fix(anthropic): disable the SDK native tracing to avoid duplicate spans - #4703

Major · Functional Correctness · Heavy lift

Finalize sync streams on early exit and error before disabling native tracing.

With ANTHROPIC_OPEN_TELEMETRY set to "false" by default, the SDK native span is no longer created. Before this change, that span can be the only exported record for some calls. In streaming.py, the sync path does not end the anthropic.chat span in two cases:

• WrappedMessageStreamManager.__exit__ delegates to the SDK manager without ending self._span. Its _complete_instrumentation() is a no-op. A caller that leaves the context before exhaustion leaves the span unended.
• AnthropicStream.__next__ re-raises stream errors after recording the exception counter, without setting status or ending the span. AnthropicAsyncStream.__anext__ handles this case.

For these calls, disabling native tracing can remove the only exported record. Land the stream-finalization changes from #4536 and #4643 before enabling this default. This head does not contain sync finalization for either path.

The error path can mirror the async handling in the same file:

The early-exit path needs separate finalization in WrappedMessageStreamManager.__exit__. Add it with the prerequisite changes.

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Review comment at @packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-anthropic/opentelemetry/instrumentation/anthropic/__init__.py at line 841:
Before changing the default in ANTHROPIC_OPEN_TELEMETRY, finalize sync stream spans: update AnthropicStream.__next__ to set error status and end the span on exceptions while preserving its existing counter and re-raise behavior, and update WrappedMessageStreamManager.__exit__ to end an unfinished span on early exit while retaining SDK manager cleanup. Mark instrumentation complete so finalization is not repeated, and keep the default disabled until both paths are covered.

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Agreed on the mechanism, but both gaps predate this change and are tracked separately: #4536 (early exit, sync and async) and #4643 (sync error path) are open issues with no fix in main, and #4643 is one you filed. This PR does not touch stream finalization; it only stops the duplicate usage span.

The trade-off is real for those two paths: before this change a sync stream that errors or exits early still produced the SDK's native span, and afterwards it produces none. Streams that reach StopIteration, and every call whose anthropic.chat span does finish, are unaffected.

Two ways forward, your call:

(a) keep this PR to the duplicate-usage fix and land the sync finalization separately — the error path mirrors the async branch at streaming.py:390-399, and the early-exit path needs the manager to keep the proxy it creates in __enter__;

(b) fold both into this PR before the default is enabled.

I did not want to add stream semantics to this change without your preference.

@simin-yuan I recommend option (b). The finalization gaps predate this PR, but the new default can turn them into missing spans.

Before merging with native tracing disabled by default, please fix both sync paths. Alternatively, the fixes can land separately as prerequisites. Tests should cover early exit, stream errors, normal exhaustion, and SDK cleanup.

I’m not marking this finding as addressed until the fixes are verified.

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Fixed in #4705, which is now open: the sync iterator ends the span with ERROR on the same path the async iterator already did, and both managers finish the span from __exit__/__aexit__, with close() and __del__ covered as well. Eight tests in tests/test_stream_span_finalization.py, 5 of them red on main.

#4705 is the prerequisite for this PR and should merge first: with the native span disabled and the streaming span unended, those calls had no record at all.

@simin-yuan Thanks for the fix. I inspected the #4705 patch. It adds the sync error and early-exit finalization, with tests for both paths, normal completion, and SDK cleanup. I did not run the tests.

#4705 is still open. Please merge it first, then update this branch and run the stream tests against the combined changes. I’m not marking this finding as addressed until that verification is complete.

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Verified the combination locally, without pushing a merge: #4705 merged into this branch (local 397f7a4), then

pytest tests/test_stream_span_finalization.py tests/test_native_tracing_coexistence.py
13 passed

The end-to-end probe on the combined tree reports one span per call in all six cases. Early exit and a failed sync stream, which had zero spans before #4705, now end the anthropic.chat span — OK for early exit, ERROR for the failure.

When #4705 lands in main I will rebase this branch on it and re-run; that is the state you are asking for.

@simin-yuan Thanks for testing the combined changes. The reported 13 passing tests and six-case probe provide useful evidence.

I agree with your plan: merge #4705 first, then rebase this branch and rerun the tests. I won’t mark the finding as addressed until the updated branch is verified.

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