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This page covers instrumenting a Go application with the OpenTelemetry SDK to send logs and traces to Bronto over OTLP/HTTP via a local OTel Collector. Logs are bridged from log/slog — no log statement changes needed. Traces are added by configuring a tracer provider alongside the log provider.
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.

​
Prerequisites

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Install dependencies

go get go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log
go get go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlplog/otlploghttp
go get go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/bridges/otelslog
go get go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/resource
go get go.opentelemetry.io/otel/semconv/v1.26.0
PackagePurpose
sdk/logLoggerProvider and processors
exporters/otlp/otlplog/otlploghttpOTLP/HTTP exporter
contrib/bridges/otelslogBridges log/slog into OTel
sdk/resourceResource builder
semconv/v1.26.0Standard attribute key constants

​
Configure the log bridge

The otelslog bridge replaces the default slog handler. All slog.Info(), slog.Warn(), and slog.Error() calls are forwarded to the OTel pipeline automatically.
otel_logging.go
package logging

import (
    "context"
    "log/slog"

    "go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/bridges/otelslog"
    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlplog/otlploghttp"
    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log"
    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/resource"
    semconv "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/semconv/v1.26.0"
)

func Configure(ctx context.Context) (shutdown func(context.Context) error, err error) {
    res, err := resource.New(ctx,
        resource.WithAttributes(
            semconv.ServiceName("my-service"),
            semconv.ServiceNamespace("my-team"),
            semconv.DeploymentEnvironment("production"),
        ),
    )
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }

    exporter, err := otlploghttp.New(ctx,
        otlploghttp.WithEndpoint("localhost:4318"),
        otlploghttp.WithInsecure(),
    )
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }

    provider := log.NewLoggerProvider(
        log.WithResource(res),
        log.WithProcessor(log.NewBatchProcessor(exporter)),
    )

    // Replace the default slog handler with the OTel bridge
    slog.SetDefault(slog.New(otelslog.NewHandler("my-service",
        otelslog.WithLoggerProvider(provider))))

    return provider.Shutdown, nil
}

​
Configure the OTLP exporter

The otlploghttp.New call in the snippet above connects to the OTel Collector on localhost:4318 without TLS. If your Collector runs on a different host or port, update WithEndpoint accordingly. To use TLS, remove WithInsecure() and ensure your Collector is configured with a valid certificate.

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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 resource.WithAttributes in the setup above.

​
Complete example

main.go
package main

import (
    "context"
    "log/slog"
    "os"
    "os/signal"

    "myapp/logging"
)

func main() {
    ctx, stop := signal.NotifyContext(context.Background(), os.Interrupt)
    defer stop()

    shutdown, err := logging.Configure(ctx)
    if err != nil {
        slog.Error("failed to configure OTel logging", "error", err)
        os.Exit(1)
    }
    defer shutdown(context.Background())

    slog.Info("Application started")
    slog.Warn("Low disk space", "disk_free_gb", 2.1)
    slog.Error("Database connection failed", "error", "timeout")
}
defer shutdown(context.Background()) flushes any buffered log records before the process exits.

​
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.
  • logging.Configure is called before the first slog statement.
  • The shutdown function is called before process exit to flush buffered records.

​
Traces

The go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation packages provide instrumentation for net/http, gRPC, database drivers, and more with minimal setup. For example, wrap your HTTP handler with otelhttp.NewHandler for automatic span creation per request. See Go instrumentation libraries for the full list.

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Install tracing dependencies

go get go.opentelemetry.io/otel
go get go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/trace
go get go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracehttp

​
Configure the tracer provider

otel_tracing.go
package logging

import (
    "context"

    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracehttp"
    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/resource"
    sdktrace "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/trace"
)

func ConfigureTracing(ctx context.Context, res *resource.Resource) (shutdown func(context.Context) error, err error) {
    exporter, err := otlptracehttp.New(ctx,
        otlptracehttp.WithEndpoint("localhost:4318"),
        otlptracehttp.WithInsecure(),
    )
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }

    provider := sdktrace.NewTracerProvider(
        sdktrace.WithResource(res),
        sdktrace.WithBatcher(exporter),
    )

    otel.SetTracerProvider(provider)
    return provider.Shutdown, nil
}
Pass the same res from Configure so both signals share service.name and service.namespace.

​
Creating spans

tracer := otel.Tracer("my-service")

ctx, span := tracer.Start(ctx, "process-payment")
defer span.End()

span.SetAttributes(attribute.Float64("payment.amount", 99.99))
slog.InfoContext(ctx, "Processing payment")  // trace_id and span_id injected automatically
Use slog.InfoContext (with the span context) to ensure the active span’s IDs are propagated to the log record.

​
Complete example

main.go
package main

import (
    "context"
    "log/slog"
    "os"
    "os/signal"

    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/attribute"
    "myapp/logging"
)

func main() {
    ctx, stop := signal.NotifyContext(context.Background(), os.Interrupt)
    defer stop()

    logShutdown, res, err := logging.Configure(ctx)
    if err != nil {
        slog.Error("failed to configure logging", "error", err)
        os.Exit(1)
    }
    defer logShutdown(context.Background())

    traceShutdown, err := logging.ConfigureTracing(ctx, res)
    if err != nil {
        slog.Error("failed to configure tracing", "error", err)
        os.Exit(1)
    }
    defer traceShutdown(context.Background())

    tracer := otel.Tracer("my-service")
    ctx, span := tracer.Start(ctx, "handle-request")
    defer span.End()

    span.SetAttributes(attribute.String("http.method", "GET"))
    slog.InfoContext(ctx, "Handling request")  // trace_id + span_id attached automatically
}

​
Direct export to Bronto

If you are not using an OTel Collector, export directly to Bronto by replacing the exporter configurations with the Bronto OTLP endpoints and your API key: 
// Logs
logExporter, err := otlploghttp.New(ctx,
    otlploghttp.WithEndpoint("ingestion.eu.bronto.io"), // or ingestion.us.bronto.io
    otlploghttp.WithURLPath("/v1/logs"),
    otlploghttp.WithHeaders(map[string]string{"x-bronto-api-key": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"}),
)

// Traces
traceExporter, err := otlptracehttp.New(ctx,
    otlptracehttp.WithEndpoint("ingestion.eu.bronto.io"), // or ingestion.us.bronto.io
    otlptracehttp.WithURLPath("/v1/traces"),
    otlptracehttp.WithHeaders(map[string]string{"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.