Send Claude Code Telemetry to Bindplane

Configure Claude Code to export OpenTelemetry metrics and logs to Bindplane via the OTLP source for centralized usage, cost, and activity monitoring.

Claude Code exports OpenTelemetry metrics and events to any OTLP endpoint — covering per-session API cost, token counts, and tool-use activity. Routing that data through Bindplane lets you forward it to any backend you already use (Datadog, Splunk, a SIEM, or anything else) and monitor usage across your entire team from one place, without each developer configuring their own export target.

Prerequisites

Network access from the host running Claude Code to the collector's OTLP ports:

• 4317 for gRPC

• 4318 for HTTP

If the collector runs in Kubernetes, use the in-cluster service DNS names instead of a hostname. See the Kubernetes section below.

Step 1: Configure the Bindplane Configuration

1. Open an existing Bindplane configuration or create a new one.

2. Add the OpenTelemetry (OTLP) source. It listens on port 4317 (gRPC) and 4318 (HTTP) on all interfaces by default. Enable TLS if your environment requires it — see the OTLP source documentation for options.

1. Add a destination. Any logging or metrics backend works. If you just want to confirm data is flowing, the Dev Null destination writes telemetry to /dev/null and is the simplest option for initial testing.

1. Roll out the configuration to the collector(s) that will receive Claude Code telemetry.

1. Note the collector's hostname or IP — you'll need it in the next step (for example, collector.example.com or localhost if you're running the collector locally).

Step 2: Enable telemetry in Claude Code

Set these environment variables before running claude. Replace <collector-host> with your collector's hostname or IP.

OTLP GRPC

export CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=1
export OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp
export OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://<collector-host>:4317

OTLP HTTP

export CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=1
export OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp
export OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://<collector-host>:4318

Run Claude

Then run claude in the same shell session.

claude

Make it permanent

Exporting variables each session gets old fast. Add them to your shell profile so they apply automatically:

# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
export CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=1
export OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp
export OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://<collector-host>:4317

Alternatively, create a .env file in your project directory and load it with source .env or a tool like direnv.

Authentication

If your OTLP endpoint requires a header (for example, an API key), set OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS:

export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="Authorization=Bearer your-token"

For mutual TLS, the Claude Code monitoring docs cover the client cert and key variables.

Organization-wide rollout

Administrators can configure these variables in the managed settings file so that all users automatically send telemetry to Bindplane without any per-developer setup.

Step 3: Verify data is flowing

The first metric export happens after OTEL_METRIC_EXPORT_INTERVAL milliseconds (default: 60,000 ms — one minute). Start a Claude Code session, run a prompt or two, then wait for the interval to pass before checking.

To verify in Bindplane, open the configuration and click a Processor Node in the Configuration.

Look for telemetry with the attribute service.name=claude-code. That attribute is present on every record Claude Code exports, so it's the fastest way to confirm the right data is coming in.

Key metrics and events

Signal	Name	What it represents
Metric	claude_code.cost.usage	Per-session API cost
Metric	claude_code.token.usage	Input, output, and cache token counts (labeled by token.type)
Metric	claude_code.session.count	Number of sessions started
Metric	claude_code.lines_of_code.count	Lines of code added or removed
Event (log)	claude_code.api_request	Each request sent to the Claude API
Event (log)	claude_code.user_prompt	Each prompt submitted by the user
Event (log)	claude_code.tool_result	Result returned from a tool call

For the complete list, see Claude Code's monitoring documentation.

Troubleshooting

No data after waiting 60+ seconds

Check that CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=1 is set in the same shell where you run claude — a variable exported in a different terminal won't carry over. Confirm the endpoint value matches the collector's address, and verify the collector is reachable:

curl http://<collector-host>:4318/

A connection error here means the collector is not reachable, not that telemetry is missing.

Connection refused

The collector process may not be running, or a firewall is blocking the port. Confirm the collector is up and that inbound traffic on 4317 or 4318 is allowed from the host running Claude Code.

Wrong protocol error

gRPC (port 4317) and HTTP/protobuf (port 4318) are not interchangeable. If you're using port 4318, you must also set OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf. Leaving the protocol as grpc while pointing at 4318 (or vice versa) will produce connection or serialization errors.

Kubernetes

If the Bindplane collector runs inside the cluster, use the in-cluster service DNS name as the endpoint. Claude Code (or the workload running it) must be able to reach the service — either from within the same cluster or via appropriate network policy.

Gateway collector:

Protocol	Service type	Endpoint
gRPC	clusterIP	bindplane-gateway-agent.bindplane-agent.svc.cluster.local:4317
gRPC	headless clusterIP	bindplane-gateway-agent-headless.bindplane-agent.svc.cluster.local:4317
HTTP	clusterIP	http://bindplane-gateway-agent.bindplane-agent.svc.cluster.local:4318

Node (DaemonSet) collector:

Protocol	Service type	Endpoint
gRPC	clusterIP	bindplane-node-agent.bindplane-agent.svc.cluster.local:4317
gRPC	headless clusterIP	bindplane-node-agent-headless.bindplane-agent.svc.cluster.local:4317
HTTP	clusterIP	http://bindplane-node-agent.bindplane-agent.svc.cluster.local:4318

If DaemonSet resource consumption is a concern, prefer the Gateway collector — it scales independently of cluster size.

Security and privacy

Tool events can include bash commands and file paths in tool_parameters. If your commands or paths may contain secrets, configure your telemetry backend or a Bindplane processor to filter or redact tool_parameters before the data reaches its destination.

By default, user prompt content and MCP/skill names are not included in telemetry — only prompt length is recorded. To include full prompt content or detailed tool parameters, set OTEL_LOG_USER_PROMPTS=1 and/or OTEL_LOG_TOOL_DETAILS=1. Only enable these when you have a specific need and understand the data that will be exported.

See the Security and privacy section in Claude's monitoring docs for the full details.