New Relic Trace API

openapi: 3.1.0
info:
  title: New Relic Trace API
  description: >-
    The New Relic Trace API allows distributed tracing data to be sent directly
    to New Relic in either New Relic format or Zipkin JSON v2 format. It is used
    by Telemetry SDKs, open source integrations, and custom tracing implementations
    that need to report span data without a full APM agent. Traces appear in the
    New Relic Distributed Tracing UI after processing.
  version: '1'
  contact:
    name: New Relic Support
    url: https://support.newrelic.com/
  termsOfService: https://newrelic.com/termsandconditions/terms
  x-last-validated: '2026-04-18'
externalDocs:
  description: New Relic Trace API Documentation
  url: https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/distributed-tracing/trace-api/introduction-trace-api/
servers:
- url: https://trace-api.newrelic.com
  description: US Production
- url: https://trace-api.eu.newrelic.com
  description: EU Production
tags:
- name: Traces
  description: Distributed trace span ingestion
security:
- apiKey: []
paths:
  /trace/v1:
    post:
      operationId: sendTraces
      summary: New Relic Send Trace Spans
      description: >-
        Sends distributed trace spans to New Relic. Supports New Relic format
        (Content-Type application/json with Data-Format newrelic) and Zipkin
        JSON v2 format (Data-Format zipkin). Payloads can be gzip-compressed.
        A single request supports up to 10,000 spans and must not exceed
        1 MB compressed.
      tags:
      - Traces
      parameters:
      - name: Data-Format
        in: header
        required: true
        description: The format of the trace data in the request body
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - newrelic
          - zipkin
        example: newrelic
      - name: Data-Format-Version
        in: header
        description: Version of the data format. Use 1 for newrelic format.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - '1'
        example: '1'
      - name: Content-Encoding
        in: header
        description: Use gzip for compressed payloads
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - gzip
        example: gzip
      - name: Content-Type
        in: header
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - application/json
        example: application/json
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              oneOf:
              - $ref: '#/components/schemas/NewRelicTracePayload'
              - $ref: '#/components/schemas/ZipkinTracePayload'
            examples:
              newrelic:
                summary: New Relic format
                value:
                - common:
                    attributes:
                      service.name: myService
                      host: web01
                  spans:
                  - id: 5f5bf6860e3b5208
                    trace.id: aefb4b81c6eedc5e
                    attributes:
                      name: /api/orders
                      duration.ms: 12
                      db.statement: SELECT * FROM orders
              zipkin:
                summary: Zipkin v2 format
                value:
                - id: 5f5bf6860e3b5208
                  traceId: aefb4b81c6eedc5e
                  name: /api/orders
                  timestamp: 1645564509000000
                  duration: 12000
                  localEndpoint:
                    serviceName: myService
      responses:
        '202':
          description: Accepted. Trace data was received and queued for processing.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/AcceptedResponse'
              examples:
                Sendtraces202Example:
                  summary: Default sendTraces 202 response
                  x-microcks-default: true
                  value:
                    requestId: '500123'
        '400':
          description: Bad request. Payload is malformed or exceeds limits.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
              examples:
                Sendtraces400Example:
                  summary: Default sendTraces 400 response
                  x-microcks-default: true
                  value:
                    requestId: '500123'
                    error: &id001
                      type: standard
                      message: Operation completed successfully
        '403':
          description: Forbidden. The API key is invalid or lacks insert permissions.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
              examples:
                Sendtraces403Example:
                  summary: Default sendTraces 403 response
                  x-microcks-default: true
                  value:
                    requestId: '500123'
                    error: *id001
        '413':
          description: Payload too large.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
              examples:
                Sendtraces413Example:
                  summary: Default sendTraces 413 response
                  x-microcks-default: true
                  value:
                    requestId: '500123'
                    error: *id001
        '429':
          description: Too many requests. Rate limit exceeded.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
              examples:
                Sendtraces429Example:
                  summary: Default sendTraces 429 response
                  x-microcks-default: true
                  value:
                    requestId: '500123'
                    error: *id001
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
components:
  securitySchemes:
    apiKey:
      type: apiKey
      in: header
      name: Api-Key
      description: New Relic License Key or Ingest API Key
  schemas:
    NewRelicTracePayload:
      type: array
      description: New Relic format trace payload — array of span batch objects
      items:
        $ref: '#/components/schemas/SpanBatch'
    SpanBatch:
      type: object
      description: A batch of spans with optional shared attributes
