> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/openlit/openlit/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Destinations overview

> Send AI observability data from OpenLIT to your existing observability stack using standard OTLP

The OpenLIT SDK sends traces, metrics, and logs using the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) over HTTP. Any backend that accepts OTLP data — whether a managed SaaS service or a self-hosted stack — can receive data from OpenLIT without any vendor-specific plugins or agents.

## How it works

Configure the destination endpoint and authentication headers in `openlit.init()` or via environment variables:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python theme={null}
    import openlit

    openlit.init(
        otlp_endpoint="https://your-otlp-endpoint",
        otlp_headers="Authorization=Bearer your-token"
    )
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript theme={null}
    import Openlit from 'openlit';

    Openlit.init({
        otlpEndpoint: 'https://your-otlp-endpoint',
        otlpHeaders: 'Authorization=Bearer your-token'
    });
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Environment variables">
    ```shell theme={null}
    export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="https://your-otlp-endpoint"
    export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="Authorization=Bearer your-token"
    ```

    Then initialize with no arguments:

    ```python theme={null}
    import openlit
    openlit.init()
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Note>
  If you do not set `otlp_endpoint`, the SDK outputs traces to the console. This is useful during development but should not be used in production.
</Note>

## Supported destinations

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="OpenLIT" href="/sdk/destinations/openlit" icon="server">
    Send to a self-hosted OpenLIT platform instance. Default OTLP endpoint: `http://127.0.0.1:4318`.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Grafana Cloud" href="/sdk/destinations/grafana" icon="chart-line">
    Send to the Grafana Cloud OTLP gateway using Basic Auth with your Instance ID and API token.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Datadog" href="/sdk/destinations/datadog" icon="dog">
    Send to a local Datadog Agent that forwards traces and metrics to the Datadog backend.
  </Card>

  <Card title="OpenTelemetry Collector" href="/sdk/destinations/overview" icon="arrow-right-arrow-left">
    Send to any OpenTelemetry Collector instance for fan-out to multiple backends simultaneously.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Configuration reference

| Parameter       | Environment Variable          | Description                                                  |
| --------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `otlp_endpoint` | `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT` | OTLP HTTP endpoint URL                                       |
| `otlp_headers`  | `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS`  | Authentication headers as `key=value` pairs, comma-separated |
| `service_name`  | `OTEL_SERVICE_NAME`           | Service name shown in your backend                           |
| `environment`   | `OTEL_DEPLOYMENT_ENVIRONMENT` | Deployment environment (e.g., `production`)                  |

<Tip>
  Environment variables take precedence over parameters passed to `openlit.init()`. This lets you manage destination configuration outside your application code, which is recommended for production deployments.
</Tip>

***

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Integrations" href="/sdk/integrations/overview" icon="circle-nodes">
    60+ LLM providers, AI frameworks, and vector databases
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuration" href="/sdk/configuration" icon="sliders">
    Full reference for all openlit.init() parameters
  </Card>

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</CardGroup>