Status: Stable, Unless otherwise specified.
The Semantic Conventions for PostgreSQL extend and override the Database Semantic Conventions.
Status:
Spans representing calls to a PostgreSQL database adhere to the general Semantic Conventions for Database Client Spans.
db.system.name MUST be set to "postgresql" and SHOULD be provided at span creation time.
Span kind SHOULD be CLIENT.
Span status SHOULD follow the Recording Errors document.
Attributes:
| Key | Stability | Requirement Level | Value Type | Description | Example Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
db.namespace |
 |
Conditionally Required If available without an additional network call. |
string | The schema associated with the connection, qualified by the database name. [1] | mydatabase.products; mydatabase.customers |
db.response.status_code |
|
Conditionally Required If response has ended with warning or an error. |
string | PostgreSQL error code. [2] | 08000; 08P01 |
error.type |
|
Conditionally Required If and only if the operation failed. |
string | Describes a class of error the operation ended with. [3] | timeout; java.net.UnknownHostException; server_certificate_invalid; 500 |
server.port |
|
Conditionally Required [4] |
int | Server port number. [5] | 80; 8080; 443 |
db.collection.name |
|
Recommended [6] |
string | The name of a collection (table, container) within the database. [7] | public.users; customers |
db.operation.batch.size |
|
Recommended |
int | The number of queries included in a batch operation. [8] | 2; 3; 4 |
db.operation.name |
|
Recommended [9] |
string | The name of the operation or command being executed. [10] | EXECUTE; INSERT |
db.query.summary |
|
Recommended [11] |
string | Low cardinality summary of a database query. [12] | SELECT wuser_table; INSERT shipping_details SELECT orders; get user by id |
db.query.text |
|
Recommended [13] |
string | The database query being executed. [14] | SELECT * FROM wuser_table where username = ?; SET mykey ? |
db.stored_procedure.name |
|
Recommended [15] |
string | The name of a stored procedure within the database. [16] | GetCustomer |
server.address |
|
Recommended |
string | Name of the database host. [17] | example.com; 10.1.2.80; /tmp/my.sock |
db.query.parameter.<key> |
 |
Opt-In |
string | A database query parameter, with <key> being the parameter name, and the attribute value being a string representation of the parameter value. [18] |
someval; 55 |
db.response.returned_rows |
|
Opt-In |
int | Number of rows returned by the operation. [19] | 10; 30; 1000 |
[1] db.namespace: db.namespace SHOULD be set to the combination of database and schema name following the {database}|{schema} pattern.
If either {database} or {schema} is unavailable, db.namespace SHOULD be set to the other (without any | separator).
A connection's currently associated database may change during its lifetime, e.g. from executing SET search_path TO <schema>.
If the search path has multiple schemas, the first schema in the search path SHOULD be used.
If instrumentation is unable to capture the connection's currently associated schema on each query
without triggering an additional query to be executed (e.g. SELECT current_schema()),
then it is RECOMMENDED to fallback and use the schema provided when the connection was established.
Instrumentation SHOULD document if db.namespace reflects the schema provided when the connection was established.
Instrumentation MAY use the user name when the connection was established as a stand-in for the schema name.
Instrumentation SHOULD document if db.namespace reflects the user provided when the connection was established.
It is RECOMMENDED to capture the value as provided by the application without attempting to do any case normalization.
[2] db.response.status_code: PostgreSQL follows SQL standard conventions for SQLSTATE. Response codes of "Class 02" or higher SHOULD be considered errors.
[3] error.type: The error.type SHOULD match the db.response.status_code returned by the database or the client library, or the canonical name of exception that occurred.
When using canonical exception type name, instrumentation SHOULD do the best effort to report the most relevant type. For example, if the original exception is wrapped into a generic one, the original exception SHOULD be preferred.
Instrumentations SHOULD document how error.type is populated.
[4] server.port: If using a port other than the default port for this DBMS and if server.address is set.
[5] server.port: When observed from the client side, and when communicating through an intermediary, server.port SHOULD represent the server port behind any intermediaries, for example proxies, if it's available.
[6] db.collection.name: If the operation is executed via a higher-level API that does not support multiple collection names.
[7] db.collection.name: The collection name SHOULD NOT be extracted from db.query.text.
[8] db.operation.batch.size: Operations are only considered batches when they contain two or more operations, and so db.operation.batch.size SHOULD never be 1.
[9] db.operation.name: If the operation is executed via a higher-level API that does not support multiple operation names.
