Beginner 30 minutes

Migrate from Honeycomb to TraceKit

Honeycomb embraces OpenTelemetry, which makes migration straightforward -- swap the OTLP endpoint and API key. Or switch to TraceKit's native SDK for live code monitoring and built-in PII scrubbing.

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Swap OTLP Endpoint and API Key

Honeycomb uses standard OpenTelemetry OTLP endpoints. The fastest migration path is to simply point your existing OTel instrumentation to TraceKit's endpoint and replace the Honeycomb API key.

Category	Honeycomb	TraceKit	Notes
Endpoint	OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT (api.honeycomb.io:443)	TRACEKIT_ENDPOINT	Point OTLP exporter to TraceKit endpoint
Authentication	HONEYCOMB_API_KEY (x-honeycomb-team header)	TRACEKIT_API_KEY	API key replaces Honeycomb team key
Dataset	HONEYCOMB_DATASET	TRACEKIT_SERVICE_NAME	Datasets map to service names in TraceKit

Update OpenTelemetry Headers

Honeycomb uses custom OTLP headers for authentication and dataset routing. Replace these with TraceKit's headers or switch to the native SDK for additional features.

Category	Honeycomb	TraceKit	Notes
Headers	OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS=x-honeycomb-team=KEY	OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS=x-tracekit-key=KEY	Replace Honeycomb auth header
Headers	x-honeycomb-dataset=my-service	OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=my-service	Service name via standard OTel resource
Environment	HONEYCOMB_API_ENDPOINT (EU region)	TRACEKIT_ENDPOINT (region-specific)	Use region-appropriate endpoint URL

Optional: Switch to TraceKit Native SDK

While OTLP forwarding works, TraceKit's native SDK adds live code monitoring, automatic PII scrubbing, and simplified initialization. Consider replacing the OTel SDK with TraceKit's SDK for these benefits.

Category	Honeycomb	TraceKit	Notes
Package	@opentelemetry/sdk-node + @honeycomb/opentelemetry	@tracekit/node-apm	Single package replaces OTel SDK + Honeycomb distro
Package	opentelemetry-sdk + honeycomb-beeline (Python)	tracekit-apm	Simpler installation, fewer dependencies
Features	Standard OTel features only	OTel + live debugging + PII scrubbing	Native SDK adds TraceKit-specific capabilities

Migrate Derived Columns and SLOs

Honeycomb's derived columns and SLO definitions need to be recreated in TraceKit. TraceKit's built-in dashboards cover common latency and error rate views that replace many derived columns.

Category	Honeycomb	TraceKit	Notes
Queries	Honeycomb Query Builder	TraceKit Dashboard filters	Filter by service, duration, attributes
SLOs	Honeycomb SLO definitions	TraceKit Alerts (threshold-based)	Set P95 latency and error rate thresholds
Boards	Honeycomb Boards (dashboards)	TraceKit Dashboard views	Built-in service overview, latency, errors

Verify Traces and Deactivate Honeycomb

Confirm traces appear in TraceKit with correct service names and attributes. Once verified, remove the Honeycomb API key from your environment to stop sending duplicate data.

Category	Honeycomb	TraceKit	Notes
Verification	Honeycomb > Home > Recent traces	TraceKit Dashboard > Traces	Verify trace data and latency distribution
Verification	Honeycomb > Service Map (BubbleUp)	TraceKit Service Map	Verify service dependency visualization
Cleanup	Remove HONEYCOMB_API_KEY from env	(keep TRACEKIT_API_KEY)	Stop sending to Honeycomb

Code Examples

Before (Honeycomb)

import (
    "github.com/honeycombio/otel-config-go/otelconfig"
    "go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
)

func main() {
    cleanup, _ := otelconfig.ConfigureOpenTelemetry(
        otelconfig.WithServiceName("my-service"),
        otelconfig.WithHeaders(map[string]string{
            "x-honeycomb-team": "YOUR_HONEYCOMB_API_KEY",
        }),
    )
    defer cleanup()

    tracer := otel.Tracer("my-service")
    ctx, span := tracer.Start(ctx, "process-order")
    defer span.End()
}

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(), "process-order")
    defer span.End()
}

Before (Honeycomb)

const { HoneycombSDK } = require('@honeycombio/opentelemetry-node');
const { trace } = require('@opentelemetry/api');

const sdk = new HoneycombSDK({
  apiKey: 'YOUR_HONEYCOMB_API_KEY',
  serviceName: 'my-service',
  dataset: 'my-service',
});
sdk.start();

const tracer = trace.getTracer('my-service');
const span = tracer.startSpan('process-order');
// ... business logic
span.end();

After (TraceKit)

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

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

const span = tracekit.startSpan('process-order');
// ... business logic
span.end();

Before (Honeycomb)

# Using Honeycomb's OpenTelemetry distribution
import os
os.environ['OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT'] = 'https://api.honeycomb.io'
os.environ['OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS'] = 'x-honeycomb-team=YOUR_API_KEY'
os.environ['OTEL_SERVICE_NAME'] = 'my-service'

from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider

provider = TracerProvider()
trace.set_tracer_provider(provider)
tracer = trace.get_tracer('my-service')

with tracer.start_as_current_span('process-order'):
    pass  # business logic

After (TraceKit)

import tracekit

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

with tracekit.start_span('process-order') as span:
    pass  # business logic

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APM Implementation Checklist

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OTel Config Generator

Generate OpenTelemetry Collector configurations for your stack

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