setting-up-distributed-tracing

# Distributed Tracing Setup This skill provides automated assistance for distributed tracing setup tasks. ## Overview This skill streamlines the process of setting up distributed tracing in a microservices environment. It guides you through the key steps of instrumenting your services, configuring trace context propagation, and selecting a backend for trace collection and analysis, enabling comprehensive monitoring and debugging. ## How It Works 1. **Backend Selection**: Determines the preferred tracing backend (e.g., Jaeger, Zipkin, Datadog). 2. **Instrumentation Strategy**: Designs an instrumentation strategy for each service, focusing on key operations and dependencies. 3. **Configuration Generation**: Generates the necessary configuration files and code snippets to enable distributed tracing. ## When to Use This Skill This skill activates when you need to: - Implement distributed tracing in a microservices application. - Gain end-to-end visibility into request flows across multiple services. - Troubleshoot performance bottlenecks and latency issues. ## Examples ### Example 1: Adding Tracing to a New Microservice User request: "setup tracing for the new payment service" The skill will: 1. Prompt for the preferred tracing backend (e.g., Jaeger). 2. Generate code snippets for OpenTelemetry instrumentation in the payment service. ### Example 2: Troubleshooting Performance Issues User request: "implement distributed tracing to debug slow checkout process" The skill will: 1. Guide the user through instrumenting relevant services in the checkout flow. 2. Provide configuration examples for context propagation. ## Best Practices - **Backend Choice**: Select a tracing backend that aligns with your existing infrastructure and monitoring tools. - **Sampling Strategy**: Implement a sampling strategy to manage trace volume and cost, especially in high-traffic environments. - **Context Propagation**: Ensure proper context propagation across all services to maintain trace continuity. ## Integration This skill can be used in conjunction with other plugins to automate the deployment and configuration of tracing infrastructure. For example, it can integrate with infrastructure-as-code tools to provision Jaeger or Zipkin clusters. ## Prerequisites - Appropriate file access permissions - Required dependencies installed ## Instructions 1. Invoke this skill when the trigger conditions are met 2. Provide necessary context and parameters 3. Review the generated output 4. Apply modifications as needed ## Output The skill produces structured output relevant to the task. ## Error Handling - Invalid input: Prompts for correction - Missing dependencies: Lists required components - Permission errors: Suggests remediation steps ## Resources - Project documentation - Related skills and commands