---

name: network-tracing description: Instrument API requests with spans and distributed tracing. Use when tracking request latency, correlating client-backend traces, or debugging API issues. triggers:

• "correlate backend traces"
• "distributed tracing"
• "network performance"
• "slow API calls"
• "trace requests"
• "track API requests" priority: 2

---

Network Tracing

Measure API requests and correlate with backend traces.

What to Capture (OTel-Compatible Names)

Using OTel naming = easier migration when OTel mobile matures. See references/otel-mobile.md for rationale.

Distributed Tracing

Propagate trace context to backend:

CopyClient Request
    │
    ├── traceparent: 00-{trace_id}-{span_id}-01
    ├── X-Request-Id: {uuid}
    └── X-Session-Id: {session}
         │
         ▼
    Backend (correlates logs with trace_id)

Key Thresholds

Integration Options

Choose based on existing vendor:

Automatic (swizzling): Less code, may miss custom clients Manual (interceptors): More control, works with any HTTP client

Platform Integration Points

Implementation

See references/mobile-challenges.md (Client-Backend Correlation) for:

• W3C trace header format
• Platform-specific interceptor code
• Backend log correlation patterns

See references/performance.md (Network section) for latency budgets.