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Last updated: August 7, 2026

Dash0 OpenTelemetry Python Distribution

Overview of the Dash0 OpenTelemetry distribution for Python — zero-code instrumentation with pure-Python OTLP export and no native dependencies.

The Dash0 distribution of OpenTelemetry for Python is a lightweight, opinionated layer on top of the upstream OpenTelemetry SDK that instruments Python applications with no code changes and exports telemetry using a pure-Python protobuf implementation. No google.protobuf or grpcio native dependencies are required.

Why pure Python?

Removing native dependencies is the core design goal. It makes the distribution safe to inject into an arbitrary process via PYTHONPATH, for example from a Kubernetes operator or injector, without risking ABI or version conflicts with the target application. If the distribution carried a native protobuf or gRPC dependency, injecting it into an application that already uses a different version of those libraries would break the application. The pure-Python implementation avoids that class of problem entirely.

This is the Python counterpart of the Dash0 OpenTelemetry distribution for Node.js, bringing the same injection-safe model to Python.

What you get

Zero-code instrumentation. Dash0Distro and Dash0Configurator are discovered through standard OpenTelemetry entry points and wire up the SDK before your application starts. No import opentelemetry anywhere in your application code.

The full contrib instrumentation set, built in. Every upstream auto-instrumentation package ships as a pinned dependency. No opentelemetry-bootstrap step is needed. Instrumentations activate only when their target library is installed, so carrying all 40+ of them is safe.

Pure-Python OTLP export. OTLP/HTTP is selected by default for all three signals (traces, metrics, logs). OTLP/gRPC is available via OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc. Neither protocol requires native dependencies.

Sensible, injection-friendly defaults. The distribution sets an enable/disable gate, requires a collector endpoint, detects the Kubernetes pod UID, derives a service name from the entrypoint, marks telemetry with telemetry.distro.name, and can flush telemetry gracefully on SIGTERM/SIGINT.

An injector-ready bootstrap script. The wheel ships a sitecustomize.py that the OpenTelemetry injector activates via PYTHONPATH. It includes interpreter-version, double-instrumentation, and dependency-conflict guards with graceful self-deactivation.

Defensive instrumentation loading. A single failing instrumentor is logged and skipped rather than aborting instrumentation of the whole process.

Relationship to the upstream OpenTelemetry SDK

The distribution is a thin layer on top of the upstream SDK. It sets defaults, registers resource detectors, and selects the pure-Python exporters. All standard OTEL_* environment variables work as documented by the upstream project. The distribution only sets values with setdefault and never overrides values you provide.