Span Metrics - Odigos

Span metrics is a processor that turns tracing spans into aggregated metrics (e.g., request counts, latency histograms), reducing export volume and making it easier to build dashboards and alerts. There are two ways to add a span metrics action: using odictl or using YAML files.

odictl
YAML

Launch odictl

odictl

Select the actions menu

Use Tab to focus on the Actions pane or press a, then press Enter or click + Add Action with your mouse.

Select Span metrics

Use the arrow keys to move through the list of action types. When Span metrics is highlighted, press Enter.

Configure span metrics

Press i to enter INSERT mode.
Adjust options such as interval, metricsExpiration, and histogram settings as needed.
When finished, press Esc, then type :wq to save and exit.

To cancel creating the action, press Esc if you are in INSERT mode, then type :q! to exit without saving.

Complete adding the action

Select OK. The action appears in the Actions section in odictl.

Verify the action has been created

Navigate to the actions configuration folder

cd /etc/odigos-vmagent/actions.d

Create an action YAML file

Create a YAML file for your action using the editor of your choice. The example below uses vi.

sudo vi span-metrics.yaml

Add the span metrics configuration

Add a span metrics action. You can adjust interval, metricsExpiration, additionalDimensions, and other resource attributes to match your needs.For example:

name: span-metrics
actionName: span-metrics
signals:
  - TRACES
  - METRICS
# pipelines: []  # optional: target specific pipelines
type: spanMetrics
config:
  disabled: false
  interval: "60s"
  metricsExpiration: "5m"
  additionalDimensions: []
  histogramDisabled: false
  explicitHistogramBuckets: []
  resourceMetricsKeyAttributes: []
  includedProcessInDimensions: false
  excludedResourceAttributes: []

Save the file

:wq!

Verify the action has been created

sudo journalctl -u odigos-vmagent | grep 'Action created'

Mar 11 21:59:43 ip-10-0-1-51 odigos-vmagent[611]: time=2026-03-11T21:59:43.580Z level=INFO source=/go/src/github.com/keyval/odigos-vmagent/pkg/components/controller/tower/mutations/create_action_handler.go:41 msg="Action created" name=span-metrics

VM Agent