Comparison with axum-tracing-opentelemetry

Both axum-otel and axum-tracing-opentelemetry help Axum applications create OpenTelemetry-aware HTTP request spans. The difference is mainly the intended scope.

axum-tracing-opentelemetry

axum-tracing-opentelemetry is a focused choice when you:

• want request tracing and context propagation with a small middleware surface;
• already own the tracing subscriber, exporters, metrics, and logging setup;
• prefer to assemble the observability stack from independent components.

For applications with an established observability bootstrap, that narrower scope can be exactly what is needed.

axum-otel and this workspace

axum-otel itself stays focused on three tower-http::TraceLayer callbacks:

• AxumOtelSpanCreator creates and enriches request spans;
• AxumOtelOnResponse records response status and emits completion events;
• AxumOtelOnFailure marks classified server failures as OpenTelemetry errors.

The broader, opinionated setup comes from composing it with the other workspace crates. tracing-otel adds shared HTTP span helpers, structured console/file logging, and application bootstrap. otel-init adds trace, metric, and optional log providers plus RAII lifecycle management.

Choosing between them

Choose axum-tracing-opentelemetry when you primarily need focused middleware and already own the rest of the stack.

Choose this workspace when you want the same HTTP tracing boundary plus reusable HTTP span helpers or a cohesive tracing, metrics, logging, and shutdown setup.

The distinction is about composition and ownership, not a claim that axum-otel alone provides every capability in the workspace.