# OpenTelemetry Traces

The **OTLP Trace Forwarder** lets you send traces in OTLP format (OpenTelemetry Protocol) to any external HTTP-compatible backend. This is useful for integrating Ascent with Jaeger, custom observability platforms, or third-party tracing services that support OTLP.

You can find it in the **Forwarders** section:

<figure><img src="/files/8Sz7HblfvXlf1V1LIzU2" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

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## Configuration

<table><thead><tr><th width="154.4453125">Field</th><th width="82.66015625">Type</th><th width="88.203125">Required</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code>endpoint</code></td><td>string</td><td>✅</td><td>Full URL to which OTLP metrics will be sent. Example: https://example.com/v1/metrics</td></tr><tr><td><code>headers</code></td><td>string</td><td>❌</td><td>Optional comma-separated list of headers (<code>key=value</code>) to include in POST.</td></tr><tr><td><code>output_format</code></td><td>string</td><td>✅</td><td>Choose between <code>proto</code> (Protobuf encoding) or <code>json</code> for compatibility with your target system.</td></tr><tr><td><code>name</code></td><td>string</td><td>✅</td><td>Name of the forwarder</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### How it Works

Once you create a forwarder, it can be mapped to any of your namespaces/apps that are currently receiving OTEL-formatted traces.

All trace events that conform to the OTEL protocol will be automatically forwarded to the specified endpoint via OTLP over HTTP.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.apica.io/flow/list-of-forwarders/traces.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.