Demo Metrics Instrumentation

In this lesson we’ll instrument a minimal Flask application with OpenTelemetry metrics. The goal is to introduce metrics support incrementally:

add and configure an OpenTelemetry MeterProvider,
register a metrics reader and exporter,
create metric instruments (counters, histograms, etc.),
record metrics from request handlers,
and validate exports locally (Console exporter) before moving to a production backend such as Prometheus.

Minimal Flask app This is the starting point — a minimal Flask API that exposes a single GET endpoint at /products:

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.get("/products")
def get_products():
    return "Get All Products"

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run()

We will extend this application to collect and export metrics using OpenTelemetry. Installation Install the OpenTelemetry API and SDK for Python:

pip install opentelemetry-api opentelemetry-sdk

You can verify the installed packages with:

pip freeze

(Exact versions will vary by environment.) Configure metrics Encapsulate the OpenTelemetry setup in a configure_meter() helper. The function:

creates a metric exporter (ConsoleMetricExporter for local testing),
creates a metrics reader (PeriodicExportingMetricReader) that periodically exports metrics,
builds a MeterProvider with the reader and a Resource,
sets it as the global meter provider,
and returns a Meter instance for creating instruments.

Example implementation (place this in main.py or in a separate module that you import):

# main.py
from flask import Flask
from opentelemetry.sdk.metrics.export import ConsoleMetricExporter, PeriodicExportingMetricReader
from opentelemetry.sdk.metrics import MeterProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource
from opentelemetry.metrics import set_meter_provider, get_meter_provider

def configure_meter(export_interval_millis: int = 5000):
    """
    Configure and install a MeterProvider that periodically exports metrics.

    Args:
        export_interval_millis: Export interval in milliseconds (default: 5000).

    Returns:
        opentelemetry.metrics.Meter: A Meter instance to create instruments.
    """
    # Export metrics to the console (useful for development/testing)
    exporter = ConsoleMetricExporter()

    # Periodically export metrics every `export_interval_millis` milliseconds
    reader = PeriodicExportingMetricReader(exporter, export_interval_millis=export_interval_millis)

    # Create a MeterProvider with the reader. You can add service attributes to the Resource.
    provider = MeterProvider(metric_readers=[reader], resource=Resource.create({}))

    # Set this provider as the global provider so the rest of the app can access it
    set_meter_provider(provider)

    # Return a Meter instance to create instruments from.
    return get_meter_provider().get_meter(name="shopping-app", version="0.1.2")

Key components

Component	Purpose	Example / Notes
ConsoleMetricExporter	Sends metric data to stdout for quick local validation	Useful in development; not for production
PeriodicExportingMetricReader	Periodically collects and forwards metrics to an exporter	`PeriodicExportingMetricReader(exporter, export_interval_millis=5000)`
MeterProvider	Central provider that manages meters and readers	`MeterProvider(metric_readers=[reader], resource=Resource.create({}))`
Resource	Describes the application/service (attributes like service.name)	`Resource.create({})` — replace with attributes as needed

Integrate with the Flask app Call configure_meter() at application startup, then create instruments from the returned meter. Record metrics inside request handlers. A compact main.py that includes the configuration and a counter instrument:

# main.py
from flask import Flask
from opentelemetry.sdk.metrics.export import ConsoleMetricExporter, PeriodicExportingMetricReader
from opentelemetry.sdk.metrics import MeterProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource
from opentelemetry.metrics import set_meter_provider, get_meter_provider

def configure_meter(export_interval_millis: int = 5000):
    exporter = ConsoleMetricExporter()
    reader = PeriodicExportingMetricReader(exporter, export_interval_millis=export_interval_millis)
    provider = MeterProvider(metric_readers=[reader], resource=Resource.create({}))
    set_meter_provider(provider)
    return get_meter_provider().get_meter(name="shopping-app", version="0.1.2")

app = Flask(__name__)

# Configure metrics and obtain a Meter
meter = configure_meter()

# Create instruments from the meter
request_counter = meter.create_counter(
    "shopping_requests",
    description="Number of requests received by the shopping API"
)

@app.get("/products")
def get_products():
    # Increment request counter by 1 for each GET /products call
    request_counter.add(1, {"endpoint": "/products", "method": "GET"})
    return "Get All Products"

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run()

Tips and best practices

Use attributes (labels) on metric recordings to slice metrics by endpoint, HTTP method, status code, or other dimensions. For production, add meaningful Resource attributes such as service.name, service.version, and environment tags.

Running the app Start the application:

python main.py

Typical Flask output:

 * Serving Flask app 'main'
 * Debug mode off
WARNING: This is a development server. Do not use it in a production deployment. Use a production WSGI server instead.
 * Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000/
Press CTRL+C to quit

While the app runs, the PeriodicExportingMetricReader will invoke the ConsoleMetricExporter at the configured interval (default 5 seconds). You should see exported metric lines printed to stdout when metrics have been recorded. Warnings

ConsoleMetricExporter and Flask’s built-in development server are intended for local development and testing only. For production, use a proper exporter (e.g., OTLP or Prometheus exporter) and a production WSGI server such as Gunicorn or uWSGI.

Next steps

Add more instruments: histograms for request latency, up-down counters for in-flight requests, or observable instruments.
Export to production backends:
- Prometheus: use the Prometheus exporter/agent to scrape metrics.
- OTLP: send metrics to an OpenTelemetry Collector and then route to your backend.
Enrich Resource.create({}) with metadata such as:
- service.name, service.instance.id, service.version.

Links and references

OpenTelemetry Python Metrics: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/instrumentation/python/
Prometheus: https://prometheus.io
OpenTelemetry Collector: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/

This guide gives you a minimal, reproducible path from a simple Flask app to basic OpenTelemetry metrics collection and local export. From here you can extend the instrumentation and switch exporters to match your observability stack.

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Exemplars

Demo Counter Metric