Instrument a new or existing service
When adding monitoring to an application, ask your agent to use the language-specific SDK guidance, establish service identity and add traces, metrics and logs.
Overview
Dash0 Agent Skills gives AI coding agents instructions and reference material for implementing and reviewing OpenTelemetry monitoring. It covers application instrumentation, standard telemetry attributes, Collector configuration and transformations applied as data passes through a Collector.
Your agent can select relevant skills from your request. Tools that support explicit skill invocation also let you choose one yourself; the invocation syntax depends on the tool. The skills guide the agent’s work rather than installing an OpenTelemetry SDK or running a Collector for you.
Dash0 describes the guidance as vendor-neutral and compatible with OTLP backends. Some examples use Dash0 endpoints, SDKs or deployment tools, so review the generated configuration for your chosen backend.
Use Cases
Reconnect fragmented traces
When spans appear as separate roots, use the instrumentation guidance to investigate context propagation, including the connection between browser requests and backend traces.
Standardize telemetry across services
When services describe the same operation with different attributes, use the semantic-conventions skill to review standard names and placement, or plan a migration from older conventions.
Build or review a Collector pipeline
Ask your agent to configure receivers, processors and exporters, check how they connect in each signal’s pipeline, and prepare a Kubernetes or Docker deployment.
Remove sensitive or unwanted telemetry
Use the OTTL skill to write and debug expressions that redact values, remove attributes or filter records in Collector components that support the language.
Reduce excessive telemetry volume
When metric attributes contain too many distinct values, review attribute cardinality. For trace volume, use the Collector’s sampling guidance; the instrumentation skill recommends explicitly recording all spans in application SDKs and deferring sampling decisions to the Collector.
Components
Each skill contains agent instructions and focused reference documents. Choose by the part of your monitoring setup you want the agent to work on.
Skills
4otel-collector
Configure, validate and deploy pipelines that receive, process and export telemetry.
otel-instrumentation
Implement application traces, metrics and logs, including context propagation and service identity.
otel-ottl
Write and debug Collector expressions for transformation, filtering, redaction and enrichment.
otel-semantic-conventions
Select, place, review and migrate standard telemetry attributes and metric instruments.
Install
Install the complete skill set for your coding tool. The npm package is for developers embedding the instructions in their own agent runtime.
Claude Code
In a local Claude Code session, add Dash0’s marketplace and install the skills plugin. Locally installed plugins are unavailable in Claude Code cloud sessions.
- 01
Add the marketplace inside Claude Code.
/plugin marketplace add dash0hq/claude-marketplace - 02
Open the skills plugin’s installation panel and choose its scope: user for your projects, project for shared project configuration, or local for this project only.
Choose
dash0-agent-skills. The separatedash0-agent-pluginrecords coding sessions as traces./plugin install dash0-agent-skills@dash0 - 03
Read the installation result. If it requests a reload, close the panel to apply it; if activation remains pending, start a new Claude Code session.
To confirm availability, type / in Claude Code and look for the four skills under dash0-agent-skills, such as /dash0-agent-skills:otel-collector. See Claude Code plugin installation.
Use a terminal you control, with Node.js 22.20 or later and Git installed. Run the installer from your project directory. Skills CLI collects installation telemetry; setting DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in its environment disables telemetry and security-audit requests.
- 04
Run the interactive installer in your terminal.
npx skills add dash0hq/agent-skills - 05
Select all four Dash0 skills with Space, then continue. If an agent picker appears, ensure Claude Code is selected. Choose Project or Global scope, select the installation method and confirm the destination summary.
- 06
Decline the optional
find-skillsinstallation unless you also want that separate skill installed globally. - 07
Return to Claude Code. If the installation created a skills directory after your session started, reload skill discovery.
/reload-skills
In Claude Code, list the available skills and check for otel-collector, otel-instrumentation, otel-ottl and otel-semantic-conventions.
/skillsOpen your workspace root in an interactive terminal with Node.js 22.20 or later and Git installed. This route uses workspace scope. Skills CLI reports installation telemetry; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in its environment disables telemetry and security-audit requests.
