@opentelemetry/instrumentation-console

OpenTelemetry Instrumentation for Node.js Console

This module provides automatic instrumentation for the Node.js console module, generating OpenTelemetry LogRecords for console method calls (console.log, console.error, console.warn, etc.).

Installation

npm install @opentelemetry/instrumentation-console

Supported Versions

• Node.js ^18.19.0 || >=20.6.0

Usage

const { NodeSDK } = require('@opentelemetry/sdk-node');
const { ConsoleInstrumentation } = require('@opentelemetry/instrumentation-console');

const sdk = new NodeSDK({
  instrumentations: [new ConsoleInstrumentation()],
});
sdk.start();

// Now console calls will generate LogRecords
console.log('Hello, world!');    // severity: INFO
console.warn('Watch out!');      // severity: WARN
console.error('Something bad');  // severity: ERROR

Console Methods Instrumented

Console Method	Severity Number	Severity Text
console.trace	TRACE	trace
console.debug	DEBUG	debug
console.log	INFO	info
console.info	INFO	info
console.warn	WARN	warn
console.error	ERROR	error
console.dir	INFO	info

Configuration

Option	Type	Default	Description
logSeverity	SeverityNumber	—	Minimum severity level; only logs at or above this level are sent

Trace Context Correlation

When a console method is called within an active span context, the emitted LogRecord is associated with that context. The OpenTelemetry Logs SDK uses this to populate the LogRecord's spanContext (trace ID, span ID, and trace flags), so exported log records can be correlated with their originating trace.

Important: Infinite Loop Prevention

This instrumentation requires @opentelemetry/api >= 1.9.1. Starting from that version, the DiagConsoleLogger saves references to the original console methods at module load time, so internal OTel diagnostic logging bypasses the instrumentation and avoids infinite loops.

Additionally, this instrumentation includes a re-entrancy guard to prevent loops from exporters that write to the console (e.g., ConsoleLogRecordExporter).

Note: Avoid using ConsoleLogRecordExporter or ConsoleSpanExporter together with this instrumentation in production. Use network-based exporters (e.g., OTLP) instead.

Useful links

• For more information on OpenTelemetry, visit: https://opentelemetry.io/
• For more about OpenTelemetry JavaScript: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js
• For help or feedback on this project, join us in GitHub Discussions

License

Apache 2.0 - See LICENSE for more information.