
These are set via the resource config key in the setup above.

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Complete example

# Existing Logger calls work unchanged
require Logger

Logger.info("Application started")
Logger.warning("Low disk space", disk_free_gb: 2.1)
Logger.error("Database connection failed", reason: :timeout)
Existing Logger / :logger calls require no changes. The OTel handler runs alongside any existing handlers (console, file) configured in your kernel logger setup.

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Verify log collection

After running your application, open the Search page in Bronto. Filter by the dataset name you set in service.name — your log records should appear within a few seconds. If no logs appear, check:
  • The OTel Collector is running and reachable at the configured endpoint.
  • The Collector’s pipeline includes a logs pipeline with an otlp receiver and the Bronto exporter — see Connect Open Telemetry to Bronto.
  • The opentelemetry application is started before your application (listed in extra_applications or applications in your .app.src/mix.exs).

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Traces

Framework-specific instrumentation libraries are available for Phoenix, Ecto, LiveView, Absinthe, and more — add opentelemetry_phoenix, opentelemetry_ecto, etc. to your deps and they instrument those frameworks automatically. See Erlang/Elixir instrumentation libraries for the full list.

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Configure tracing

Tracing is included in the same opentelemetry and opentelemetry_exporter packages — no additional dependencies are needed. Add the traces endpoint to your config: 
config :opentelemetry,
  resource: [
    service: [name: "my-service", namespace: "my-team"],
    "deployment.environment": "production"
  ],
  traces_exporter: :otlp,
  logs_exporter: :otlp

config :opentelemetry_exporter,
  otlp_protocol: :http_protobuf,
  otlp_traces_endpoint: "http://localhost:4318/v1/traces",
  otlp_logs_endpoint: "http://localhost:4318/v1/logs"

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Creating spans

require OpenTelemetry.Tracer, as: Tracer

Tracer.with_span "process-payment" do
  Tracer.set_attributes([{"payment.amount", 99.99}, {"payment.currency", "USD"}])
  Logger.info("Processing payment")  # trace_id and span_id injected automatically
end
Any log emitted inside a span will automatically have trace_id and span_id attached.

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Direct export to Bronto

If you are not using an OTel Collector, export directly to Bronto by replacing the exporter endpoints and adding your API key: 
config :opentelemetry_exporter,
  otlp_protocol: :http_protobuf,
  otlp_logs_endpoint: "https://ingestion.eu.bronto.io/v1/logs",
  otlp_traces_endpoint: "https://ingestion.eu.bronto.io/v1/traces",
  otlp_headers: [{"x-bronto-api-key", "<YOUR_API_KEY>"}]
RegionLogs endpointTraces endpoint
EUhttps://ingestion.eu.bronto.io/v1/logshttps://ingestion.eu.bronto.io/v1/traces
UShttps://ingestion.us.bronto.io/v1/logshttps://ingestion.us.bronto.io/v1/traces
See API Keys for how to create a key with ingestion permissions. No other changes to the rest of the setup are required.