[10] db.operation.name: The operation name SHOULD NOT be extracted from db.query.text.
[11] db.query.summary: if available through instrumentation hooks or if the instrumentation supports generating a query summary.
[12] db.query.summary: The query summary describes a class of database queries and is useful
as a grouping key, especially when analyzing telemetry for database
calls involving complex queries.
Summary may be available to the instrumentation through instrumentation hooks or other means. If it is not available, instrumentations that support query parsing SHOULD generate a summary following Generating query summary section.
For batch operations, if the individual operations are known to have the same query summary
then that query summary SHOULD be used prepended by BATCH ,
otherwise db.query.summary SHOULD be BATCH or some other database
system specific term if more applicable.
[13] db.query.text: Non-parameterized query text SHOULD NOT be collected by default unless there is sanitization that excludes sensitive data, e.g. by redacting all literal values present in the query text. See Sanitization of db.query.text.
Parameterized query text SHOULD be collected by default (the query parameter values themselves are opt-in, see db.query.parameter.<key>).
[14] db.query.text: For sanitization see Sanitization of db.query.text.
For batch operations, if the individual operations are known to have the same query text then that query text SHOULD be used, otherwise all of the individual query texts SHOULD be concatenated with separator ; or some other database system specific separator if more applicable.
Parameterized query text SHOULD NOT be sanitized. Even though parameterized query text can potentially have sensitive data, by using a parameterized query the user is giving a strong signal that any sensitive data will be passed as parameter values, and the benefit to observability of capturing the static part of the query text by default outweighs the risk.
[15] db.stored_procedure.name: If operation applies to a specific stored procedure.
[16] db.stored_procedure.name: It is RECOMMENDED to capture the value as provided by the application
without attempting to do any case normalization.
For batch operations, if the individual operations are known to have the same stored procedure name then that stored procedure name SHOULD be used.
[17] server.address: When observed from the client side, and when communicating through an intermediary, server.address SHOULD represent the server address behind any intermediaries, for example proxies, if it's available.
[18] db.query.parameter.<key>: If a query parameter has no name and instead is referenced only by index,
then <key> SHOULD be the 0-based index.
db.query.parameter.<key> SHOULD match
up with the parameterized placeholders present in db.query.text.
It is RECOMMENDED to capture the value as provided by the application without attempting to do any case normalization.
db.query.parameter.<key> SHOULD NOT be captured on batch operations.
Examples:
-
For a query
SELECT * FROM users where username = %swith the parameter"jdoe", the attributedb.query.parameter.0SHOULD be set to"jdoe". -
For a query
"SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = %(userName)s;with parameteruserName = "jdoe", the attributedb.query.parameter.userNameSHOULD be set to"jdoe".
[19] db.response.returned_rows: The number of rows returned by the database operation as observed
by the instrumentation at the time the span ends.
The following attributes can be important for making sampling decisions and SHOULD be provided at span creation time (if provided at all):
error.type has the following list of well-known values. If one of them applies, then the respective value MUST be used; otherwise, a custom value MAY be used.
| Value | Description | Stability |
|---|---|---|
_OTHER |
A fallback error value to be used when the instrumentation doesn't define a custom value. | |
Status: Development
Instrumentations MAY propagate context using SET application_name by injecting fixed-length part of span context (trace-id, span-id, trace-flags, protocol version) before executing a query. For example, when using W3C Trace Context, only a string representation of traceparent SHOULD be injected. Context injection SHOULD NOT be enabled by default, but instrumentation MAY allow users to opt into it.
Variable context parts (tracestate, baggage) SHOULD NOT be injected since application_name value length is limited to less than NAMEDATALEN characters (63 characters in a standard build).
Instrumentations that propagate context MUST execute SET application_name on the same physical connection as the SQL statement.
The application_name value is visible in pg_stat_activity and can be included in PostgreSQL server logs via %a in log_line_prefix.
Example:
For a query SELECT * FROM songs where traceparent is 00-0af7651916cd43dd8448eb211c80319c-b7ad6b7169203331-01:
Run the following command on the same physical connection as the SQL statement:
SET application_name = '00-0af7651916cd43dd8448eb211c80319c-b7ad6b7169203331-01';Then run the query:
SELECT * FROM songs;PostgreSQL client instrumentations SHOULD collect metrics according to the general Semantic Conventions for Database Client Metrics.
db.system.name MUST be set to "postgresql".