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# Semantic conventions for exceptions on spans

**Status**: [Stable][DocumentStatus]

This document defines semantic conventions for recording application
exceptions associated with spans.

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- [Exception event](#exception-event)
  - [Stacktrace Representation](#stacktrace-representation)

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## Exception event

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**Status:** ![Stable](https://img.shields.io/badge/-stable-lightgreen)

The event name MUST be `exception`.

This event describes a single exception.

| Attribute  | Type | Description  | Examples  | [Requirement Level](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/general/attribute-requirement-level/) | Stability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [`exception.message`](/docs/attributes-registry/exception.md) | string | The exception message. | `Division by zero`; `Can't convert 'int' object to str implicitly` | `Conditionally Required` [1] | ![Stable](https://img.shields.io/badge/-stable-lightgreen) |
| [`exception.type`](/docs/attributes-registry/exception.md) | string | The type of the exception (its fully-qualified class name, if applicable). The dynamic type of the exception should be preferred over the static type in languages that support it. | `java.net.ConnectException`; `OSError` | `Conditionally Required` [2] | ![Stable](https://img.shields.io/badge/-stable-lightgreen) |
| [`exception.escaped`](/docs/attributes-registry/exception.md) | boolean | Indicates that the exception is escaping the scope of the span. |  | `Recommended` | ![Deprecated](https://img.shields.io/badge/-deprecated-red)<br>It's no longer recommended to record exceptions that are handled and do not escape the scope of a span. |
| [`exception.stacktrace`](/docs/attributes-registry/exception.md) | string | A stacktrace as a string in the natural representation for the language runtime. The representation is to be determined and documented by each language SIG. | `Exception in thread "main" java.lang.RuntimeException: Test exception\n at com.example.GenerateTrace.methodB(GenerateTrace.java:13)\n at com.example.GenerateTrace.methodA(GenerateTrace.java:9)\n at com.example.GenerateTrace.main(GenerateTrace.java:5)` | `Recommended` | ![Stable](https://img.shields.io/badge/-stable-lightgreen) |

**[1] `exception.message`:** Required if `exception.type` is not set, recommended otherwise.

**[2] `exception.type`:** Required if `exception.message` is not set, recommended otherwise.

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### Stacktrace Representation

The table below, adapted from [Google Cloud][gcp-error-reporting], includes
possible representations of stacktraces in various languages. The table is not
meant to be a recommendation for any particular language, although SIGs are free
to adopt them if they see fit.

| Language   | Format                                                              |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| C#         | the return value of [Exception.ToString()][csharp-stacktrace]       |
| Elixir     | the return value of [Exception.format/3][elixir-stacktrace]         |
| Erlang     | the return value of [`erl_error:format`][erlang-stacktrace]         |
| Go         | the return value of [runtime.Stack][go-stacktrace]                  |
| Java       | the contents of [Throwable.printStackTrace()][java-stacktrace]      |
| Javascript | the return value of [error.stack][js-stacktrace] as returned by V8  |
| Python     | the return value of [traceback.format_exc()][python-stacktrace]     |
| Ruby       | the return value of [Exception.full_message][ruby-full-message]     |

Backends can use the language specified methodology for generating a stacktrace
combined with platform information from the
[telemetry sdk resource][telemetry-sdk-resource] in order to extract more fine
grained information from a stacktrace, if necessary.

[gcp-error-reporting]: https://cloud.google.com/error-reporting/reference/rest/v1beta1/projects.events/report
[java-stacktrace]: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Throwable.html#printStackTrace%28%29
[python-stacktrace]: https://docs.python.org/3/library/traceback.html#traceback.format_exc
[js-stacktrace]: https://v8.dev/docs/stack-trace-api
[ruby-full-message]: https://ruby-doc.org/core-2.7.1/Exception.html#method-i-full_message
[csharp-stacktrace]: https://docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/api/system.exception.tostring
[go-stacktrace]: https://pkg.go.dev/runtime/debug#Stack
[telemetry-sdk-resource]: ../resource/README.md#telemetry-sdk
[erlang-stacktrace]: https://www.erlang.org/doc/apps/stdlib/erl_error.html#format_exception/3
[elixir-stacktrace]: https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/1.14.3/Exception.html#format/3
[DocumentStatus]: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/document-status
