Glossary
Definition
OpenTelemetry is an open standard and toolkit for generating, collecting, and exporting traces, metrics, and logs to any compatible observability backend.
OpenTelemetry (OTel) defines a vendor-neutral data model and protocol (OTLP) for telemetry. Applications instrument once and export to whichever observability platform the organization runs. Traces show the path of a request across services with timing; metrics summarize behavior; logs capture events.
For AI agents, OpenTelemetry makes each step of an agent's work visible in the same tools engineers already use: which tools were called, with what latency, how many tokens were used, where an approval hold occurred, and what the outcome was. It is the practical basis for debugging, cost control, and incident response.
Meridian's Gateway emits OpenTelemetry traces, metrics, and logs for every agent step, exportable to the customer's observability stack.
Read next
Long-form explainers and frameworks that use this term, dated and signed.
Explainers
MCP explained without jargon: how agents discover and call tools, where tool permissions must be enforced, why the gateway pattern matters, and how OpenTelemetry makes agent runs observable.
Owen Gallagher6 min read
Buying and ROI
Formulas and four worked examples for AI agent ROI in HR and finance, using modeled design-partner outcomes: hours recovered, direct dollars, risk value, what to exclude, and a 90-day measurement plan.
Priya Raman6 min read
Get started
Start with one workflow, one approver, and one number to move. Most design partners were live in five weeks.