diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a781fdd..f4c3056 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2124,6 +2124,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio",
  "tokio-util",
  "tracing",
+ "tracing-actix-web",
  "tracing-opentelemetry",
  "tracing-subscriber",
  "tzf-rs",
@@ -2543,6 +2544,12 @@ version = "0.1.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "13d2233c9842d08cfe13f9eac96e207ca6a2ea10b80259ebe8ad0268be27d2af"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "mutually_exclusive_features"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e94e1e6445d314f972ff7395df2de295fe51b71821694f0b0e1e79c4f12c8577"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "native-tls"
 version = "0.2.18"
@@ -4359,6 +4366,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-core",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing-actix-web"
+version = "0.7.25"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3133a9a17a910bb708dcdcf1ff89d3dd98d412938b5e017c6e42de11b63ef164"
+dependencies = [
+ "actix-web",
+ "mutually_exclusive_features",
+ "opentelemetry",
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "tracing",
+ "tracing-opentelemetry",
+ "uuid",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tracing-attributes"
 version = "0.1.31"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d84ef80..0f00fcf 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ env_logger = "0.11.5"
 tracing = "0.1"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", default-features = false, features = ["std", "registry", "env-filter", "fmt", "ansi"] }
 tracing-opentelemetry = "0.32"
+tracing-actix-web = { version = "0.7", features = ["opentelemetry_0_31"] }
 actix-web-prom = "0.9.0"
 prometheus = "0.13"
 lazy_static = "1.5"
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 0b7bc43..e46f478 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -326,6 +326,7 @@ fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
             App::new()
                 .wrap(middleware::Logger::default())
                 .wrap(cors)
+                .wrap(tracing_actix_web::TracingLogger::default())
                 .service(
                     web::resource("/login")
                         .wrap(Governor::new(&governor_conf))
diff --git a/src/otel.rs b/src/otel.rs
index 9384abf..3384c3b 100644
--- a/src/otel.rs
+++ b/src/otel.rs
@@ -134,7 +134,20 @@ pub fn start_llm_request_span(
     span
 }
 
+/// The OpenTelemetry [`Context`] to parent this request's operation spans
+/// under. Prefers the request's root span — created by the
+/// `tracing-actix-web` middleware, which has already extracted any incoming
+/// W3C `traceparent` — so the per-request operation span nests *under* the
+/// root span (one trace tree) instead of duplicating it as a sibling. Falls
+/// back to parsing the request's `traceparent` header when no root span is
+/// active (e.g. a handler invoked directly in a test without the middleware).
 pub fn extract_context_from_request(req: &HttpRequest) -> Context {
+    use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt as _;
+    let current = tracing::Span::current();
+    let cx = current.context();
+    if cx.span().span_context().is_valid() {
+        return cx;
+    }
     let propagator = TraceContextPropagator::new();
     propagator.extract(&HeaderExtractor(req.headers()))
 }
diff --git a/tests/otel_traceparent.rs b/tests/otel_traceparent.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8605ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/otel_traceparent.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+//! Verifies the per-request root-span middleware (#139 / map #135).
+//!
+//! Two things are pinned here:
+//!
+//! 1. **Traceparent extraction.** An incoming W3C `traceparent` header is
+//!    picked up by the `tracing-actix-web` middleware (via the global text-map
+//!    propagator installed in `otel::init_tracing`), so the request's root span
+//!    is parented onto the caller's span — the whole request shares the
+//!    caller's `trace_id`.
+//!
+//! 2. **No duplicate request span.** A handler that parents its operation span
+//!    through `otel::extract_context_from_request` nests it *under* the
+//!    middleware's root span (one tree) rather than re-parsing the header into
+//!    a second, sibling request span.
+//!
+//! One process-global subscriber + propagator per test binary (one-shot), so
+//! this file holds a single test.
