fix(otel): exported logs and spans will now have matching trace IDs

[ericallam]

When using custom OTLP exporters via telemetry.exporters and
This occurred when tasks were triggered without a parent trace
context (e.g., via API or dashboard). In this scenario: - Spans were
correctly rewritten to use the generated externalTraceId - Logs kept
their original internal trace ID due to a bug in the early return logic

Root Cause

In ExternalLogRecordExporterWrapper.transformLogRecord(), the early
return condition incorrectly included !this.externalTraceContext:

if (!logRecord.spanContext || !this.externalTraceId || 
!this.externalTraceContext) {   return logRecord;  // Bug: Returns early
when externalTraceContext is undefined }

// This fallback logic was never reached:
const externalTraceId = this.externalTraceContext
  ? this.externalTraceContext.traceId
  : this.externalTraceId;

Fix

1. Reordered logic in transformLogRecord(): Move the
2. externalTraceId calculation before the early return, and check the
3. culated value instead of this.externalTraceContext:

const externalTraceId = this.externalTraceContext
  ? this.externalTraceContext.traceId
  : this.externalTraceId;

if (!logRecord.spanContext || !externalTraceId) {
  return logRecord;
}

2. Clarified _isExternallySampled logic: Updated both
3. ExternalSpanExporterWrapper and ExternalLogRecordExporterWrapper
4. explicitly handle the case where there's no external trace context
5. a generated externalTraceId exists:

this._isExternallySampled = externalTraceContext
  ? isTraceFlagSampled(externalTraceContext.traceFlags)
  : !!externalTraceId;

Impact

Logs and spans from the same task run will now have matching trace IDs
when exported to external observability tools, enabling proper trace
correlation regardless of whether the task was triggered with or without a parent trace context.
telemetry.logExporters in trigger.config.ts, logs and spans were
exported with different trace IDs, breaking trace correlation in
external observability tools like Datadog.

[changeset-bot]

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: ee457aa

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 26 packages

Name	Type
trigger.dev	Patch
d3-chat	Patch
references-d3-openai-agents	Patch
references-nextjs-realtime	Patch
references-realtime-hooks-test	Patch
references-realtime-streams	Patch
references-telemetry	Patch
@trigger.dev/build	Patch
@trigger.dev/core	Patch
@trigger.dev/python	Patch
@trigger.dev/react-hooks	Patch
@trigger.dev/redis-worker	Patch
@trigger.dev/rsc	Patch
@trigger.dev/schema-to-json	Patch
@trigger.dev/sdk	Patch
@trigger.dev/database	Patch
@trigger.dev/otlp-importer	Patch
@internal/cache	Patch
@internal/clickhouse	Patch
@internal/redis	Patch
@internal/replication	Patch
@internal/run-engine	Patch
@internal/schedule-engine	Patch
@internal/testcontainers	Patch
@internal/tracing	Patch
@internal/zod-worker	Patch

Not sure what this means? Click here to learn what changesets are.

Click here if you're a maintainer who wants to add another changeset to this PR

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

This pull request adds a changeset entry for a patch release documenting a fix to OpenTelemetry integration in Trigger.dev. The corresponding code changes in packages/core/src/v3/otel/tracingSDK.ts modify two exporter wrapper classes to properly handle cases where externalTraceContext is undefined. The key change introduces a fallback mechanism: when externalTraceContext is missing, the code now derives the sampling flag from externalTraceId directly instead of attempting to access traceFlags. Additionally, the log record transformer now validates that externalTraceId exists before processing, preventing logs without valid trace context from being transformed.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20 minutes

• Changes to two related but distinct exporter wrapper classes require separate reasoning for each class's behavior
• New fallback logic for handling undefined externalTraceContext needs verification to ensure correct trace ID propagation
• The guard condition in transformLogRecord introduces a behavioral change that affects log filtering logic
• The interaction between the fallback mechanism and existing trace context handling should be carefully validated

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately summarizes the main fix: exported logs and spans now have matching trace IDs, which directly corresponds to the primary change in the changeset.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description provides comprehensive context on the bug, root cause, the fix implementation, and impact. However, it's missing the checklist items and some template sections like Testing and Screenshots that are specified in the repository template.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch ea-branch-105

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 0

🧹 Nitpick comments (3)

packages/core/src/v3/otel/tracingSDK.ts (3)

317-320: Sampling fallback behavior looks correct when no externalTraceContext

Using externalTraceContext ? isTraceFlagSampled(...) : !!externalTraceId makes the wrapper treat traces as sampled whenever there’s a generated externalTraceId but no upstream context, which matches the intent for internally-started tasks. The logic is sound; the !!externalTraceId bit is slightly redundant given it’s typed as string, but that’s purely cosmetic.

---

401-404: Consistent sampling semantics between span and log exporters

Mirroring the _isExternallySampled computation from ExternalSpanExporterWrapper into ExternalLogRecordExporterWrapper keeps span/log behavior aligned when there’s no externalTraceContext but a generated externalTraceId. This is important for ensuring both spans and logs are either exported or dropped together. Same minor note as above that !!externalTraceId is redundant but harmless.

---

429-433: Guarding on spanContext prevents unnecessary proxying

Early‑returning when !logRecord.spanContext (and, defensively, !externalTraceId) makes sense: logs without a span context are passed through untouched, and the proxy is only used when there’s something to rewrite. Given externalTraceId is always a non‑empty string in current usage, the second part of the condition is mostly defensive, but it doesn’t hurt readability.

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🧠 Learnings (3)

📓 Common learnings

Learnt from: CR
Repo: triggerdotdev/trigger.dev PR: 0
File: .cursor/rules/writing-tasks.mdc:0-0
Timestamp: 2025-11-27T16:27:35.304Z
Learning: Applies to **/trigger.config.ts : Configure OpenTelemetry instrumentations and exporters in trigger.config.ts for enhanced logging

📚 Learning: 2025-11-27T16:27:35.304Z

Learnt from: CR
Repo: triggerdotdev/trigger.dev PR: 0
File: .cursor/rules/writing-tasks.mdc:0-0
Timestamp: 2025-11-27T16:27:35.304Z
Learning: Applies to **/trigger.config.ts : Configure OpenTelemetry instrumentations and exporters in trigger.config.ts for enhanced logging

Applied to files:

• packages/core/src/v3/otel/tracingSDK.ts
• .changeset/brown-pots-beg.md

📚 Learning: 2025-11-27T16:27:35.304Z

Learnt from: CR
Repo: triggerdotdev/trigger.dev PR: 0
File: .cursor/rules/writing-tasks.mdc:0-0
Timestamp: 2025-11-27T16:27:35.304Z
Learning: Applies to **/trigger/**/*.{ts,tsx,js,jsx} : Export tasks with unique IDs within the project to enable proper task discovery and execution

Applied to files:

• .changeset/brown-pots-beg.md

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🔇 Additional comments (2)

.changeset/brown-pots-beg.md (1)

1-5: Changeset entry looks good.

The format is correct and the summary accurately describes the bug fix. The message is clear enough for users consuming release notes, and the patch bump type is appropriate for this bug fix.

packages/core/src/v3/otel/tracingSDK.ts (1)

425-427: Deriving externalTraceId before guard fixes the mismatch bug

Computing externalTraceId from externalTraceContext.traceId with a fallback to the generated externalTraceId before any early return is exactly what’s needed so logs from tasks without a parent context still get rewritten to the same external trace ID as spans. This directly addresses the original bug around mismatched trace IDs.