TraceKit Go SDK

One SDK, Complete Observability - Drop-in replacement for manual OpenTelemetry instrumentation with automatic code discovery.

Why TraceKit SDK?

Before (Manual OpenTelemetry):

// 50+ lines of boilerplate setup
exporter, _ := otlptracehttp.New(...)
tp := sdktrace.NewTracerProvider(...)
otel.SetTracerProvider(tp)
otel.SetTextMapPropagator(...)

// Then wrap every component separately
r.Use(otelgin.Middleware(...))
db.Use(otelgorm.NewPlugin(...))
client.Transport = otelhttp.NewTransport(...)
// ... repeat for Redis, MongoDB, gRPC, etc.

After (TraceKit SDK):

// 3 lines - everything instrumented automatically
sdk, _ := tracekit.NewSDK(&tracekit.Config{
    APIKey:      os.Getenv("TRACEKIT_API_KEY"),
    ServiceName: "my-service",
})
defer sdk.Shutdown(context.Background())

// One-line middleware/wrappers
r.Use(sdk.GinMiddleware())
sdk.WrapGorm(db)
sdk.WrapRedis(redisClient)
// Done!

---

Features

📊 Distributed Tracing

• ✅ HTTP server instrumentation (Gin, Echo, net/http)
• ✅ HTTP client instrumentation
• ✅ Database monitoring (GORM, database/sql, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite)
• ✅ Redis instrumentation
• ✅ MongoDB instrumentation
• ✅ gRPC interceptors (client & server)
• ✅ Custom spans, events, and attributes
• ✅ Automatic client IP capture (for DDoS & traffic analysis)

🔍 Code Monitoring (Live Production Debugging)

• ✅ Non-breaking breakpoints
• ✅ Automatic code discovery from traces
• ✅ Variable state capture
• ✅ Stack traces without stopping your app
• ✅ < 5ms overhead

---

Installation

go get github.com/Tracekit-Dev/go-sdk

---

Quick Start

1. Initialize the SDK

package main

import (
    "context"
    "log"
    "os"
    
    "github.com/Tracekit-Dev/go-sdk/tracekit"
)

func main() {
    // Initialize TraceKit SDK
    sdk, err := tracekit.NewSDK(&tracekit.Config{
        APIKey:               os.Getenv("TRACEKIT_API_KEY"),
        ServiceName:          "my-service",
        Environment:          "production", // optional
        EnableCodeMonitoring: true,         // optional
    })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer sdk.Shutdown(context.Background())
    
    // Your application code...
}

Local Development

Debug your Go application locally without creating a cloud account using TraceKit Local UI.

Quick Start

# Install Local UI globally
npm install -g @tracekit/local-ui

# Start it
tracekit-local

The Local UI will start at http://localhost:9999 and automatically open in your browser.

How It Works

When running in development mode (ENV=development), the SDK automatically:

1. Detects if Local UI is running at http://localhost:9999
2. Sends traces to both Local UI and cloud (if API key is present)
3. Falls back gracefully if Local UI is not available

No code changes needed! Just set the environment variable:

export ENV=development
export TRACEKIT_API_KEY=your-key  # Optional - works without it!
./myapp

You'll see traces appear in real-time at http://localhost:9999.

Features

• Real-time trace viewing in your browser
• Works completely offline
• No cloud account required
• Zero configuration
• Automatic cleanup (1000 traces max, 1 hour retention)

Local-Only Development

To use Local UI without cloud sending:

# Don't set TRACEKIT_API_KEY
export ENV=development
./myapp

Traces will only go to Local UI.

Disabling Local UI

To disable automatic Local UI detection:

export ENV=production
# or don't run Local UI

Learn More

• GitHub: https://github.com/Tracekit-Dev/local-debug-ui
• npm: @tracekit/local-ui

2. Add Framework Middleware (One Line!)

Gin

import (
    "github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
    "github.com/Tracekit-Dev/go-sdk/tracekit"
)

r := gin.Default()
r.Use(sdk.GinMiddleware()) // ← That's it! All routes automatically traced

Echo

import (
    "github.com/labstack/echo/v4"
    "github.com/Tracekit-Dev/go-sdk/tracekit"
)

e := echo.New()
e.Use(sdk.EchoMiddleware()) // ← All routes automatically traced

net/http (Standard Library)

import "net/http"

mux := http.NewServeMux()
handler := http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    w.Write([]byte("Hello, World!"))
})

// Wrap any handler
mux.Handle("/", sdk.HTTPHandler(handler, "root"))

// Or use as middleware
wrappedMux := sdk.HTTPMiddleware("my-service")(mux)
http.ListenAndServe(":8080", wrappedMux)

3. Instrument Database (One Line!)

GORM

db, _ := gorm.Open(postgres.Open(dsn), &gorm.Config{})
sdk.TraceGormDB(db) // ← All queries automatically traced!

