diff --git a/instrumentation/http-tests/src/main/java/brave/http/ITHttpServer.java b/instrumentation/http-tests/src/main/java/brave/http/ITHttpServer.java
index 0b9e2c2a2e..7f05db468e 100644
--- a/instrumentation/http-tests/src/main/java/brave/http/ITHttpServer.java
+++ b/instrumentation/http-tests/src/main/java/brave/http/ITHttpServer.java
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 import brave.sampler.Sampler;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
 import okhttp3.Request;
 import okhttp3.Response;
@@ -219,6 +221,41 @@ public <Req> void request(HttpAdapter<Req, ?> adapter, Req req, SpanCustomizer c
     assertReportedTagsInclude("context.visible", "true");
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void supportsHttpTemplate() throws Exception {
+    // We don't know if we can read the template from the request or the response, so try both
+    httpTracing = httpTracing.toBuilder().serverParser(new HttpServerParser() {
+      @Override
+      public <Req> void request(HttpAdapter<Req, ?> adapter, Req req, SpanCustomizer customizer) {
+        super.request(adapter, req, customizer);
+        String template = adapter.templateFromRequest(req);
+        if (template != null) customizer.name(template);
+      }
+
+      @Override public <Resp> void response(HttpAdapter<?, Resp> adapter, Resp res, Throwable error,
+          SpanCustomizer customizer) {
+        super.response(adapter, res, error, customizer);
+        String template = adapter.templateFromResponse(res);
+        if (template != null) customizer.name(template);
+      }
+    }).build();
+    init();
+
+    get("/items/1?foo");
+    get("/items/2?bar");
+
+    assertThat(spans).extracting(s -> s.tags().get("http.path"))
+        .containsExactly("/items/1", "/items/2");
+
+    Set<String> templates = spans.stream()
+        .map(Span::name)
+        .collect(Collectors.toSet());
+
+    assertThat(templates).hasSize(1);
+    assertThat(templates.iterator().next())
+        .contains("items");
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void addsStatusCode_badRequest() throws Exception {
     try {
diff --git a/instrumentation/http/src/main/java/brave/http/HttpAdapter.java b/instrumentation/http/src/main/java/brave/http/HttpAdapter.java
index 9e0792e4ac..d73eabae45 100644
--- a/instrumentation/http/src/main/java/brave/http/HttpAdapter.java
+++ b/instrumentation/http/src/main/java/brave/http/HttpAdapter.java
@@ -44,6 +44,26 @@ public abstract class HttpAdapter<Req, Resp> {
    */
   @Nullable public abstract Integer statusCode(Resp response);
 
+  /**
+   * An expression representing an application endpoint, used to group similar requests together.
+   *
+   * <p>For example, the template "/products/{key}", would match "/products/1" and "/products/2".
+   * There is no format required for the encoding, as it is sometimes application defined. The
+   * important part is that the value namespace is low cardinality.
+   *
+   * <p>Conventionally associated with the key "http.template"
+   */
+  // TODO: backfill definition of http.template in the api project
+  @Nullable public String templateFromRequest(Req request) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  /** Like {@link #templateFromRequest}, used when the template isn't visible until the response. */
+  // NOTE: FromResponse suffix is needed as Req and Resp are generic params which equate to Object
+  @Nullable public String templateFromResponse(Resp response) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
   HttpAdapter() {
   }
 }
diff --git a/instrumentation/servlet/src/main/java/brave/servlet/HttpServletAdapter.java b/instrumentation/servlet/src/main/java/brave/servlet/HttpServletAdapter.java
index edc3106ece..b21db88778 100644
--- a/instrumentation/servlet/src/main/java/brave/servlet/HttpServletAdapter.java
+++ b/instrumentation/servlet/src/main/java/brave/servlet/HttpServletAdapter.java
@@ -7,8 +7,7 @@
 
 /** This can also parse the remote IP of the client. */
 // public for others like sparkjava to use
-public final class HttpServletAdapter
-    extends HttpServerAdapter<HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse> {
+public class HttpServletAdapter extends HttpServerAdapter<HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse> {
   final ServletRuntime servlet = ServletRuntime.get();
 
