open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib

This repository hosts OpenTelemetry Collector components that are not part of the collector's core repository — receivers, processors, exporters and extensions that handle telemetry outside the core scope. It fits teams already running or planning a Collector pipeline who need a specific integration and are prepared to own its configuration and support expectations. Getting-started guidance lives on the OpenTelemetry site Getting Started.

How the components reach you

Two official distributions exist: core and contrib, published from the releases repository releases repository. Many components here ship only in the contrib distribution; a few, such as the Jaeger and Prometheus components, are also in core. The documented alternative is to build a custom distribution with the OpenTelemetry Collector Builder, mixing components from core, contrib and third-party or internal repositories Collector Builder. That path lets you include only what you need rather than adopting the full contrib set.

Stability and support vary by component

Stability is set per signal, so a single component can be Stable for traces, Alpha for metrics and Development for logs. Levels follow the collector's shared definitions stability levels, and some features sit behind feature gates that have their own lifecycle stages feature lifecycle. Support is either community (the collector-contrib maintainers) or vendor-specific, and details are in each component's README. Maintainers may downgrade components judged unmaintained or risky to the repository or binary distribution, and practical support usually comes from individual contributors, often a component's code owner. Treat the contrib distribution as a collection of independently graded pieces, not one uniform maturity level.

A concrete workflow

Suppose you need a receiver for a source not covered in core. You check that component's README for its signal stability and support status, then either use the contrib distribution or add just that component to a builder-generated distribution. Because stability differs by signal, enable and validate the signals you actually use rather than assuming parity across traces, metrics and logs.

Before adopting

• Contribution and review mechanics follow the collector project's contributing guide CONTRIBUTING.md; this is relevant if you plan to submit changes.
• Security guidance is maintained in the collector repository's security best-practices document security best practices, and general project context is on opentelemetry.io.
• The README does not state version numbers, release cadence, upgrade/rollback steps or resource requirements; the releases page is the place to check current versions releases.

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