error.type: the OpenTelemetry error attribute

From semantic-conventions v1.44.0 (e10a930)Synced Oct 18, 2026View as Markdown Open in Claude Open in ChatGPT

Short answer

error.type is a Stable attribute that names the class of error an operation ended with, such as timeout, an exception class or a status code. Set it only when the operation failed, keep its values few, and use _OTHER when nothing better fits. error.message is deprecated.

What do the error.* attributes describe?

Span status says that something failed. error.type says what kind of failure it was, in a form you can group by. That is why HTTP, RPC and GenAI spans all reference it.

The convention asks for a predictable, low-cardinality value: an exception's class name, a domain code, or a short label like timeout. A successful operation SHOULD NOT have one.

Which spans set them?

Every span in the conventions that references at least one of these attributes, with the span name it should get and its kind.

{method} {target}CLIENThttp.client
{method} {target}SERVERhttp.server
{rpc.method}CLIENTrpc.call.client
{rpc.method}SERVERrpc.call.server
{rpc.method}CLIENTrpc.connect_rpc.call.client
{rpc.method}SERVERrpc.connect_rpc.call.server
{rpc.method}CLIENTrpc.grpc.call.client
{rpc.method}SERVERrpc.grpc.call.server
{rpc.method}CLIENTrpc.jsonrpc.call.client
{rpc.method}SERVERrpc.jsonrpc.call.server
{rpc.method}CLIENTrpc.dubbo.call.client
{rpc.method}SERVERrpc.dubbo.call.server
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.request.model}CLIENTgen_ai.client.inference
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.request.model}CLIENTgen_ai.embeddings.client
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.data_source.id}CLIENTgen_ai.retrieval.client
{gen_ai.operation.name}CLIENTgen_ai.fetch_response.client
{gen_ai.operation.name}CLIENTgen_ai.memory.client
create_agent {gen_ai.agent.name}CLIENTgen_ai.create_agent.client
invoke_agent {gen_ai.agent.name}CLIENTgen_ai.invoke_agent.client
invoke_agent {gen_ai.agent.name}INTERNALgen_ai.invoke_agent.internal
execute_tool {gen_ai.tool.name}INTERNALgen_ai.execute_tool.internal
invoke_workflow {gen_ai.workflow.name}INTERNALgen_ai.invoke_workflow.internal
plan {gen_ai.agent.name}INTERNALgen_ai.plan.internal
{mcp.method.name}CLIENTmcp.client
{mcp.method.name}SERVERmcp.server
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.request.model}CLIENTopenai.gen_ai.client.inference (refines gen_ai.client.inference)
{gen_ai.operation.name}CLIENTopenai.fetch_response.client (refines gen_ai.fetch_response.client)
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.request.model}CLIENTazure.ai.gen_ai.client.inference (refines gen_ai.client.inference)
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.request.model}CLIENTanthropic.gen_ai.client.inference (refines gen_ai.client.inference)
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.request.model}CLIENTaws.bedrock.gen_ai.client.inference (refines gen_ai.client.inference)
execute_tool {gen_ai.tool.name} {gen_ai.skill.name}INTERNALgen_ai.execute_tool.load_skill.internal (refines gen_ai.execute_tool.internal)
execute_tool {gen_ai.tool.name} {gen_ai.skill.name} {gen_ai.skill.resource.name}INTERNALgen_ai.execute_tool.read_skill_resource.internal (refines gen_ai.execute_tool.internal)
gen_ai.execute_tool.command.internalINTERNALgen_ai.execute_tool.command.internal (refines gen_ai.execute_tool.internal)

What does a real span record?

confirm 31337CLIENT

Attribute	Value
`blockchain.tx.status`	`reverted`
`blockchain.tx.revert.reason`	`WithdrawalLimitExceeded(100, 250)`
`error.type`	`reverted`

From a real run on 2026-10-18: @hashspan/viem 1.1.1 with viem 2.57.7 against a local Anvil node on port 8545. The page this run is from.

