Tracing module - implement other providers

[scottgerring]

Pre-RFC: Datadog Tracer Provider for Powertools-Java

Hi team! 👋 Before drafting a full RFC, I wanted to gauge interest in adding a Datadog tracer implementation to Powertools for AWS Lambda (Java).

Why?

This would provide Powertools+Datadog customers the ability to go beyond datadog's serverless layer, instrumenting downstream calls and introducing custom spans whilst relying on the ease of use of Powertools for Java.

High-level idea

• Extract today's X-Ray code behind a minimal interface (PowertoolsTracer).
• Publish separate artifacts:
  • powertools-tracing-core
  • powertools-tracing-xray (current impl, default)
  • powertools-tracing-datadog (new impl)

Next steps

1. Confirm project interest / any concerns with the approach.
2. If positive, I'll submit a full RFC with API sketch, migration plan, and PoC link.
3. Iterate on feedback and open implementation PRs behind a feature flag.

Would this addition be of interest to the maintainers? Happy to flesh out details if the direction sounds reasonable!

Scott

[phipag]

Hey @scottgerring, thanks for opening this issue. This is a really cool idea.

In Python, we have something similar for the Metrics utility already (https://docs.powertools.aws.dev/lambda/python/latest/core/metrics/datadog/). With the refactoring of the metrics module in v2 we also have the ability now to support such providers in Metrics in Java. I believe that this provider pattern (with sub-modules) that you are suggesting is really good in general and might be a valuable addition to Tracing.

Before we move on to an RFC stage, let me triage this with the team and get back to you with more details (by next week).