Network Tracing
Measure API requests and correlate with backend traces.
What to Capture (OTel-Compatible Names)
| Attribute |
OTel Name |
Purpose |
| Method |
http.request.method |
GET, POST, etc. |
| Status |
http.response.status_code |
Success/failure |
| URL |
url.path |
Endpoint (sanitized) |
| Duration |
http.request.duration |
Request time (ms) |
| Size |
http.response.body.size |
Payload bytes |
Using OTel naming = easier migration when OTel mobile matures.
See references/otel-mobile.md for rationale.
Distributed Tracing
Propagate trace context to backend:
Client Request
│
├── traceparent: 00-{trace_id}-{span_id}-01
├── X-Request-Id: {uuid}
└── X-Session-Id: {session}
│
â–¼
Backend (correlates logs with trace_id)
Key Thresholds
| Metric |
Good |
Acceptable |
Poor |
| API p50 |
<500ms |
<1s |
>1s |
| API p95 |
<2s |
<5s |
>5s |
| Error rate |
<1% |
<3% |
>3% |
Integration Options
Choose based on existing vendor:
| Vendor |
iOS |
Android |
Approach |
| Sentry |
Auto URLSession swizzling |
OkHttp integration |
Automatic |
| Datadog |
URLSession delegate |
OkHttp interceptor |
Semi-auto |
| Embrace |
Auto-instrumentation |
Auto-instrumentation |
Automatic |
| New Relic |
Auto URLSession instrumentation |
Auto OkHttp/HttpURLConnection |
Automatic |
| Custom |
Manual interceptor |
Manual interceptor |
Manual |
Automatic (swizzling): Less code, may miss custom clients
Manual (interceptors): More control, works with any HTTP client
Platform Integration Points
| Platform |
Manual Option |
Works With |
| iOS |
URLSession delegate |
All URLSession-based clients |
| iOS |
Alamofire EventMonitor |
Alamofire |
| Android |
OkHttp Interceptor |
OkHttp, Retrofit |
| Android |
Ktor HttpClientPlugin |
Ktor |
| RN |
fetch wrapper |
Native fetch |
| RN |
axios interceptor |
axios |
Implementation
See references/mobile-challenges.md (Client-Backend Correlation) for:
- W3C trace header format
- Platform-specific interceptor code
- Backend log correlation patterns
See references/performance.md (Network section) for latency budgets.
