Sending logs using the OTLP endpoint (OpenTelemetry Logs)

The OpenTelemetry Logs endpoint (/v1/logs) accepts OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) log data in either JSON or Protobuf encoding. For detailed information about the OTLP endpoint, including configuration and usage, see Send metrics and traces to CloudWatch with OpenTelemetry.

If you are using bearer token authentication, complete the setup steps in Setting up bearer token authentication before proceeding.

Request format

• Method: POST

• Content-Type: application/json or application/x-protobuf

• Log group: x-aws-log-group header only (query parameter not supported)

• Log stream: x-aws-log-stream header

Example request

curl -X POST "https://logs.<region>.amazonaws.com/v1/logs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ACWL<token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-aws-log-group: MyLogGroup" \
  -H "x-aws-log-stream: MyLogStream" \
  -d '{
  "resourceLogs": [
    {
      "resource": {
        "attributes": [
          {
            "key": "service.name",
            "value": { "stringValue": "my-service" }
          }
        ]
      },
      "scopeLogs": [
        {
          "scope": {
            "name": "my-library",
            "version": "1.0.0"
          },
          "logRecords": [
            {
              "timeUnixNano": "1741900000000000000",
              "severityNumber": 9,
              "severityText": "INFO",
              "body": {
                "stringValue": "User logged in successfully"
              },
              "attributes": [
                {
                  "key": "user.id",
                  "value": { "stringValue": "12345" }
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}'

Responses

Success (all events accepted):

HTTP 200 OK
{}

Partial success (some events rejected):

{
  "partialSuccess": {
    "rejectedLogRecords": 5,
    "errorMessage": "{\"tooOldLogEventCount\": 3, \"tooNewLogEventCount\": 1, \"expiredLogEventCount\": 1}"
  }
}

When the request Content-Type is application/x-protobuf, the response is returned as a serialized ExportLogsServiceResponse protobuf message with the same fields.

OTLP-specific behaviors

The following behaviors are specific to the OTLP endpoint and are not present on the other HTTP ingestion endpoints:

• Retry-After header – Included on 503 and 429 responses to indicate when the client should retry.