honeycomb-pycpp

Python bindings for the OpenTelemetry C++ SDK. Provides high-performance tracing via a Pythonic interface, and ships as an OpenTelemetry distro for drop-in use with auto-instrumentation.

This library is experimental.

Installation

pip install honeycomb-pycpp

The wheel bundles the OpenTelemetry C++ SDK — no system-level dependencies required.

Configuration

The SDK is configured via a YAML file following the OpenTelemetry Configuration File Format. A default config is embedded in the package and used when no override is provided.

Environment variable	Description
OTEL_CONFIG_FILE	Path to a custom configuration YAML. Overrides the embedded default.
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	OTLP endpoint (default: http://localhost:4318)
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS	Headers to send with OTLP requests
OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES	Comma-separated resource attributes
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME	Service name

Usage

As a distro (auto-instrumentation)

opentelemetry-instrument --service-name my-service python app.py

The distro registers itself automatically via entry points — no code changes required.

Programmatic use

import otel_cpp_tracer as otel

# Initialize from config file (or uses embedded default)
provider = otel.TracerProvider("path/to/otel.yaml")

tracer = provider.get_tracer("my-tracer")

with tracer.start_as_current_span("my-span") as span:
    span.set_attribute("key", "value")
    # ... do work ...

Current limitations

• Tracing only — metrics and logs are not yet supported
• Links require OpenTelemetry C++ ABI v2 (not yet enabled)

Building from source

Requirements: Python >= 3.10, CMake >= 3.15, C++17 compiler.

git clone https://github.com/honeycombio/honeycomb-pycpp
cd honeycomb-pycpp
pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
pip install -e .

To rebuild after C++ changes:

pip install -e . --force-reinstall --no-deps

To clean up cmake artifacts:

rm -rf CMakeCache.txt CMakeFiles/ cmake_install.cmake build/ dist/ *.egg-info/ *.so

License

Apache License 2.0