      required:
      - spans
      properties:
        common:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/CommonBlock'
        spans:
          type: array
          description: Array of individual span objects
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Span'
          example:
          - id: '500123'
            trace.id: '500123'
            timestamp: 1718153645993
            attributes:
              name: {}
              parent.id: {}
              duration.ms: {}
              service.name: {}
              error: {}
              db.statement: {}
              http.url: {}
              http.method: {}
              http.statusCode: {}
    CommonBlock:
      type: object
      description: Shared attributes applied to all spans in this batch
      properties:
        attributes:
          type: object
          description: Key-value attributes applied to every span in the batch
          additionalProperties:
            oneOf:
            - type: string
            - type: number
            - type: boolean
          example:
            customAttribute: example_value
    Span:
      type: object
      description: A single distributed trace span in New Relic format
      required:
      - id
      - trace.id
      properties:
        id:
          type: string
          description: Unique identifier for this span (16 hex characters)
          example: '500123'
        trace.id:
          type: string
          description: Trace ID that groups all spans in a distributed trace
          example: '500123'
        timestamp:
          type: integer
          description: Unix epoch timestamp in milliseconds when the span started
          example: 1718153645993
        attributes:
          type: object
          description: Span attributes
          properties:
            name:
              type: string
              description: Name of the operation represented by this span
            parent.id:
              type: string
              description: The span ID of the parent span
            duration.ms:
              type: number
              description: Duration of the span in milliseconds
            service.name:
              type: string
              description: Name of the service that generated this span
            error:
              type: boolean
              description: Whether the span represents an error
            db.statement:
              type: string
              description: Database query statement if applicable
            http.url:
              type: string
              description: HTTP URL for outbound calls
            http.method:
              type: string
              description: HTTP method for outbound calls
            http.statusCode:
              type: integer
              description: HTTP response status code
          additionalProperties:
            oneOf:
            - type: string
            - type: number
            - type: boolean
          example:
            name: example-resource-01
            parent.id: '500123'
            duration.ms: 0.42
            service.name: myService
            error: true
            db.statement: example_string
            http.url: https://portal.example.com/path/abc123
            http.method: example_string
            http.statusCode: 200
    ZipkinTracePayload:
      type: array
      description: Zipkin JSON v2 format trace payload
      items:
        $ref: '#/components/schemas/ZipkinSpan'
    ZipkinSpan:
      type: object
      description: A single span in Zipkin JSON v2 format
      required:
      - id
      - traceId
      properties:
        id:
          type: string
          description: Span ID (16 hex characters)
          example: '500123'
        traceId:
          type: string
          description: Trace ID (32 hex characters)
          example: '500123'
        parentId:
          type: string
          description: Parent span ID
          example: '500123'
        name:
          type: string
          description: Span name / operation name
          example: example-resource-01
        timestamp:
          type: integer
          description: Span start time in microseconds since epoch
          example: 1718153645993
        duration:
          type: integer
          description: Span duration in microseconds
          example: 100
        kind:
          type: string
          enum:
          - CLIENT
          - SERVER
          - PRODUCER
          - CONSUMER
          example: CLIENT
        localEndpoint:
          type: object
          properties:
            serviceName:
              type: string
            ipv4:
              type: string
            port:
              type: integer
          example:
            serviceName: myService
            ipv4: example_string
            port: 8080
        remoteEndpoint:
          type: object
          properties:
            serviceName:
              type: string
            ipv4:
              type: string
            port:
              type: integer
          example:
            serviceName: myService
            ipv4: example_string
            port: 8080
        tags:
          type: object
          additionalProperties:
            type: string
          example:
            customAttribute: example_value
        annotations:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
            properties:
              timestamp:
                type: integer
              value:
                type: string
          example:
          - timestamp: 1718153645993
            value: example_string
    AcceptedResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        requestId:
          type: string
          example: '500123'
    ErrorResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        requestId:
          type: string
          example: '500123'
        error:
          type: object
          properties:
            type:
              type: string
            message:
              type: string
          example: *id001