Sentry Otel Exporter Setup

> [All Skills](../../SKILL_TREE.md) > [Feature Setup](../sentry-feature-setup/SKILL.md) > OTel Exporter

# Sentry OTel Exporter Setup

**Terminology**: Always capitalize "Sentry Exporter" when referring to the exporter component.

Configure the OpenTelemetry Collector to send traces and logs to Sentry using the Sentry Exporter.

## Setup Overview

Copy this checklist to track your progress:

```
OTel Exporter Setup:
- [ ] Step 1: Check for existing configuration
- [ ] Step 2: Check collector version and install if needed
- [ ] Step 3: Configure project creation settings
- [ ] Step 4: Write collector config
- [ ] Step 5: Add environment variable placeholders
- [ ] Step 6: Run the collector
- [ ] Step 7: Verify setup
- [ ] Step 8: Enable trace connectedness with OTLPIntegration (Python/Ruby/Node.js)
```

## Step 1: Check for Existing Configuration

Search for existing OpenTelemetry Collector configs by looking for YAML files containing `receivers:`. Also check for files named `otel-collector-config.*`, `collector-config.*`, or `otelcol.*`.

**If an existing config is found**: Ask the user which approach they want:
- **Modify existing config**: Add Sentry Exporter to the existing file (recommended to avoid duplicates)
- **Create separate config**: Keep existing config unchanged and create a new one for testing

**Wait for the user's answer and record their choice before proceeding to Step 2.** The rest of the workflow depends on this decision.

**If no config exists**: Note that you'll create a new `collector-config.yaml` in Step 4, then proceed to Step 2.

## Step 2: Check Collector Version

The Sentry Exporter requires **otelcol-contrib v0.145.0 or later**.

### Check for existing collector

1. Run `which otelcol-contrib` to check if it's on PATH, or check for `./otelcol-contrib` in the project
2. If found, run the appropriate version command and parse the version number
3. **Record the collector path** (e.g., `otelcol-contrib` if on PATH, or `./otelcol-contrib` if local) for use in later steps

| Existing Version | Action |
|------------------|--------|
| ≥ 0.145.0 | Skip to Step 3 — existing collector is compatible |
| < 0.145.0 | Proceed with installation below |
| Not installed | Proceed with installation below |

### Installation

Ask the user how they want to run the collector:
- **Binary**: Download from GitHub releases. No Docker required.
- **Docker**: Run as a container. Requires Docker installed.

### Binary Installation

Fetch the latest release version from GitHub:
```bash
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/latest | grep '"tag_name"' | cut -d'"' -f4
```

**Important**: The GitHub API returns versions with a `v` prefix (e.g., `v0.145.0`). The download URL path requires the full tag with `v` prefix, but the filename and Docker tags use the numeric version without the prefix (e.g., `0.145.0`).

Detect the user's platform and download the binary:

1. Run `uname -s` and `uname -m` to detect OS and architecture
2. Map to release values:
   - Darwin + arm64 → `darwin_arm64`
   - Darwin + x86_64 → `darwin_amd64`
   - Linux + x86_64 → `linux_amd64`
   - Linux + aarch64 → `linux_arm64`
3. Download and extract:
```bash
curl -LO https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v<numeric_version>/otelcol-contrib_<numeric_version>_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz
tar -xzf otelcol-contrib_<numeric_version>_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz
chmod +x otelcol-contrib
```

Example: For version `v0.145.0`, the URL uses `v0.145.0` in the path but `