   /**
diff --git a/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/brave/spring/webmvc/TracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor.java b/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/brave/spring/webmvc/TracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor.java
index b140b5e3c6..b4600d4b99 100644
--- a/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/brave/spring/webmvc/TracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor.java
+++ b/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/brave/spring/webmvc/TracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor.java
@@ -22,21 +22,20 @@ public static AsyncHandlerInterceptor create(HttpTracing httpTracing) {
     return new TracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor(httpTracing);
   }
 
-  final HandlerInterceptor delegate;
+  final TracingHandlerInterceptor delegate;
 
   @Autowired TracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor(HttpTracing httpTracing) { // internal
-    delegate = TracingHandlerInterceptor.create(httpTracing);
+    delegate = new TracingHandlerInterceptor(httpTracing);
   }
 
   @Override
-  public boolean preHandle(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, Object o)
-      throws Exception {
+  public boolean preHandle(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, Object o) {
     return delegate.preHandle(request, response, o);
   }
 
   @Override
-  public void afterCompletion(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response,
-      Object o, Exception ex) throws Exception {
+  public void afterCompletion(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, Object o,
+      Exception ex) {
     delegate.afterCompletion(request, response, o, ex);
   }
 }
diff --git a/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/brave/spring/webmvc/TracingHandlerInterceptor.java b/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/brave/spring/webmvc/TracingHandlerInterceptor.java
index 5628add5f4..52aca4f2d3 100644
--- a/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/brave/spring/webmvc/TracingHandlerInterceptor.java
+++ b/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/brave/spring/webmvc/TracingHandlerInterceptor.java
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 import brave.http.HttpTracing;
 import brave.propagation.Propagation;
 import brave.propagation.TraceContext;
-import brave.servlet.HttpServletAdapter;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
@@ -42,7 +41,7 @@ public static HandlerInterceptor create(HttpTracing httpTracing) {
 
   @Autowired TracingHandlerInterceptor(HttpTracing httpTracing) { // internal
     tracer = httpTracing.tracing().tracer();
-    handler = HttpServerHandler.create(httpTracing, new HttpServletAdapter());
+    handler = HttpServerHandler.create(httpTracing, new WebMVCAdapter());
     extractor = httpTracing.tracing().propagation().extractor(GETTER);
   }
 
@@ -59,7 +58,7 @@ public boolean preHandle(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse respons
 
   @Override
   public void postHandle(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, Object handler,
-      ModelAndView modelAndView) throws Exception {
+      ModelAndView modelAndView) {
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/test/java/brave/spring/webmvc/ITTracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor.java b/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/test/java/brave/spring/webmvc/ITTracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor.java
index 1e47599e45..5b17307eb5 100644
--- a/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/test/java/brave/spring/webmvc/ITTracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor.java
+++ b/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/test/java/brave/spring/webmvc/ITTracingAsyncHandlerInterceptor.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
 import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
+import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
 import org.springframework.web.context.support.AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.web.servlet.AsyncHandlerInterceptor;
@@ -69,6 +70,11 @@ public Callable<ResponseEntity<Void>> disconnectAsync() {
         throw new IOException();
       };
     }
+
+    @RequestMapping(value = "/items/{itemId}")
+    public ResponseEntity<Void> items(@PathVariable String itemId) throws IOException {
+      return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.OK);
+    }
   }
 
   @Configuration
diff --git a/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/test/java/brave/spring/webmvc/ITTracingHandlerInterceptor.java b/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/test/java/brave/spring/webmvc/ITTracingHandlerInterceptor.java
index 10670bc310..d51910f8d4 100644
--- a/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/test/java/brave/spring/webmvc/ITTracingHandlerInterceptor.java
+++ b/instrumentation/spring-webmvc/src/test/java/brave/spring/webmvc/ITTracingHandlerInterceptor.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
 import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
+import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
 import org.springframework.web.context.support.AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet;
@@ -69,6 +70,11 @@ public Callable<ResponseEntity<Void>> disconnectAsync() throws IOException {
         throw new IOException();
       };
     }
+
+    @RequestMapping(value = "/items/{itemId}")
+    public ResponseEntity<Void> items(@PathVariable String itemId) throws IOException {
+      return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.OK);
+    }
   }
 
   @Configuration