# simpletel

> simpletel is an OpenTelemetry-native trace, log and metric store: point any
> OTLP exporter at it and query traces from the terminal, the browser, or a
> coding agent. One binary, one SQLite file, one metered unit (a record), no
> seats, no SDK, hard spend caps.

## Install

    curl -fsSL https://simpletel.dev/install | sh

Installs the `simpletel` CLI — one binary, no daemon, no sudo.

## Sign in and create a team

    simpletel login
    simpletel team create --name <your-app>

Teams are manageable over the API too: GET|POST /user/v1/teams (list/create)
and GET|PATCH /user/v1/teams/{id} (get/update); each team's dashboard is
/dashboard?team=<id>.

## Environment

    simpletel env            # prints the block below; eval "$(simpletel env)" to apply

    export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=<server base URL>
    export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf
    export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="x-simpletel-team=<your-team-id>"
    export OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=<your-app>

The `x-simpletel-team` header (or gRPC metadata) carries the 20-hex team
id: it is the ingest key, and every record is attributed to that team.

## Plans (USD, before tax)

- Free: $0 — 2M records/month, 7-day retention, 3 teams, overage hard stop, ingest stops at the 2M allowance
- Starter: $19/mo · $190/yr — 25M records/month, 30-day retention, 10 teams, overage $0.50/M, ingest stops at 2x allowance; raisable to 3x
- Team: $79/mo · $790/yr — 150M records/month, 90-day retention, 50 teams, overage $0.30/M, ingest stops at 2x allowance; raisable to 3x
- Scale: from $499/mo, invoiced — contact us — 1B records/month, 90-day retention, unlimited teams, overage custom, negotiated

A record is one span, one log record, or one metric data point.

## Agent tools

- simpletel usage — plan, month-to-date records, allowance, spend cap (JSON with --format json)
- simpletel mcp — stdio MCP server; tools: get_traces, get_trace, get_signals, verify, usage
  - MCP registry: io.github.willnewby/simpletel
  - Container image: ghcr.io/willnewby/simpletel-mcp (public, multi-arch; docker run -i --rm ghcr.io/willnewby/simpletel-mcp)
- signals: GET /api/v1/signals — team Golden Signals (latency, traffic, errors, saturation)
- simpletel verify --service <name> — exit-code-gated onboarding check
- simpletel skill install — writes the onboarding and troubleshooting skills into Claude Code, Codex, or Pi
- AI catalog — MCP manifest + skills as one machine-readable document: https://simpletel.dev/.well-known/ai-catalog.json
- Cost at a volume — the spend calculator's math as JSON: https://simpletel.dev/estimate.json?records=<records-per-month>

## Docs

- [Pricing and FAQ](https://simpletel.dev/pricing) — the upgrade URL a plan-limit rejection returns is this page
- [Spend calculator](https://simpletel.dev/calculator?records=<records-per-month>)
- [Guides](https://simpletel.dev/guides): [storing OpenTelemetry traces in one SQLite file](https://simpletel.dev/guides/store-otel-traces-sqlite), [agent-driven instrumentation](https://simpletel.dev/guides/agent-driven-otel-instrumentation), [MCP quickstart](https://simpletel.dev/guides/mcp-quickstart)
- [What an OTLP backend is](https://simpletel.dev/otlp-backend) · [comparisons](https://simpletel.dev/compare)
- [Privacy & terms](https://simpletel.dev/privacy-terms)