- 04
Run the interactive installer in your terminal.
npx skills add dash0hq/agent-skills - 05
Select all four Dash0 skills with Space. If an agent picker appears, ensure Antigravity is selected. Choose Project scope and confirm the workspace destinations.
- 06
Decline the optional
find-skillsinstallation unless you also want that separate skill installed globally.
In Antigravity, inspect active skills from Customizations in the agent side panel and check for the four otel- names. For the CLI, start a new conversation to refresh skill discovery. See Antigravity skills.
For a global installation, check Antigravity’s current discovery directories before proceeding: the installer’s documented global destination differs between Antigravity variants.
Enter this inside a GitHub Copilot CLI session to install the repository as a plugin.
/plugin install https://github.com/dash0hq/agent-skillsOpen the session’s available-skills list and check for the four otel- skills. See Copilot CLI skills.
With Git installed, run this in your terminal to place the skills in Copilot’s personal skills directory. Reuse the checkout if it already exists.
git clone https://github.com/dash0hq/agent-skills.git ~/.copilot/skills/dash0-agent-skillsStart a Copilot CLI session, then open its available-skills list and check for the four otel- skills. See Copilot CLI skills.
Open your project directory in an interactive terminal with Node.js 22.20 or later and Git installed. Skills CLI reports installation telemetry; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in its environment disables telemetry and security-audit requests.
npx skills add dash0hq/agent-skillsSelect all four Dash0 skills with Space. If an agent picker appears, ensure GitHub Copilot is included; choose Project or Global scope and confirm the destinations. Decline the separate optional find-skills installation unless wanted.
Start a Copilot CLI session and check its available-skills list for the four otel- skills. See Copilot CLI skills.
With Git installed, run this in your terminal to install personal skills for local Cursor use. If the destination already contains this repository, reuse that checkout.
git clone https://github.com/dash0hq/agent-skills.git ~/.cursor/skills/dash0-agent-skillsStart Cursor, then type / in Agent chat and search for the four otel- skill names. Cursor discovers skills at startup. See Cursor skills.
Open your project directory in an interactive terminal with Node.js 22.20 or later and Git installed. Skills CLI reports installation telemetry; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in its environment disables telemetry and security-audit requests.
npx skills add dash0hq/agent-skillsSelect all four Dash0 skills with Space. If an agent picker appears, ensure Cursor is included; choose Project or Global scope and confirm the destinations. Decline the separate optional find-skills installation unless wanted.
Start Cursor, type / in Agent chat and search for the four otel- skills. See Cursor skills.
With Git installed, run this in your terminal to place the skills in your personal discovery directory. Codex and OpenCode use the same destination: if the clone already exists, reuse it instead.
git clone https://github.com/dash0hq/agent-skills.git ~/.agents/skills/dash0-agent-skillsIn Codex CLI or the IDE extension, open the skill list and look for the four otel- skills; in the desktop app, open Skills in the sidebar. Codex detects skill changes automatically; restart it if they do not appear. See Codex skills.
Update this checkout
Pull upstream changes into the existing Git checkout. Cloning again does not update it. Dash0’s Codex installation instructions include the update command.
In an interactive terminal, open your project directory. Have Node.js 22.20 or later and Git installed. Skills CLI reports installation telemetry; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in its environment disables telemetry and security-audit requests.
npx skills add dash0hq/agent-skillsSelect all four Dash0 skills with Space. If an agent picker appears, ensure Codex is included; choose Project or Global scope and confirm the destinations. Decline the separate optional find-skills installation unless wanted.
Check the skill list in Codex CLI or the IDE extension, or Skills in the desktop app’s sidebar, for the four otel- skills. Restart Codex if they do not appear. See Codex skills.
With Git installed, run this in your terminal to add personal skills. OpenCode and Codex share this destination; reuse the existing checkout if you already installed it for Codex.
git clone https://github.com/dash0hq/agent-skills.git ~/.agents/skills/dash0-agent-skillsFor Dash0’s documented task check, ask OpenCode: “Add OpenTelemetry instrumentation to my app.” Check that the agent loads the relevant skill and follows its guidance. This checks use through a task; OpenCode’s supplied documentation gives no dedicated skills-list command. See OpenCode skills.