// Now every Find(), Create(), Update() is traced
db.Find(&users)
db.Create(&User{Name: "John"})
db.Where("age > ?", 18).Find(&users)

database/sql (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, etc.)

import (
    "database/sql"
    _ "github.com/lib/pq" // PostgreSQL driver
)

// Open standard database/sql connection
sqlDB, _ := sql.Open("postgres", "postgresql://user:pass@localhost/mydb")

// Wrap with tracing
db := sdk.WrapDB(sqlDB, "postgresql")

// All queries automatically traced!
rows, _ := db.QueryContext(ctx, "SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > $1", 18)
result, _ := db.ExecContext(ctx, "INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES ($1)", "John")

4. Instrument Redis (One Line!)

import "github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"

client := redis.NewClient(&redis.Options{
    Addr: "localhost:6379",
})

sdk.WrapRedis(client) // ← All Redis ops automatically traced!

// All commands now traced
client.Get(ctx, "key")
client.Set(ctx, "key", "value", 0)

5. Instrument MongoDB (One Line!)

import "go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/mongo"

// Get instrumented options
opts := sdk.MongoClientOptions().ApplyURI("mongodb://localhost:27017")

// Create client with tracing
client, _ := mongo.Connect(ctx, opts)

// All operations automatically traced!
collection := client.Database("test").Collection("users")
collection.Find(ctx, bson.M{})

6. Instrument HTTP Clients (One Line!)

// Wrap existing client
client := sdk.HTTPClient(&http.Client{
    Timeout: 10 * time.Second,
})

// All outgoing requests automatically traced with CLIENT spans!
resp, _ := client.Get("http://payment-service/charge")

What This Does:

• Creates CLIENT spans for all outgoing HTTP requests
• Automatically sets peer.service attribute for service discovery
• Injects trace context headers (traceparent) for distributed tracing
• Links requests across services in the trace flamegraph

7. Instrument gRPC

Server

import "google.golang.org/grpc"

server := grpc.NewServer(
    sdk.GRPCServerInterceptors()..., // ← All RPCs automatically traced
)

Client

conn, _ := grpc.Dial("localhost:50051",
    sdk.GRPCClientInterceptors()..., // ← All calls automatically traced
)

---

Automatic Service Discovery

TraceKit automatically maps service-to-service dependencies when you use sdk.HTTPClient() to wrap your HTTP clients.

How It Works

When your service makes an HTTP request using a wrapped client:

1. ✅ TraceKit creates a CLIENT span for the outgoing request
2. ✅ Trace context is injected into request headers (traceparent)
3. ✅ peer.service attribute is set based on the target hostname
4. ✅ The receiving service creates a SERVER span linked to your CLIENT span
5. ✅ TraceKit maps the dependency: YourService → TargetService

Service Name Detection

TraceKit intelligently extracts service names from URLs:

URL	Extracted Service Name
http://payment-service:3000	payment-service
http://payment.internal	payment
http://payment.svc.cluster.local	payment
https://api.example.com	api.example.com

Example

// Wrap your HTTP client
client := sdk.HTTPClient(&http.Client{Timeout: 10 * time.Second})

// Make requests - automatically creates CLIENT spans
resp, _ := client.Get("http://payment-service/charge")
// -> Creates CLIENT span with peer.service = "payment-service"

resp, _ := client.Get("http://inventory.internal/check")
// -> Creates CLIENT span with peer.service = "inventory"

resp, _ := client.Get("http://users.svc.cluster.local/profile/123")
// -> Creates CLIENT span with peer.service = "users"

Viewing Service Dependencies

Visit your TraceKit dashboard to see:

• Service Map: Visual graph showing which services call which
• Service List: Table of all services with health metrics and error rates
• Service Detail: Upstream/downstream dependencies with latency and error info

Custom Service Name Mappings

For local development or when service names can't be inferred from hostnames, use ServiceNameMappings:

sdk, _ := tracekit.NewSDK(&tracekit.Config{
    APIKey:      os.Getenv("TRACEKIT_API_KEY"),
    ServiceName: "my-service",
    // Map localhost URLs to actual service names
    ServiceNameMappings: map[string]string{
        "localhost:8082": "payment-service",
        "localhost:8083": "user-service",
        "localhost:8084": "inventory-service",
        "localhost:5001": "analytics-service",
    },
})

// Now requests to localhost:8082 will show as "payment-service" in the service graph
client := sdk.HTTPClient(nil)
resp, _ := client.Get("http://localhost:8082/charge")
// -> Creates CLIENT span with peer.service = "payment-service"

