Intermediate 1-2 hours

Migrate from AWS X-Ray to TraceKit

AWS X-Ray locks your tracing into the AWS ecosystem. TraceKit gives you the same distributed tracing visibility across any cloud, any infrastructure, with a single SDK.

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Replace X-Ray SDK with TraceKit SDK

Remove the AWS X-Ray SDK and install TraceKit. X-Ray uses segments and subsegments; TraceKit uses spans. The X-Ray daemon is no longer needed -- TraceKit sends traces directly via HTTPS.

Category	AWS X-Ray	TraceKit	Notes
Package	aws-xray-sdk-go (Go)	github.com/tracekit/go-sdk	Go SDK replacement
Package	aws-xray-sdk-node (npm)	@tracekit/node-apm (npm)	Node.js SDK replacement
Package	aws-xray-sdk (pip)	tracekit-apm (pip)	Python SDK replacement

Remove X-Ray Daemon and Map Configuration

The X-Ray daemon is a UDP listener that buffers and forwards segments to AWS. TraceKit SDKs send directly via HTTPS -- remove the daemon container or sidecar from your deployment.

Category	AWS X-Ray	TraceKit	Notes
Daemon	AWS_XRAY_DAEMON_ADDRESS (default 127.0.0.1:2000)	(not needed)	No daemon; SDK sends directly to endpoint
Daemon	X-Ray daemon container/sidecar	(remove from deployment)	Remove daemon from ECS task/K8s pod spec
Authentication	AWS IAM role (xray:PutTraceSegments)	TRACEKIT_API_KEY	API key replaces IAM-based auth
Service Identity	AWS_XRAY_TRACING_NAME	TRACEKIT_SERVICE_NAME	Service name for trace grouping

Migrate Segments and Subsegments to Spans

X-Ray's segment concept maps to a root span, and subsegments map to child spans. Replace BeginSegment/BeginSubsegment calls with TraceKit span creation using context propagation.

Category	AWS X-Ray	TraceKit	Notes
Segments	xray.BeginSegment(ctx, name)	tracekit.StartSpan(ctx, name)	Segments become root spans
Subsegments	xray.BeginSubsegment(ctx, name)	tracekit.StartSpan(ctx, name)	Subsegments become child spans (context links parent)
Close	seg.Close(err)	span.End()	Close maps to End; errors recorded separately
Annotations	seg.AddAnnotation(key, value)	span.SetAttribute(key, value)	Annotations (indexed) become attributes
Metadata	seg.AddMetadata(key, value)	span.SetAttribute(key, value)	Metadata (non-indexed) also becomes attributes

Update AWS Service Integrations

X-Ray auto-instruments AWS SDK calls (DynamoDB, S3, SQS, Lambda). With TraceKit, instrument these calls using middleware or manual spans. TraceKit works across all clouds, not just AWS.

Category	AWS X-Ray	TraceKit	Notes
AWS SDK	xray.AWS(awsClient) (auto-instrument)	tracekit.WrapHTTPClient(client)	HTTP client wrapper captures outbound calls
Lambda	X-Ray active tracing (Lambda console toggle)	TraceKit SDK in Lambda handler	Add SDK init to Lambda handler function
Sampling	xray.Configure({DaemonAddr, SamplingStrategy})	tracekit.WithSampleRate(rate)	SDK-level sampling configuration

Verify Traces Across Clouds

Deploy and verify traces in TraceKit. Unlike X-Ray, TraceKit traces can span AWS, GCP, Azure, and on-premise services in a single view. Disable X-Ray active tracing on your AWS services once TraceKit is confirmed working.

Category	AWS X-Ray	TraceKit	Notes
Verification	AWS Console > X-Ray > Traces	TraceKit Dashboard > Traces	Verify trace waterfall and service map
Verification	X-Ray Service Map	TraceKit Service Map	Verify cross-service dependencies
Cleanup	Disable X-Ray active tracing on AWS services	(keep TraceKit running)	Turn off X-Ray to avoid double-billing

Code Examples

Before (AWS X-Ray)

import (
    "github.com/aws/aws-xray-sdk-go/xray"
)

func main() {
    xray.Configure(xray.Config{
        DaemonAddr:  "127.0.0.1:2000",
        ServiceVersion: "1.0.0",
    })

    ctx, seg := xray.BeginSegment(context.Background(), "my-service")
    defer seg.Close(nil)

    _, subseg := xray.BeginSubsegment(ctx, "fetch-data")
    subseg.AddAnnotation("user.id", "u-123")
    // ... business logic
    subseg.Close(nil)
}

After (TraceKit)

import "github.com/tracekit/go-sdk/tracekit"

func main() {
    tracekit.Init("tk_your_api_key",
        tracekit.WithService("my-service"),
        tracekit.WithEnvironment("production"),
    )
    defer tracekit.Shutdown(context.Background())

    ctx, span := tracekit.StartSpan(context.Background(), "my-service")
    defer span.End()

    _, child := tracekit.StartSpan(ctx, "fetch-data")
    child.SetAttribute("user.id", "u-123")
    // ... business logic
    child.End()
}

Before (AWS X-Ray)

const AWSXRay = require('aws-xray-sdk-core');

AWSXRay.setDaemonAddress('127.0.0.1:2000');

const segment = new AWSXRay.Segment('my-service');
const subsegment = segment.addNewSubsegment('fetch-data');
subsegment.addAnnotation('user_id', 'u-123');
// ... business logic
subsegment.close();
segment.close();

After (TraceKit)

const tracekit = require('@tracekit/node-apm');

tracekit.init({
  apiKey: 'tk_your_api_key',
  service: 'my-service',
  environment: 'production',
});

const span = tracekit.startSpan('my-service');
const child = tracekit.startSpan('fetch-data', { parent: span });
child.setAttribute('user_id', 'u-123');
// ... business logic
child.end();
span.end();

Before (AWS X-Ray)

from aws_xray_sdk.core import xray_recorder

xray_recorder.configure(
    daemon_address='127.0.0.1:2000',
    service='my-service',
)

segment = xray_recorder.begin_segment('my-service')
subsegment = xray_recorder.begin_subsegment('fetch-data')
subsegment.put_annotation('user_id', 'u-123')
# ... business logic
xray_recorder.end_subsegment()
xray_recorder.end_segment()

After (TraceKit)

import tracekit

tracekit.init(
    api_key='tk_your_api_key',
    service='my-service',
    environment='production',
)

with tracekit.start_span('my-service') as span:
    with tracekit.start_span('fetch-data') as child:
        child.set_attribute('user_id', 'u-123')
        # ... business logic

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OTel Config Generator

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