Open your project directory in an interactive terminal with Node.js 22.20 or later and Git installed. Skills CLI reports installation telemetry; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in its environment disables telemetry and security-audit requests.
npx skills add dash0hq/agent-skillsSelect all four Dash0 skills with Space. If an agent picker appears, ensure OpenCode is included; choose Project or Global scope and confirm the destinations. Decline the separate optional find-skills installation unless wanted.
Ask OpenCode: “Add OpenTelemetry instrumentation to my app.” Check that it loads the relevant skill and follows its guidance. This is Dash0’s task-based check; a dedicated OpenCode skills-list command is not documented in the supplied sources.
- 04
With Gemini CLI and Git installed, run this in your terminal, outside Gemini’s interactive session. Review and accept the installation and trust prompts.
gemini extensions install https://github.com/dash0hq/agent-skills - 05
Restart your Gemini CLI session to load the extension.
Inside Gemini CLI, list the available skills and check for the four otel- names.
/skills listWhen Gemini later selects a skill for a task, it asks for your consent before activation. See Gemini CLI skills.
Open your project directory in an interactive terminal with Node.js 22.20 or later and Git installed. Skills CLI reports installation telemetry; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in its environment disables telemetry and security-audit requests.
npx skills add dash0hq/agent-skillsSelect all four Dash0 skills with Space. If an agent picker appears, ensure Gemini CLI is included; choose Project or Global scope and confirm the destinations. Decline the separate optional find-skills installation unless wanted.
Start a Gemini CLI session and list its available skills. Check for the four otel- names; activating a skill for a task will require your consent.
/skills listWith Git installed, run this in your terminal to place the skills in OpenClaw’s shared managed directory. Reuse the checkout if it already exists.
git clone https://github.com/dash0hq/agent-skills.git ~/.openclaw/skills/dash0-agent-skillsStart a new OpenClaw session. Use OpenClaw’s skills list to check that the four otel- skills are present, and its skills check to inspect their readiness. See OpenClaw skill checks.
For installation limited to a workspace, use Dash0’s OpenClaw workspace instructions; the command above installs to the shared managed directory.
Open your project directory in an interactive terminal with Node.js 22.20 or later and Git installed. Skills CLI reports installation telemetry; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in its environment disables telemetry and security-audit requests.
npx skills add dash0hq/agent-skillsSelect all four Dash0 skills with Space. If an agent picker appears, ensure OpenClaw is included; choose Project or Global scope and confirm the destinations. Decline the separate optional find-skills installation unless wanted.
Start a new OpenClaw session. Check its skills list for the four otel- skills and inspect readiness with its skills check. See OpenClaw skill checks.
For an agent runtime you maintain, run this in the runtime project’s terminal. The package supplies skill files under node_modules; it does not register skills with a coding tool.
npm install @dash0/agent-skillsCheck that the installed package contains skills/otel-collector, skills/otel-instrumentation, skills/otel-ottl and skills/otel-semantic-conventions, each with its SKILL.md and reference files.
Making these instructions available to your agent requires integration with your runtime’s skill loader. Dash0 provides a package-location example, but no runtime-independent registration or activation procedure.
Have the Tessl CLI installed, then open your project root in a terminal. Without an agent override, Tessl installs for every coding agent it detects in the project.
If the project has no Tessl setup, installation can initialize it, adding tessl.json, agent instructions and a Tessl MCP connection to detected tools’ configurations. Review those project changes.
tessl install dash0/agent-skillsIn the same terminal and project, list installed packages and check for dash0/agent-skills.
tessl listAlso check the skills available in your coding agent: Tessl’s package list confirms installation, while the agent’s own skill view confirms discovery. See Tessl’s skills guide.
For Gemini CLI, check Tessl’s installation troubleshooting if discovery fails; its FAQ and CLI changelog disagree about the directory used for Gemini skills.