OpenTelemetry Environment Variables

Configure OpenTelemetry using environment variables for advanced scenarios

This is an advanced configuration method. Most users should use Remote Configuration via the dashboard instead.

Environment variables provide an alternative way to configure OpenTelemetry, useful for self-hosted deployments, local development, CI/CD pipelines, or when you need to override organization settings.

When to Use

• Self-hosted deployments without dashboard access
• Local development and testing with your own collectors
• CI/CD pipelines that need observability
• Override organization settings with user-specific configuration

Environment variable configuration bypasses user telemetry settings and will export data regardless of individual preferences.

Environment Variables

Core Configuration

Variable	Description	Values
CLINE_OTEL_TELEMETRY_ENABLED	Enable OpenTelemetry export	"true" or "false"
CLINE_OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER	Metrics exporters (comma-separated)	"console", "otlp"
CLINE_OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER	Logs exporters (comma-separated)	"console", "otlp"

OTLP Configuration

Variable	Description	Values
CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL	OTLP protocol	"grpc", "http/json", or "http/protobuf"
CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	OTLP collector endpoint (applies to both metrics and logs)	URL with optional port
CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS	Authentication headers (comma-separated key=value pairs)	"key=value,key2=value2"
CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_INSECURE	Disable TLS for gRPC (local development only)	"true"

Advanced OTLP Configuration

For separate metrics and logs endpoints:

Variable	Description
CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_PROTOCOL	Metrics-specific protocol override
CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_ENDPOINT	Metrics-specific endpoint
CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_PROTOCOL	Logs-specific protocol override
CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT	Logs-specific endpoint

Export Tuning

Variable	Description	Default
CLINE_OTEL_METRIC_EXPORT_INTERVAL	Milliseconds between metric exports	60000
CLINE_OTEL_LOG_BATCH_SIZE	Maximum batch size for log records	512
CLINE_OTEL_LOG_BATCH_TIMEOUT	Maximum time before exporting logs (ms)	5000
CLINE_OTEL_LOG_MAX_QUEUE_SIZE	Maximum queue size for log records	2048

Quick Start Examples

Datadog with gRPC

export CLINE_OTEL_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=true
export CLINE_OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp
export CLINE_OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://api.datadoghq.com:4317
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="dd-api-key=YOUR_API_KEY"

code .

The endpoint shown above is for Datadog’s US1 region. If you’re in a different region (EU, US3, US5, AP1, etc.), replace api.datadoghq.com with your region-specific hostname (e.g., api.datadoghq.eu for EU). See Datadog’s OTLP documentation for your region’s endpoint.

New Relic with HTTP

export CLINE_OTEL_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=true
export CLINE_OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp
export CLINE_OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://otlp.nr-data.net:4318
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="api-key=YOUR_LICENSE_KEY"

code .

Local Development (Insecure)

export CLINE_OTEL_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=true
export CLINE_OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp
export CLINE_OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4317
export CLINE_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_INSECURE=true

code .

Console Output (Testing)

export CLINE_OTEL_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=true
export CLINE_OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=console
export CLINE_OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=console

code .

Debugging

Enable detailed OpenTelemetry diagnostic logging:

export TEL_DEBUG_DIAGNOSTICS=true
code .

This outputs:

• Configuration being used
• Exporters being created
• Connection attempts
• Export successes/failures

Check the VS Code Developer Tools Console (Help > Toggle Developer Tools) for diagnostic output.

Configuration Priority

When multiple configuration methods are present, Cline uses this priority order:

1. Environment variables (highest priority) - This method
2. Remote Configuration - Dashboard settings
3. Default settings - Built-in defaults

Environment variable configuration will override dashboard settings.

See Also

Dashboard Configuration

Configure OpenTelemetry via the web dashboard

Remote Configuration

Learn about Remote Configuration system