# Debug Exporter | Status | | | ------------- |-----------| | Stability | [alpha]: traces, metrics, logs, profiles | | Distributions | [core], [contrib], [k8s] | | Warnings | [Unstable Output Format](#warnings) | | Issues | [](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Aexporter%2Fdebug) [](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/issues?q=is%3Aclosed+is%3Aissue+label%3Aexporter%2Fdebug) | | [Code Owners](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#becoming-a-code-owner) | [@andrzej-stencel](https://www.github.com/andrzej-stencel) | [alpha]: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/blob/main/docs/component-stability.md#alpha [core]: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/tree/main/distributions/otelcol [contrib]: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/tree/main/distributions/otelcol-contrib [k8s]: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/tree/main/distributions/otelcol-k8s Outputs telemetry data to the console for debugging purposes. See also the [Troubleshooting][troubleshooting_docs] document for examples on using this exporter. [troubleshooting_docs]: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/troubleshooting/#local-exporters ## Getting Started The following settings are optional: - `verbosity` (default = `basic`): the verbosity of the debug exporter: `basic`, `normal` or `detailed`. See [Verbosity levels](#verbosity-levels) below for more information. - `sampling_initial` (default = `2`): number of messages initially logged each second. - `sampling_thereafter` (default = `1`): sampling rate after the initial messages are logged (every Mth message is logged). The default value of `1` means that sampling is disabled. To enable sampling, change `sampling_thereafter` to a value higher than `1`. Refer to [Zap docs](https://godoc.org/go.uber.org/zap/zapcore#NewSampler) for more details on how sampling parameters impact number of messages. - `use_internal_logger` (default = `true`): uses the collector's internal logger for output. See [below](#using-the-collectors-internal-logger) for description. - `output_paths` (default = `["stdout"]`): a list of file paths to write output to. This option can only be used when `use_internal_logger` is `false`. Special strings "stdout" and "stderr" are interpreted as [standard output](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_streams#Standard_output_(stdout)) and [standard error](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_streams#Standard_error_(stderr)) respectively. All other values are treated as file paths. Setting `output_paths` when `use_internal_logger` is `true` results in a configuration error. - `sending_queue` (disabled by default): see [Sending Queue](../exporterhelper/README.md#sending-queue) for the full set of available options. Example configuration: ```yaml exporters: debug: verbosity: detailed sampling_initial: 5 sampling_thereafter: 200 ``` Example configuration with custom output path: ```yaml exporters: debug: use_internal_logger: false output_paths: - stderr ``` ## Verbosity levels The following subsections describe the output from the exporter depending on the configured verbosity level - `basic`, `normal` and `detailed`. The default verbosity level is `basic`. To understand how the below example output was generated, see [Generating example output](./generating-example-output.md). ### Basic verbosity With `verbosity: basic`, the exporter outputs a single-line summary of received data with a total count of telemetry records for every batch of received logs, metrics or traces. Here's an example output: ```console 2025-04-17T10:40:44.559+0200 info Traces {"otelcol.component.id": "debug/basic", "otelcol.component.kind": "Exporter", "otelcol.signal": "traces", "resource spans": 1, "spans": 2} ``` ### Normal verbosity With `verbosity: normal`, the exporter outputs about one line for each telemetry record. The "one line per telemetry record" is not a strict rule. For example, logs with multiline body will be output as multiple lines. Here's an example output: ```console 2025-05-09T19:57:16.332+0200 info Traces {"resource": {}, "otelcol.component.id": "debug/normal", "otelcol.component.kind": "exporter", "otelcol.signal": "traces", "resource spans": 1, "spans": 2} 2025-05-09T19:57:16.332+0200 info ResourceTraces #0 [https://opentelemetry.io/schemas/1.25.0] service.name=telemetrygen ScopeTraces #0 telemetrygen okey-dokey-0 ab1030bd4ee554af936542b01d7b4807 1d8c93663d043aa8 net.sock.peer.addr=1.2.3.4 peer.service=telemetrygen-client lets-go ab1030bd4ee554af936542b01d7b4807 0d238e8a2f97733f net.sock.peer.addr=1.2.3.4 peer.service=telemetrygen-server {"resource": {}, "otelcol.component.id": "debug/normal", "otelcol.component.kind": "exporter", "otelcol.signal": "traces"} ``` ### Detailed verbosity With `verbosity: detailed`, the exporter outputs all details of every telemetry record, typically writing multiple lines for every telemetry record. Here's an example output: ```console 2025-04-17T10:40:44.560+0200 info Traces {"otelcol.component.id": "debug/detailed", "otelcol.component.kind": "Exporter", "otelcol.signal": "traces", "resource spans": 1, "spans": 2} 2025-04-17T10:40:44.560+0200 info ResourceSpans #0 Resource SchemaURL: https://opentelemetry.io/schemas/1.25.0 Resource attributes: -> service.name: Str(telemetrygen) ScopeSpans #0 ScopeSpans SchemaURL: InstrumentationScope telemetrygen Span #0 Trace ID : fafdac970271dd2ce89de2442c0518c7 Parent ID : d98de4cb8e2a0ad6 ID : 3875f436d989d0e5 Name : okey-dokey-0 Kind : Server Start time : 2025-04-17 08:40:44.555461596 +0000 UTC End time : 2025-04-17 08:40:44.555584596 +0000 UTC Status code : Unset Status message : Attributes: -> net.sock.peer.addr: Str(1.2.3.4) -> peer.service: Str(telemetrygen-client) Span #1 Trace ID : fafdac970271dd2ce89de2442c0518c7 Parent ID : ID : d98de4cb8e2a0ad6 Name : lets-go Kind : Client Start time : 2025-04-17 08:40:44.555461596 +0000 UTC End time : 2025-04-17 08:40:44.555584596 +0000 UTC Status code : Unset Status message : Attributes: -> net.sock.peer.addr: Str(1.2.3.4) -> peer.service: Str(telemetrygen-server) {"otelcol.component.id": "debug/detailed", "otelcol.component.kind": "Exporter", "otelcol.signal": "traces"} ``` ## Using the collector's internal logger When `use_internal_logger` is set to `true` (the default), the exporter uses the collector's [internal logger][internal_telemetry] for output. This comes with the following consequences: - The output from the exporter may be annotated by additional output from the collector's logger. - The output from the exporter is affected by the collector's [logging configuration][internal_logs_config] specified in `service::telemetry::logs`. When `use_internal_logger` is set to `false`, the exporter does not use the collector's internal logger. Changing the values in `service::telemetry::logs` has no effect on the exporter's output. The exporter's output is sent to the paths specified in `output_paths` (default: `["stdout"]`). You can configure `output_paths` to send output to `stderr`, a file, or multiple destinations. [internal_telemetry]: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/internal-telemetry/ [internal_logs_config]: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/internal-telemetry/#configure-internal-logs ## Warnings - Unstable Output Format: The output formats for all verbosity levels is not guaranteed and may be changed at any time without a breaking change.