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zipkin

Deploy and configure Zipkin for distributed tracing and request flow visualization. Use when a user needs to set up trace collection, instrument Java/Spring or other services with Zipkin, analyze service dependencies, or configure storage backends for trace data.

#zipkin#tracing#distributed-tracing#spring-boot#observability
terminal-skillsv1.0.0
Works with:claude-codeopenai-codexgemini-clicursor
Source

Usage

$
✓ Installed zipkin v1.0.0

Getting Started

  1. Install the skill using the command above
  2. Open your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or Cursor)
  3. Reference the skill in your prompt
  4. The AI will use the skill's capabilities automatically

Example Prompts

  • "Deploy the latest build to the staging environment and run smoke tests"
  • "Check the CI pipeline status and summarize any recent failures"

Documentation

Overview

Set up Zipkin for distributed tracing to visualize request flows across services. Covers deployment, instrumentation with Spring Boot and OpenTelemetry, storage configuration, and dependency analysis.

Instructions

Task A: Deploy Zipkin

yaml
# docker-compose.yml — Zipkin with Elasticsearch storage
services:
  zipkin:
    image: openzipkin/zipkin:3
    environment:
      - STORAGE_TYPE=elasticsearch
      - ES_HOSTS=http://elasticsearch:9200
      - ES_INDEX=zipkin
      - ES_INDEX_REPLICAS=1
      - ES_INDEX_SHARDS=3
      - SELF_TRACING_ENABLED=true
      - JAVA_OPTS=-Xms512m -Xmx512m
    ports:
      - "9411:9411"
    depends_on:
      - elasticsearch

  elasticsearch:
    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.12.0
    environment:
      - discovery.type=single-node
      - xpack.security.enabled=false
      - "ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms1g -Xmx1g"
    volumes:
      - es_data:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data

volumes:
  es_data:
bash
# Quick start with in-memory storage (development only)
docker run -d -p 9411:9411 openzipkin/zipkin:3

Task B: Instrument Spring Boot Application

xml
<!-- pom.xml — Zipkin dependencies for Spring Boot 3 -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.micrometer</groupId>
    <artifactId>micrometer-tracing-bridge-brave</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.zipkin.reporter2</groupId>
    <artifactId>zipkin-reporter-brave</artifactId>
</dependency>
yaml
# application.yml — Spring Boot tracing configuration
spring:
  application:
    name: order-service
management:
  tracing:
    sampling:
      probability: 1.0
  zipkin:
    tracing:
      endpoint: http://zipkin:9411/api/v2/spans
logging:
  pattern:
    level: "%5p [${spring.application.name:},%X{traceId:-},%X{spanId:-}]"
java
// OrderController.java — Spring Boot controller with automatic tracing
@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/orders")
public class OrderController {

    private final RestClient restClient;
    private final ObservationRegistry registry;

    @PostMapping
    public ResponseEntity<Order> createOrder(@RequestBody OrderRequest req) {
        // Spans are created automatically for @RestController methods
        Order order = orderService.create(req);

        // RestClient propagates trace context automatically
        PaymentResult payment = restClient.post()
            .uri("http://payment-service/api/charge")
            .body(new ChargeRequest(order.getId(), order.getTotal()))
            .retrieve()
            .body(PaymentResult.class);

        return ResponseEntity.status(201).body(order);
    }
}

Task C: Instrument with OpenTelemetry (Generic)

python
# tracing.py — Python service sending traces to Zipkin via OTLP
from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import BatchSpanProcessor
from opentelemetry.exporter.zipkin.json import ZipkinExporter
from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource

resource = Resource.create({"service.name": "inventory-service"})
provider = TracerProvider(resource=resource)

zipkin_exporter = ZipkinExporter(endpoint="http://zipkin:9411/api/v2/spans")
provider.add_span_processor(BatchSpanProcessor(zipkin_exporter))
trace.set_tracer_provider(provider)

tracer = trace.get_tracer("inventory-service")
javascript
// tracing.js — Node.js service sending traces to Zipkin
const { NodeSDK } = require('@opentelemetry/sdk-node')
const { ZipkinExporter } = require('@opentelemetry/exporter-zipkin')
const { getNodeAutoInstrumentations } = require('@opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node')

const sdk = new NodeSDK({
  traceExporter: new ZipkinExporter({ url: 'http://zipkin:9411/api/v2/spans' }),
  instrumentations: [getNodeAutoInstrumentations()],
  serviceName: 'notification-service',
})
sdk.start()

Task D: Query Traces via API

bash
# Find traces by service name and time range
curl -s "http://localhost:9411/api/v2/traces?serviceName=order-service&limit=10&lookback=3600000" | \
  jq '.[] | {traceId: .[0].traceId, spans: length, root: .[0].name, duration: (.[0].duration / 1000)}'
bash
# Get service dependency graph
curl -s "http://localhost:9411/api/v2/dependencies?endTs=$(date +%s000)&lookback=86400000" | \
  jq '.[] | "\(.parent) -> \(.child) (\(.callCount) calls)"'
bash
# Find traces with specific tag
curl -s "http://localhost:9411/api/v2/traces?annotationQuery=http.status_code%3D500&serviceName=order-service" | \
  jq '.[0][] | {name: .name, service: .localEndpoint.serviceName, duration: .duration}'

Task E: Zipkin with MySQL Storage

yaml
# docker-compose.yml — Zipkin with MySQL for durable storage
services:
  zipkin:
    image: openzipkin/zipkin:3
    environment:
      - STORAGE_TYPE=mysql
      - MYSQL_HOST=mysql
      - MYSQL_TCP_PORT=3306
      - MYSQL_USER=zipkin
      - MYSQL_PASS=zipkin_password
    ports:
      - "9411:9411"
    depends_on:
      - mysql

  mysql:
    image: openzipkin/zipkin-mysql:3
    volumes:
      - mysql_data:/var/lib/mysql

volumes:
  mysql_data:

Best Practices

  • Use sampling rates below 100% in production for high-traffic services to control storage costs
  • Include trace IDs in application logs for log-trace correlation
  • Use B3 propagation headers for cross-service context propagation in Spring Boot
  • Set appropriate storage TTL — 7 days for detailed traces, dependency data is lightweight
  • Monitor Zipkin's own health with /health endpoint and SELF_TRACING_ENABLED=true
  • Prefer Elasticsearch over MySQL for production workloads with high trace volume

Information

Version
1.0.0
Author
terminal-skills
Category
DevOps
License
Apache-2.0