SpanFixer: logs that set span status

Automatically mark the corresponding tracing span as failed when an error is logged

Problem

A HN Show HN presents a PyPI library built because in existing tracing setups, code may emit only an error log while the span status stays successful, so failures are invisible on dashboards. Setting span status manually everywhere is tedious, and logs from third-party libraries need ignore rules. There is a clear gap between logs and span status in the OpenTelemetry ecosystem.

Solution

A lightweight SDK/middleware that listens to application logs, matches error levels and message templates, and automatically sets the active span to error, with ignore rules by logger, template, or message. A rule management panel shows which logs triggered span status changes for debugging.

Users

Backend teams using OpenTelemetry, SREs, platform engineers

MVP

Python SDK auto-instrumentation; error log to span error mapping; ignore rule configuration; trigger log panel; compatibility with major tracing backends

Revenue

Open-source core plus team subscription (rule sync, audit, multi-environment) from $19/mo

Why now

OpenTelemetry adoption is rising fast, but bridging log and trace semantics is still manual; observability platforms won't build such a narrow bridge, and an indie dev can validate quickly with an SDK