---
title: "OpenTelemetry support in Document Engine"
canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/monitoring/opentelemetry/"
md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/monitoring/opentelemetry.md"
last_updated: "2026-06-09T10:26:34.496Z"
description: "Document Engine enables reporting OpenTelemetry traces. To enable them, use the ENABLE_OPENTELEMETRY configuration option."
---

Document Engine enables reporting [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io) traces. To enable them, use the `ENABLE_OPENTELEMETRY` [configuration option](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/configuration/options.md#logging-and-monitoring-options).

For metrics export with Prometheus and Grafana, refer to our [metrics export](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/monitoring/enable-metrics-export.md) guide.

## Setting up OpenTelemetry exporting

Standard OpenTelemetry project environment variables are supported. Refer to the [official documentation](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/configuration/sdk-environment-variables/).

When deploying with [Helm](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/deployment/helm.md), as we recommend,
simplified [values](https://github.com/PSPDFKit/helm-charts/blob/master/charts/document-engine/values.yaml) from the `observability.opentelemetry` section are available:

```yaml

observability:
  opentelemetry:
    # Enable OpenTelemetry (`ENABLE_OPENTELEMETRY`),

    # only tracing is currently supported

    enabled: false
    # `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT`,

    # if not set, defaults to `http://localhost:4317`

    otlpExporterEndpoint: ""
    # `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL`,

    # if not set, defaults to `grpc`

    otlpExporterProtocol: ""
    # `OTEL_SERVICE_NAME`, service name

    otelServiceName: ""
    # `OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES`, resource attributes

    otelResourceAttributes: ""
    # `OTEL_PROPAGATORS`, propagators

    otelPropagators: ""
    # `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER`, should normally not be touched

    # to allow custom `parent_based` work,

    # but something like `parentbased_traceidratio` may be considered

    otelTracesSampler: ""
    # `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG`, argument for the sampler

    otelTracesSamplerArg: ""

# Extra environment variables

extraEnvs: []

```
---

## Related pages

- [Document Engine logs](/guides/document-engine/monitoring/logs.md)
- [Expose Document Engine metrics](/guides/document-engine/monitoring/enable-metrics-export.md)
- [Metrics reference](/guides/document-engine/monitoring/metrics-reference.md)