# Send OpenTelemetry Data > What Telemetry Machine needs from an OpenTelemetry exporter or Collector, and how it stores what it receives. Telemetry Machine receives standard OTLP, so the [OpenTelemetry docs](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/) apply as written. This page lists only what is particular to Telemetry Machine. ## Endpoint and protocol | Setting | Value | | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | Endpoint | `https://api.telemetrymachine.com` | | Paths | `/v1/traces`, `/v1/logs`, `/v1/metrics` | | Protocol | OTLP over HTTP with Protocol Buffers (`http/protobuf`) | | Headers | `X-API-Key` (an ingest key) and `X-Dataset-Name` on each call | Telemetry Machine rejects OTLP JSON and does not expose OTLP over gRPC. It accepts gzip-compressed bodies. `/v1/events` takes JSON events, not OTLP. See [Send JSON Events](https://telemetrymachine.com/docs/json-events). ## One dataset per signal Each dataset holds one type of data: traces, logs, metrics, or events. OTLP goes to traces, logs, and metrics datasets; events datasets take JSON instead (see [Send JSON Events](https://telemetrymachine.com/docs/json-events)). Telemetry Machine routes each request by its `X-Dataset-Name` header, so every signal needs its own header. Set the per-signal variables, not `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS`: ```bash OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://api.telemetrymachine.com OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_HEADERS=X-API-Key=,X-Dataset-Name=shop-prod-traces OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_HEADERS=X-API-Key=,X-Dataset-Name=shop-prod-logs ``` Name datasets `--`, such as `shop-prod-traces`. All the services of one app share its datasets; `service.name` tells them apart. ## Collector A Collector needs one `otlp_http` exporter for each dataset, and a pipeline for each signal that uses that signal's exporter. Collector versions before v0.144.0 call this exporter `otlphttp`: ```yaml title="otel-collector.yaml" exporters: otlp_http/traces: endpoint: https://api.telemetrymachine.com headers: X-API-Key: ${env:TM_INGEST_KEY} X-Dataset-Name: shop-prod-traces otlp_http/logs: endpoint: https://api.telemetrymachine.com headers: X-API-Key: ${env:TM_INGEST_KEY} X-Dataset-Name: shop-prod-logs service: pipelines: traces: exporters: [otlp_http/traces] logs: exporters: [otlp_http/logs] ``` ## AWS Lambda Follow the OpenTelemetry docs for [the Lambda layer](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/platforms/faas/lambda-auto-instrument/). By default, the layer's Collector does not export to Telemetry Machine. Give it a Collector config with the exporters above, and set `OPENTELEMETRY_COLLECTOR_CONFIG_URI` to that file. Leave `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT` unset, so the function sends to the layer's Collector, which exports after the function returns. ## Attribute and metric names Before you name an attribute or a metric, look it up in the [OpenTelemetry semantic conventions](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/), and use the standard name, type and values when one fits. Agents can search them with the Telemetry Machine MCP server's `semconv` tool or with `tm-cli semconv search ""`. Put an attribute that has no standard name under your app's own namespace, such as `app.checkout.cart_size`. ## Exceptions and span events Telemetry Machine keeps a span's events in one JSON column, `events`, which queries cannot group by. Record exceptions as log records instead of span events: severity `ERROR` with the [`exception.*` attributes](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/exceptions/exceptions-logs/), emitted while the span is active so the log carries its trace ID. Also set the span's status to error. ## Error slugs Give each place that raises or handles an error a fixed ID, set as the `exception.slug` attribute on the span and on the exception's log record, such as `err-payment-declined`. You can search the code for a slug, group errors by it, and find errors that nobody handled: ```sql "status_code" = 2 AND "attr.exception.slug" IS NULL ``` ## Prometheus metrics Telemetry Machine has no Prometheus `remote_write` endpoint. Scrape the targets you need with the Collector's [`prometheus` receiver](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/prometheusreceiver) and send them over OTLP to a metrics dataset. ## Rust Enable the `reqwest-rustls` feature of `opentelemetry-otlp`. Without a TLS backend, export to `https://api.telemetrymachine.com` fails, and the SDK reports that only through `tracing::error!`. Keep a `tracing_subscriber::fmt` layer during setup, so you see export errors. ## How fields are stored Attributes become columns: `attr.*` for span, log, and data-point attributes, and `resource.*` for resource attributes. Their values are stored as strings. See [Schema Management](https://telemetrymachine.com/docs/schema-management). ## OpenTelemetry docs | Topic | Link | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | SDKs by language | | | Zero-code instrumentation (Java agent, Python, Node.js, .NET) | | | OTLP exporter environment variables | | | Context propagation | | | Logs and logging bridges | | | Semantic conventions | | | LLM and agent apps (GenAI spans, agent spans, MCP) | | | AWS Lambda, with the layer | | | AWS Lambda, by hand | | | Browser and mobile apps | | | Collector: install, configure, deploy | | | Kubernetes (Collector Helm chart, Operator auto-instrumentation) | | --- All pages: https://telemetrymachine.com/docs/llms.txt