Otel Collector Builder

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Debugging a builder manifest (builder.yaml)
• Choosing component and provider versions
• Building a collector that bundles a custom
• Out-of-distribution component

Example prompts

• “collector builder”
• “custom collector distribution”
• “builder manifest”
• “/otel-collector-builder”

Requirements

• Docker

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Install OCB at the version matching your target Collector version (see Install).
2. 2Write the manifest — dist: block plus component lists. Start from the minimal manifest; full key reference in references/manifest.md.
3. 3Align versions. All core components share one v0.x.0 version, contrib components use the same v0.x.0, and confmap providers use the paired…
4. 4Build with ocb --config=builder.yaml (binary is named builder when installed via go install). CI, Docker, multi-arch, and local-component…
5. 5Verify: run ./dist/ validate --config=.yaml, then start it and send test data (otel-telemetrygen skill). If the build fails, see…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9900032. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • go

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

  • github.com

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Otel Collector Builder loads about 2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~6.7k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 137 tokens; SKILL.md has 656 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~137

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~6.7k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from ollygarden/opentelemetry-agent-skills at commit 9900032, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© ollygarden). 656 words, ~1,966 tokens.

name

otel-collector-builder

description

Build custom OpenTelemetry Collector distributions with OCB (OpenTelemetry Collector Builder). Use when authoring or debugging a builder manifest (builder.yaml), choosing component and provider versions, building a collector that bundles a custom or out-of-distribution component, setting up CI or Docker builds of a distribution, or troubleshooting OCB build failures. Triggers on "ocb", "collector builder", "custom collector distribution", "builder manifest", "builder-config", and version-mismatch errors from OCB builds.

# Release binary (named ocb): https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases?q=cmd/builder
# Go install (binary is named `builder`, not `ocb`):
go install go.opentelemetry.io/collector/cmd/builder@v0.162.0

# builder.yaml
dist:
  name: otelcol-custom
  description: Custom OpenTelemetry Collector distribution
  output_path: ./dist
  version: 1.0.0

receivers:
  - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/receiver/otlpreceiver v0.162.0

processors:
  - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/processor/batchprocessor v0.162.0

exporters:
  - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/otlpexporter v0.162.0
  - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/debugexporter v0.162.0

providers:
  - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/provider/fileprovider v1.68.0
  - gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/provider/envprovider v1.68.0

processors:
  - gomod: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/processor/tailsamplingprocessor v0.162.0

ocb --config=builder.yaml                                  # full build: generate + go mod tidy + compile
ocb --config=builder.yaml --skip-compilation               # generate sources only (two-stage CI)
ocb --config=builder.yaml --skip-generate --skip-get-modules  # compile pre-generated sources untouched

© ollygarden, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files (references) in skills/otel-collector-builder of ollygarden/opentelemetry-agent-skills.

• SKILL.md
• references/manifest.md
• references/troubleshooting.md
• references/workflows.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9900032