This is especially useful when:

• Running microservices locally on different ports
• Using Docker Compose with localhost networking
• Testing distributed tracing in development

Multiple HTTP Clients

You can wrap multiple HTTP clients for different purposes:

// Internal microservices
internalClient := sdk.HTTPClient(&http.Client{
    Timeout: 5 * time.Second,
})

// External APIs
externalClient := sdk.HTTPClient(&http.Client{
    Timeout: 30 * time.Second,
    Transport: &http.Transport{
        MaxIdleConns: 100,
    },
})

// Both are automatically instrumented!
internalClient.Get("http://payment-service/charge")
externalClient.Get("https://api.stripe.com/charges")

---

Manual Spans & Custom Instrumentation

Basic Span Creation

ctx, span := sdk.StartSpan(ctx, "processOrder")
defer span.End()

// Add attributes
sdk.AddAttribute(span, "order.id", orderID)
sdk.AddIntAttribute(span, "order.amount", 9999)

// Add events
sdk.AddEvent(span, "payment.initiated", 
    attribute.String("payment.method", "credit_card"),
)

// Handle errors
if err != nil {
    sdk.RecordError(span, err)
    return err
}

sdk.SetSuccess(span)

Helper Methods for Common Attributes

// HTTP attributes
sdk.AddHTTPAttributes(span, "GET", "/api/users", 200)

// Database attributes
sdk.AddDatabaseAttributes(span, "postgres", "mydb", "SELECT", "users")

// User attributes
sdk.AddUserAttributes(span, "user123", "user@example.com")

// Business attributes
sdk.AddBusinessAttributes(span, map[string]interface{}{
    "order.id":     "12345",
    "customer.id":  "67890",
    "total.amount": 299.99,
})

Trace a Function Automatically

err := sdk.TraceFunction(ctx, "calculateDiscount", func(ctx context.Context, span trace.Span) error {
    // Your business logic
    discount := calculateDiscount(userID)
    
    sdk.AddFloatAttribute(span, "discount.amount", discount)
    return nil
})

---

Code Monitoring (Live Debugging)

Automatic Discovery (Recommended)

TraceKit automatically discovers your code from trace stack traces. No manual instrumentation needed!

Workflow:

1. Send traces (you're already doing this with the SDK!)
2. Go to TraceKit UI → Code Monitoring → "Browse Code" tab
3. See your discovered code - files, functions, line numbers from production
4. Click "Set Breakpoint" on any code location
5. View snapshots when that code runs (variables, stack trace, context)

🎉 No code changes required! Stack traces from errors automatically index your code structure.

Manual Checkpoints (Advanced)

For critical business logic where you want precise control:

// Initialize with code monitoring enabled
sdk, _ := tracekit.NewSDK(&tracekit.Config{
    APIKey:               os.Getenv("TRACEKIT_API_KEY"),
    ServiceName:          "my-service",
    EnableCodeMonitoring: true,
})

// Add checkpoint at critical point
func ProcessPayment(ctx context.Context, amount float64) error {
    // Capture state at this exact moment
    sdk.SnapshotClient().CheckAndCapture("payment.go", 42, map[string]interface{}{
        "amount":      amount,
        "userID":      userID,
        "accountType": accountType,
    })
    
    // Your payment logic...
}

Then create a breakpoint in TraceKit UI for payment.go:42. When this code runs, you'll see:

• All captured variables
• Complete stack trace
• Request context (trace ID, span ID)
• Timestamp

---

Complete Example

package main

import (
    "context"
    "log"
    "os"
    
    "github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
    "github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"
    "gorm.io/driver/postgres"
    "gorm.io/gorm"
    
    "github.com/Tracekit-Dev/go-sdk/tracekit"
)

func main() {
    // 1. Initialize SDK
    sdk, err := tracekit.NewSDK(&tracekit.Config{
        APIKey:               os.Getenv("TRACEKIT_API_KEY"),
        ServiceName:          "backend-api",
        Environment:          "production",
        EnableCodeMonitoring: true,
    })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer sdk.Shutdown(context.Background())
    
    // 2. Setup database with tracing
    db, _ := gorm.Open(postgres.Open(os.Getenv("DATABASE_URL")), &gorm.Config{})
    sdk.WrapGorm(db)
    
    // 3. Setup Redis with tracing
    redisClient := redis.NewClient(&redis.Options{
        Addr: "localhost:6379",
    })
    sdk.WrapRedis(redisClient)
    
    // 4. Setup HTTP server with tracing
    r := gin.Default()
    r.Use(sdk.GinMiddleware())
    
