request-tracing

Instrument HTTP/gRPC endpoints with distributed tracing and RED metrics

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/devops/request-tracing-nexus-labs-automatio-backend-observabilit

SKILL.md

Request Tracing

Every request needs: a span, RED metrics, and trace context propagation.

Required Attributes

Attribute	Example	Note
`http.method`	GET, POST	Required
`http.route`	/api/orders/:id	Template, not actual path!
`http.status_code`	200, 500	Required
`user.tier`	premium	Recommended (not user_id!)

RED Metrics

Rate:     http.requests.count{method, route, status}
Errors:   http.requests.errors{method, route, error_type}
Duration: http.request.duration{method, route} (histogram p50/p95/p99)

Middleware Flow

Request → Extract trace context (W3C traceparent)
        → Start span (method + route)
        → Start timer
        → Call handler
        → Set status_code
        → Record duration histogram
        → If 4xx/5xx: increment error counter
        → End span
        → Inject trace context into response

Context Propagation

Critical: Always propagate to downstream services:

// Outgoing request
propagator.inject(ctx, headers)

Common Mistakes

Using actual path → /api/orders/12345 creates millions of unique values
Missing propagation → Traces break at service boundaries
Only tracking success → Must track errors with error_type

References

references/methodology/red-methodology.md
references/platforms/{platform}/http.md