Quickstart: sending data to MultiTool

This guide shows how to send your OpenTelemetry trace data to MultiTool and attribute it to a specific version of your service.

You’ll make two small changes:

• point your exporter at MultiTool
• set your service name, version, and deployment environment as resource attributes

Prerequisities

• Create a free MultiTool account

• Create a new workspace from the MultiTool app

Step 1: Create a MultiTool API key

In the MultiTool app:

• Navigate to Manage workspace → API keys.
• Choose "Create API key"
• Provide a name and expiration date
• Copy the API key value (you’ll only be able to see it once)

You’ll also be able to view and delete existing keys from this page.

Store the key as an environment variable:

export MULTI_API_KEY="YOUR_KEY_HERE"

Step 2: Set a version and environment for your service

Set a version identifier that changes per deploy, and the environment the service runs in:

export APP_VERSION="1.2.3"  # or git SHA, image tag, etc.
export APP_ENVIRONMENT="production"  # or staging, development, etc.

Step 3: Update your trace exporter

Configure your OTLP HTTP exporter to send data to MultiTool:

import { OTLPTraceExporter } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http'

const traceExporter = new OTLPTraceExporter({
  url: 'https://api.multitool.run/api/otlp/v1/traces',
  headers: {
    'X-API-KEY': process.env['MULTI_API_KEY'] ?? '',
  },
})

Step 4: Set your service attributes in your resource

Add service.name, service.version, and deployment.environment.name to your OpenTelemetry resource:

import { NodeSDK } from '@opentelemetry/sdk-node'
import { resourceFromAttributes } from '@opentelemetry/resources'
import {
  ATTR_SERVICE_NAME,
  ATTR_SERVICE_VERSION,
} from '@opentelemetry/semantic-conventions'

const sdk = new NodeSDK({
  resource: resourceFromAttributes({
    [ATTR_SERVICE_NAME]: 'your-service-name',
    [ATTR_SERVICE_VERSION]: process.env['APP_VERSION'] ?? '',
    'deployment.environment.name': process.env['APP_ENVIRONMENT'] ?? '',
  }),
  traceExporter,
})

Step 5: Verify data in MultiTool

Run your service as usual with the environment variables set. Once traffic flows, traces will begin appearing in MultiTool, grouped by service.version and deployment.environment.name.

Common issues

No data showing up

Check that MULTI_API_KEY is set in your runtime environment.

Data not grouped correctly

Ensure APP_VERSION is non-empty and changes per deploy.

Exporter not working

Confirm you’re using the OTLP HTTP exporter (@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http).