Elixir OpenTelemetry Instrumentation Guide

SigNoz Cloud - This page applies to SigNoz Cloud editions.
Self-Host - This page applies to self-hosted SigNoz editions.

This document contains OpenTelemetry instrumentation instructions for Elixir Phoenix + Ecto framework.

Send Traces to SigNoz Cloud

Based on your application environment, you can choose the setup below to send traces to SigNoz Cloud.

From VMs, there are two ways to send data to SigNoz Cloud.

Send traces directly to SigNoz Cloud

Step 1. Add dependencies

Install dependencies related to OpenTelemetry by adding them to mix.exs file

    {:opentelemetry_exporter, "~> 1.6"},
    {:opentelemetry_api, "~> 1.2"},
    {:opentelemetry, "~> 1.3"},
    {:opentelemetry_semantic_conventions, "~> 0.2"},
    {:opentelemetry_cowboy, "~> 0.2.1"},
    {:opentelemetry_phoenix, "~> 1.1"},
    {:opentelemetry_ecto, "~> 1.1"}

In your application start, usually the application.ex file, setup the telemetry handlers

    :opentelemetry_cowboy.setup()
    OpentelemetryPhoenix.setup(adapter: :cowboy2)
    OpentelemetryEcto.setup([:your_app_name, :repo])

:your_app_name is the OTP application name atom from your mix.exs (e.g., :my_app).

As an example, this is how you can setup the handlers in your application.ex file for an application called demo:

# application.ex
@impl true
def start(_type, _args) do
  :opentelemetry_cowboy.setup()
  OpentelemetryPhoenix.setup(adapter: :cowboy2)
  OpentelemetryEcto.setup([:demo, :repo])

end

Step 2. Configure Application

You need to configure your application to send telemetry data by adding the following config to your runtime.exs file:

config :opentelemetry, :resource, service: %{name: "<service-name>", version: "<service-version>"}

config :opentelemetry, :processors,
  otel_batch_processor: %{
    exporter: {
      :opentelemetry_exporter,
      %{
        endpoints: ["https://ingest.<region>.signoz.cloud:443"],
        headers: [
          {"signoz-ingestion-key", "<your-ingestion-key>"}
        ]
      }
    }
  }

Verify these values:

  • <region>: Your SigNoz Cloud region
  • <your-ingestion-key>: Your SigNoz ingestion key
  • <service-name>: A descriptive name for your service (e.g., my-phoenix-app).
  • <service-version> (optional): Your release version, image tag, or git SHA (e.g., 1.4.2, a01dbef8).

Set service.version to a per-build value, not a static string. SigNoz detects a deployment each time this value changes. Common sources:

  • Bash / shell: service.version=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
  • GitHub Actions: service.version=${{ github.sha }}
  • GitLab CI: service.version=$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA
  • Kubernetes: inject from your Helm chart image tag or CI variable

Send traces via OTel Collector binary

Step 1. Install OTel Collector binary

OTel Collector binary helps to collect logs, hostmetrics, resource and infra attributes.

You can find instructions to install OTel Collector binary here in your VM.

Step 2. Add dependencies

Install dependencies related to OpenTelemetry by adding them to mix.exs file

    {:opentelemetry_exporter, "~> 1.6"},
    {:opentelemetry_api, "~> 1.2"},
    {:opentelemetry, "~> 1.3"},
    {:opentelemetry_semantic_conventions, "~> 0.2"},
    {:opentelemetry_cowboy, "~> 0.2.1"},
    {:opentelemetry_phoenix, "~> 1.1"},
    {:opentelemetry_ecto, "~> 1.1"}

In your application start, usually the application.ex file, setup the telemetry handlers

    :opentelemetry_cowboy.setup()
    OpentelemetryPhoenix.setup(adapter: :cowboy2)
    OpentelemetryEcto.setup([:your_app_name, :repo])

As an example, this is how you can setup the handlers in your application.ex file for an application called demo:

# application.ex
@impl true
def start(_type, _args) do
  :opentelemetry_cowboy.setup()
  OpentelemetryPhoenix.setup(adapter: :cowboy2)
  OpentelemetryEcto.setup([:demo, :repo])

end

Step 3. Configure Application

You need to configure your application to send telemetry data by adding the following config to your runtime.exs file:

config :opentelemetry, :resource, service: %{name: "<service-name>", version: "<service-version>"}

config :opentelemetry, :processors,
    otel_batch_processor: %{
      exporter:
      {:opentelemetry_exporter,
      %{endpoints: ["http://localhost:4318"]}
      }
  }

Verify these values:

  • <service-name>: A descriptive name for your service (e.g., my-phoenix-app).
  • <service-version> (optional): Your release version, image tag, or git SHA (e.g., 1.4.2, a01dbef8).

Set service.version to a per-build value, not a static string. SigNoz detects a deployment each time this value changes. Common sources:

  • Bash / shell: service.version=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
  • GitHub Actions: service.version=${{ github.sha }}
  • GitLab CI: service.version=$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA
  • Kubernetes: inject from your Helm chart image tag or CI variable

Last updated: May 18, 2026

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