    // 5. Define routes - automatically traced!
    r.GET("/api/users", func(c *gin.Context) {
        var users []User
        db.Find(&users) // Traced!
        c.JSON(200, users)
    })
    
    r.POST("/api/orders", func(c *gin.Context) {
        // Custom span for business logic
        ctx, span := sdk.StartSpan(c.Request.Context(), "createOrder")
        defer span.End()
        
        // Process order...
        order := processOrder(ctx, orderData)
        
        sdk.AddBusinessAttributes(span, map[string]interface{}{
            "order.id":     order.ID,
            "order.amount": order.Amount,
        })
        
        sdk.SetSuccess(span)
        c.JSON(201, order)
    })
    
    // 6. Start server
    log.Println("Server starting on :8080")
    r.Run(":8080")
}

That's it! You now have:

• ✅ All HTTP endpoints traced
• ✅ All database queries traced
• ✅ All Redis operations traced
• ✅ All outgoing HTTP calls traced (if you use sdk.HTTPClient())
• ✅ Custom spans for business logic
• ✅ Code monitoring ready (browse discovered code in UI)

---

Configuration Options

sdk, err := tracekit.NewSDK(&tracekit.Config{
    // Required
    APIKey:      "your-api-key",
    ServiceName: "my-service",

    // Optional - defaults
    Endpoint:                   "app.tracekit.dev",     // TraceKit endpoint
    UseSSL:                     true,                   // Use HTTPS
    Environment:                "production",           // deployment.environment
    ServiceVersion:             "1.0.0",                // service.version
    SamplingRate:               1.0,                    // 100% sampling (0.0-1.0)
    BatchTimeout:               5 * time.Second,        // Batch export interval
    EnableCodeMonitoring:       false,                  // Enable live debugging
    CodeMonitoringPollInterval: 30 * time.Second,       // Breakpoint poll interval

    // Service Discovery - map hostnames to service names for service graph
    ServiceNameMappings: map[string]string{
        "localhost:8082": "payment-service",
        "localhost:8083": "user-service",
    },

    ResourceAttributes: map[string]string{
        "host.name": "server-01",
        "region":    "us-east-1",
    },
})

---

Best Practices

✅ DO:

• Use automatic discovery for code monitoring (primary workflow)
• Add manual checkpoints only for critical business logic
• Use helper methods for common attributes (AddHTTPAttributes, etc.)
• Set meaningful span names (operation-focused: "processPayment", "validateUser")
• Add business context to spans (order IDs, user IDs, amounts)
• Use defer span.End() immediately after StartSpan()

❌ DON'T:

• Capture sensitive data (passwords, tokens, PII) in spans or snapshots
• Add checkpoints in tight loops (use conditions if needed)
• Keep breakpoints active indefinitely
• Capture large objects (>100KB) in snapshots
• Create spans for every function (focus on meaningful operations)

---

Performance

Operation	Overhead	Notes
HTTP middleware	< 1ms	Per request
Database query	< 0.5ms	Per query
Redis operation	< 0.2ms	Per operation
Custom span	< 0.1ms	Span creation
Snapshot capture	< 5ms	When breakpoint hit
Breakpoint poll	Negligible	Every 30s, non-blocking

Production-safe with minimal impact on application performance.

---

Troubleshooting

Traces not appearing?

1. Check API key is correct: echo $TRACEKIT_API_KEY
2. Verify endpoint is accessible: curl https://app.tracekit.dev
3. Check logs for OpenTelemetry errors
4. Ensure middleware is added before routes

Code monitoring not working?

1. Enable in config: EnableCodeMonitoring: true
2. Send some traces (code discovery needs stack traces)
3. Browse discovered code in UI
4. Create breakpoints for discovered locations

High cardinality warnings?

Avoid high-cardinality attributes (UUIDs, timestamps) as span names or tag keys. Use them as attribute values instead.

---

Migration from Manual OpenTelemetry

Replace this:

// Old manual setup (~80 lines)
exporter, _ := otlptracehttp.New(ctx, otlptracehttp.WithEndpoint(...))
tp := sdktrace.NewTracerProvider(...)
otel.SetTracerProvider(tp)
r.Use(otelgin.Middleware(...))
db.Use(otelgorm.NewPlugin(...))
// ... more setup

With this:

// New TraceKit SDK (3 lines)
sdk, _ := tracekit.NewSDK(&tracekit.Config{...})
r.Use(sdk.GinMiddleware())
sdk.WrapGorm(db)

Same functionality, 95% less code!

---

Examples

See examples/ for complete working applications:

• Gin web server
• gRPC service
• Background worker
• Microservices

---

Support

• Documentation: https://app.tracekit.dev/docs
• Code Monitoring: https://app.tracekit.dev/docs/code-monitoring
• GitHub: github.com/Tracekit-Dev/go-sdk
• Issues: GitHub Issues

---

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file

---

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