The span status was Error. In the AI SDK recipe run on 2026-10-03, a send whose gas estimate failed recorded error.type ContractFunctionExecutionError, viem's error class.

Which error.type values does hashspan record?

Outcomes from chain data, such as reverted, and its own labels, such as timeout when the wait for a receipt ran out and not_on_chain when a reorganisation removed the transaction. Otherwise the error class name, such as TransactionExecutionError, or _OTHER.

The full list is in the span status table of hashspan's conventions.

The `error.*` attribute

`error.type`

stringStable

Describes a class of error the operation ended with.

Values _OTHER

Set on

{method} {target} CLIENT: http.client (conditionally required)
{method} {target} SERVER: http.server (conditionally required)
{rpc.method} CLIENT: rpc.call.client (conditionally required), rpc.connect_rpc.call.client (conditionally required), rpc.grpc.call.client (conditionally required), rpc.jsonrpc.call.client (conditionally required), rpc.dubbo.call.client (conditionally required)
{rpc.method} SERVER: rpc.call.server (conditionally required), rpc.connect_rpc.call.server (conditionally required), rpc.grpc.call.server (conditionally required), rpc.jsonrpc.call.server (conditionally required), rpc.dubbo.call.server (conditionally required)
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.request.model} CLIENT: gen_ai.client.inference (conditionally required), gen_ai.embeddings.client (conditionally required), openai.gen_ai.client.inference (conditionally required), azure.ai.gen_ai.client.inference (conditionally required), anthropic.gen_ai.client.inference (conditionally required), aws.bedrock.gen_ai.client.inference (conditionally required)
{gen_ai.operation.name} {gen_ai.data_source.id} CLIENT: gen_ai.retrieval.client (conditionally required)
{gen_ai.operation.name} CLIENT: gen_ai.fetch_response.client (conditionally required), gen_ai.memory.client (conditionally required), openai.fetch_response.client (conditionally required)
create_agent {gen_ai.agent.name} CLIENT: gen_ai.create_agent.client (conditionally required)
invoke_agent {gen_ai.agent.name} CLIENT: gen_ai.invoke_agent.client (conditionally required)
invoke_agent {gen_ai.agent.name} INTERNAL: gen_ai.invoke_agent.internal (conditionally required)
execute_tool {gen_ai.tool.name} INTERNAL: gen_ai.execute_tool.internal (conditionally required)
invoke_workflow {gen_ai.workflow.name} INTERNAL: gen_ai.invoke_workflow.internal (conditionally required)
plan {gen_ai.agent.name} INTERNAL: gen_ai.plan.internal (conditionally required)
execute_tool {gen_ai.tool.name} {gen_ai.skill.name} INTERNAL: gen_ai.execute_tool.load_skill.internal (conditionally required)
execute_tool {gen_ai.tool.name} {gen_ai.skill.name} {gen_ai.skill.resource.name} INTERNAL: gen_ai.execute_tool.read_skill_resource.internal (conditionally required)
gen_ai.execute_tool.command.internal INTERNAL: gen_ai.execute_tool.command.internal (conditionally required)
{mcp.method.name} CLIENT: mcp.client (conditionally required)
{mcp.method.name} SERVER: mcp.server (conditionally required)

Official definition

Which names were renamed or removed?

Deprecated names you may still see in older traces, each with what replaced it.

`error.message`

stringDeprecated

Use domain-specific error message attribute. For example, use feature_flag.error.message for feature flag errors.

Examples Unexpected input type: string, The user has exceeded their storage quota

Official definition

FAQ

Should I set error.type when the operation succeeds?

No. The convention says instrumentations SHOULD NOT set error.type when the operation completed successfully. Its absence is how a query tells success from failure.

What replaced error.message?

Nothing general. error.message is deprecated: the convention says to use a domain-specific message attribute, such as feature_flag.error.message.

Attribute names, types, stability and descriptions are from the OpenTelemetry semantic conventions (open-telemetry/semantic-conventions), © OpenTelemetry Authors, Apache-2.0. Each attribute links to its official definition, which wins where the two differ.

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