# Quickstart

Send your first trace with OpenTelemetry — the path that needs no Telemeter SDK.

> Status: Design

## Point OpenTelemetry at the ingest edge

If your app already emits OpenTelemetry with the GenAI semantic conventions, you point the exporter at the Telemeter ingest endpoint. No proprietary wrapper, no lock-in — the same spans remain portable.

```bash
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="https://ingest.telemeter.ai"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="authorization=Bearer <api-key>"
```

## Emit a GenAI span

```ts
import { trace } from "@opentelemetry/api"

const span = trace.getTracer("checkout-agent").startSpan("agent.run")
span.setAttributes({
  "gen_ai.operation.name": "tool.search",
  "gen_ai.request.model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
})
// ... run the step ...
span.end()
```

> The ingest endpoint is a design target, not yet live. Until it ships, use the free OTel validator to check your spans conform.