+
+use actix_web::{web, App, HttpRequest, HttpResponse};
+use opentelemetry::trace::{Tracer, TracerProvider};
+use opentelemetry_sdk::propagation::TraceContextPropagator;
+use opentelemetry_sdk::trace::{InMemorySpanExporter, SdkTracerProvider, SpanData};
+use tracing_subscriber::layer::SubscriberExt;
+use tracing_subscriber::registry::Registry;
+use tracing_subscriber::util::SubscriberInitExt;
+
+const TRACE_ID: &str = "0af7651916cd43dd8448eb211c80319c";
+const REMOTE_PARENT: &str = "b7ad6b7169203331";
+
+/// Mirrors the app's handler pattern: parent the operation span via
+/// `extract_context_from_request` (which sources the middleware's root span).
+async fn operation_handler(req: HttpRequest) -> HttpResponse {
+    let cx = image_api::otel::extract_context_from_request(&req);
+    let tracer = image_api::otel::global_tracer();
+    let _span = tracer.start_with_context("test.operation", &cx);
+    HttpResponse::Ok().finish()
+}
+
+fn find<'a>(spans: &'a [SpanData], name: &str) -> Option<&'a SpanData> {
+    spans.iter().find(|s| s.name.as_ref() == name)
+}
+
+#[actix_web::test]
+async fn traceparent_header_nests_request_spans() {
+    // In-memory exporter + provider; install as the global provider so the
+    // handler's `global_tracer()` and the middleware's layer share it.
+    let exporter = InMemorySpanExporter::default();
+    let provider = SdkTracerProvider::builder()
+        .with_simple_exporter(exporter.clone())
+        .build();
+    opentelemetry::global::set_tracer_provider(provider.clone());
+    // The middleware's `set_otel_parent` extracts via the global propagator.
+    opentelemetry::global::set_text_map_propagator(TraceContextPropagator::new());
+    // Subscriber with the OTel layer (mirrors `otel::init_tracing`).
+    let tracer = provider.tracer("traceparent-test");
+    Registry::default()
+        .with(tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetryLayer::new(tracer))
+        .try_init()
+        .expect("global subscriber not yet set");
+
+    let app = App::new()
+        .wrap(tracing_actix_web::TracingLogger::default())
+        .service(web::resource("/op").route(web::get().to(operation_handler)));
+    let srv = actix_web::test::init_service(app).await;
+
+    let req = actix_web::test::TestRequest::get()
+        .uri("/op")
+        .insert_header((
+            "traceparent",
+            format!("00-{TRACE_ID}-{REMOTE_PARENT}-01"),
+        ))
+        .to_request();
+    let _res = actix_web::test::call_and_read_body(&srv, req).await;
+
+    let spans = exporter.get_finished_spans().expect("in-memory exporter");
+
+    // The middleware's root span is the one whose parent is remote (the
+    // caller's span from the traceparent header).
+    let root = spans
+        .iter()
+        .find(|s| s.parent_span_is_remote)
+        .expect("a root span parented on the remote traceparent span");
+    // The handler's operation span.
+    let op = find(&spans, "test.operation").expect("the handler's operation span");
+
+    // (1) The whole request shares the caller's trace_id.
+    assert_eq!(
+        root.span_context.trace_id().to_string(),
+        TRACE_ID,
+        "root span must carry the incoming traceparent's trace_id"
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        op.span_context.trace_id().to_string(),
+        TRACE_ID,
+        "operation span must be in the same trace"
+    );
+
+    // (1) The root span is parented on the caller's (remote) span.
+    assert_eq!(
+        root.parent_span_id.to_string(),
+        REMOTE_PARENT,
+        "root span parent must be the traceparent's parent span id"
+    );
+
+    // (2) The operation span nests under the root span (child, not sibling).
+    assert_eq!(
+        op.parent_span_id.to_string(),
+        root.span_context.span_id().to_string(),
+        "operation span must be a child of the middleware root span, not a sibling"
+    );
+}