Beginner30 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.

Migration Steps

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	Before	After (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	Before	After (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	Before	After (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	Before	After (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	Before	After (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

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()
}

Node.js

Before

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();

Python

Before

# 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

Related Resources

TraceKit vs Honeycomb

Compare Honeycomb's observability approach with TraceKit

OpenTelemetry Integration

Use TraceKit with existing OpenTelemetry instrumentation

Span Size Estimator

Estimate trace data volume for cost planning

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