What is @opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-grpc?
@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-grpc is an npm package that allows you to export logs using the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) over gRPC. This package is part of the OpenTelemetry project, which provides a set of APIs, libraries, agents, and instrumentation to enable observability for cloud-native software. The package is specifically designed to handle the export of log data to an OTLP collector or backend.
What are @opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-grpc's main functionalities?
Exporting Logs
This code sample demonstrates how to set up and use the @opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-grpc package to export logs. It includes setting up a diagnostic logger, creating a resource, setting up a logger provider, creating an OTLP log exporter, adding a log record processor, and emitting a log.
const { diag, DiagConsoleLogger, DiagLogLevel } = require('@opentelemetry/api');
const { Resource } = require('@opentelemetry/resources');
const { SimpleLogRecordProcessor, LoggerProvider } = require('@opentelemetry/sdk-logs');
const { OTLPLogExporter } = require('@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-grpc');
// Set up diagnostic logger
diag.setLogger(new DiagConsoleLogger(), DiagLogLevel.DEBUG);
// Create a resource
const resource = new Resource({
'service.name': 'my-service',
});
// Create a logger provider
const loggerProvider = new LoggerProvider({
resource: resource,
});
// Create an OTLP log exporter
const exporter = new OTLPLogExporter({
url: 'http://localhost:4317',
});
// Add a simple log record processor
loggerProvider.addLogRecordProcessor(new SimpleLogRecordProcessor(exporter));
// Get a logger
const logger = loggerProvider.getLogger('example-logger');
// Emit a log
logger.emit({
severityText: 'INFO',
body: 'This is an example log message',
});
Other packages similar to @opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-grpc
@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-http
@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-http is another package from the OpenTelemetry project that exports logs using the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) over HTTP instead of gRPC. It provides similar functionality but uses HTTP as the transport protocol, which might be preferable in environments where gRPC is not supported or desired.
winston
Winston is a popular logging library for Node.js that supports multiple transports for log messages, including console, file, and HTTP. While it is not specifically designed for OpenTelemetry, it can be integrated with OpenTelemetry using custom transports or by exporting logs to an OTLP collector. Winston is known for its flexibility and ease of use.
bunyan
Bunyan is another logging library for Node.js that focuses on JSON log output and includes features like log levels, serializers, and multiple transports. Similar to Winston, Bunyan can be integrated with OpenTelemetry by exporting logs to an OTLP collector. Bunyan is often chosen for its performance and structured logging capabilities.
OpenTelemetry Collector Logs Exporter for node with grpc

Note: This is an experimental package under active development. New releases may include breaking changes.
This module provides a logs-exporter for OTLP (gRPC) using protocol version v0.20.0
.
Installation
npm install --save @opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-grpc
Service Name
The OpenTelemetry Collector Exporter does not have a service name configuration.
In order to set the service name, use the service.name
resource attribute as prescribed in the OpenTelemetry Resource Semantic Conventions.
To see documentation and sample code for the traces exporter, as well as instructions for using TLS, visit the Collector Trace Exporter for web and node.
To see documentation and sample code for the metric exporter, see the exporter-metrics-otlp-grpc package
Logs in Node - GRPC
The OTLPLogExporter in Node expects the URL to only be the hostname. It will not work with /v1/logs
. All
options that work with trace also work with logs.
import {
LoggerProvider,
BatchLogRecordProcessor,
} from '@opentelemetry/sdk-logs';
import { OTLPLogExporter } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-grpc';
const collectorOptions = {
url: 'http://<collector-hostname>:<port>',
};
const loggerExporter = new OTLPLogExporter(collectorOptions);
const loggerProvider = new LoggerProvider();
loggerProvider.addLogRecordProcessor(
new BatchLogRecordProcessor(loggerExporter)
);
['SIGINT', 'SIGTERM'].forEach(signal => {
process.on(signal, () => loggerProvider.shutdown().catch(console.error));
});
const logger = loggerProvider.getLogger('example-logger');
logger.emit({ body: 'example-log' });
Environment Variable Configuration
Environment variable | Description |
---|
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT | The endpoint to send logs to. By default localhost:4317 will be used. |
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT | The endpoint to send trace, metric, and logs to. By default localhost:4317 will be used. |
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_COMPRESSION | The compression type to use on OTLP trace, metric, and log requests. Options include gzip. By default no compression will be used. |
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_INSECURE | Whether to enable client transport security for the exporter's gRPC connection for trace, metric and log requests. This option only applies to OTLP/gRPC when an endpoint is provided without the http or https scheme. Options include true or false. By default insecure is false which creates a secure connection. |
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_CERTIFICATE | The path to the file containing trusted root certificate to use when verifying an OTLP trace, metric, or log server's TLS credentials. By default the host platform's trusted root certificate is used. |
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_CLIENT_KEY | The path to the file containing private client key to use when verifying an OTLP trace, metric or log client's TLS credentials. Must provide a client certificate/chain when providing a private client key. By default no client key file is used. |
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE | The path to the file containing trusted client certificate/chain for clients private key to use when verifying an OTLP trace, metric and log server's TLS credentials. Must provide a private client key when providing a certificate/chain. By default no chain file is used. |
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TIMEOUT | The maximum waiting time, in milliseconds, allowed to send each OTLP trace and metric batch. Default is 10000. |
Settings configured programmatically take precedence over environment variables. Per-signal environment variables take precedence over non-per-signal environment variables.
Useful links
License
Apache 2.0 - See LICENSE for more information.