How we Build CI/CD Observability with OpenTelemetry
summary
GitLab adds span instrumentation to the Runner (Go) and plans Ruby server traces, sending data to an OpenTelemetry collector and visualizing with Jaeger UI. A local Docker Compose dev flow uses tagged runners (otel), matrix jobs and stdout/exporter testing; first traces appear in logs and contain executor and job metadata. Work shows parent trace ID propagation between server and runner is needed, performance, scaling and multi‑tenancy remain unresolved, and prototype is functional but not production ready.
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chapters (8)
- 0:00Introduction and speaker intro
- 2:03Challenges in CI/CD observability
- 7:47OpenTelemetry and its evolution
- 13:04Planning CI/CD observability with OpenTelemetry
- 16:18Instrumenting GitLab Runner in Go
- 23:52Instrumenting GitLab Server in Ruby
- 27:47Future considerations and research
- 32:46Collaboration and next steps
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