src/ai/daily_summary_job.rs

@@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
 use anyhow::Result;
 use chrono::{NaiveDate, Utc};
-use opentelemetry::KeyValue;
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status, TraceContextExt, Tracer};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use tokio::time::sleep;
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt;
 
 use crate::ai::{EMBEDDING_MODEL, OllamaClient, SmsApiClient, SmsMessage, user_display_name};
 use crate::database::{DailySummaryDao, InsertDailySummary};
-use crate::otel::global_tracer;
 
 /// Strip boilerplate prefixes and common phrases from summaries before embedding.
 /// This improves embedding diversity by removing structural similarity.
@@ -155,6 +154,7 @@ pub fn strip_summary_boilerplate(summary: &str) -> String {
 
 /// Generate and embed daily conversation summaries for a date range
 /// Default: August 2024 ±30 days (July 1 - September 30, 2024)
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.daily_summary.generate_batch", skip_all)]
 pub async fn generate_daily_summaries(
     contact: &str,
     start_date: Option<NaiveDate>,
@@ -163,30 +163,16 @@ pub async fn generate_daily_summaries(
     sms_client: &SmsApiClient,
     summary_dao: Arc<Mutex<Box<dyn DailySummaryDao>>>,
 ) -> Result<()> {
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-
+    span.set_attribute("contact", contact.to_string());
-    // Get current context (empty in background task) and start span with it
-    let current_cx = opentelemetry::Context::current();
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.daily_summary.generate_batch", &current_cx);
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("contact", contact.to_string()));
-
-    // Create context with this span for child operations
-    let parent_cx = current_cx.with_span(span);
 
     // Default to August 2024 ±30 days
     let start = start_date.unwrap_or_else(|| NaiveDate::from_ymd_opt(2024, 7, 1).unwrap());
     let end = end_date.unwrap_or_else(|| NaiveDate::from_ymd_opt(2024, 9, 30).unwrap());
 
-    parent_cx
+    span.set_attribute("start_date", start.to_string());
-        .span()
+    span.set_attribute("end_date", end.to_string());
-        .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("start_date", start.to_string()));
+    span.set_attribute("date_range_days", (end - start).num_days() + 1);
-    parent_cx
-        .span()
-        .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("end_date", end.to_string()));
-    parent_cx.span().set_attribute(KeyValue::new(
-        "date_range_days",
-        (end - start).num_days() + 1,
-    ));
 
     log::info!("========================================");
     log::info!("Starting daily summary generation for {}", contact);
@@ -267,14 +253,7 @@ pub async fn generate_daily_summaries(
         }
 
         // Generate summary for this day
-        match generate_and_store_daily_summary(
+        match generate_and_store_daily_summary(date, contact, messages, ollama, summary_dao.clone())
-            &parent_cx,
-            date,
-            contact,
-            messages,
-            ollama,
-            summary_dao.clone(),
-        )
             .await
         {
             Ok(_) => {
@@ -322,55 +301,38 @@ pub async fn generate_daily_summaries(
     log::info!("========================================");
 
     // Record final metrics in span
-    parent_cx
+    span.set_attribute("days_processed", processed as i64);
-        .span()
+    span.set_attribute("days_skipped", skipped as i64);
-        .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("days_processed", processed as i64));
+    span.set_attribute("days_failed", failed as i64);
-    parent_cx
+    span.set_attribute("total_days", total_days as i64);
-        .span()
-        .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("days_skipped", skipped as i64));
-    parent_cx
-        .span()
-        .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("days_failed", failed as i64));
-    parent_cx
-        .span()
-        .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("total_days", total_days as i64));
 
     if failed > 0 {
-        parent_cx
+        span.set_status(Status::error(format!("{} days failed to process", failed)));
-            .span()
-            .set_status(Status::error(format!("{} days failed to process", failed)));
     } else {
-        parent_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
+        span.set_status(Status::Ok);
     }
 
     Ok(())
 }
 
 /// Generate and store a single day's summary
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.daily_summary.generate_single", skip_all)]
 async fn generate_and_store_daily_summary(
-    parent_cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     date: &NaiveDate,
     contact: &str,
     messages: &[SmsMessage],
     ollama: &OllamaClient,
     summary_dao: Arc<Mutex<Box<dyn DailySummaryDao>>>,
 ) -> Result<()> {
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.daily_summary.generate_single", parent_cx);
+    span.set_attribute("date", date.to_string());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("date", date.to_string()));
+    span.set_attribute("contact", contact.to_string());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("contact", contact.to_string()));
+    span.set_attribute("message_count", messages.len() as i64);
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("message_count", messages.len() as i64));
-    // Parent context for the child llm.request spans; the span itself stays
-    // borrowed here for the attribute updates below.
-    let llm_cx =
-        opentelemetry::Context::new().with_remote_span_context(span.span_context().clone());
 
     let (prompt, system_prompt) = build_daily_summary_prompt(contact, date, messages);
 
     // Generate summary with LLM
-    let summary = ollama
+    let summary = ollama.generate(&prompt, Some(system_prompt)).await?;
-        .generate(&llm_cx, &prompt, Some(system_prompt))
-        .await?;
 
     log::debug!(
         "Generated summary for {}: {}",
@@ -378,7 +340,7 @@ async fn generate_and_store_daily_summary(
         summary.chars().take(100).collect::<String>()
     );
 
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("summary_length", summary.len() as i64));
+    span.set_attribute("summary_length", summary.len() as i64);
 
     // Strip boilerplate before embedding to improve vector diversity
     let stripped_summary = strip_summary_boilerplate(&summary);
@@ -388,14 +350,9 @@ async fn generate_and_store_daily_summary(
     );
 
     // Embed the stripped summary (store original summary in DB)
-    let embedding = ollama
+    let embedding = ollama.generate_embedding(&stripped_summary).await?;
-        .generate_embedding(&llm_cx, &stripped_summary)
-        .await?;
 
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new(
+    span.set_attribute("embedding_dimensions", embedding.len() as i64);
-        "embedding_dimensions",
-        embedding.len() as i64,
-    ));
 
     // Store in database
     let insert = InsertDailySummary {
@@ -408,8 +365,8 @@ async fn generate_and_store_daily_summary(
         model_version: EMBEDDING_MODEL.to_string(),
     };
 
-    // Create context from current span for DB operation
+    // DAO calls still take an explicit OTel context (#141).
-    let child_cx = opentelemetry::Context::current_with_span(span);
+    let child_cx = span.context();
 
     let mut dao = summary_dao.lock().expect("Unable to lock DailySummaryDao");
     let result = dao
@@ -417,8 +374,8 @@ async fn generate_and_store_daily_summary(
         .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to store summary: {:?}", e));
 
     match &result {
-        Ok(_) => child_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok),
+        Ok(_) => span.set_status(Status::Ok),
-        Err(e) => child_cx.span().set_status(Status::error(e.to_string())),
+        Err(e) => span.set_status(Status::error(e.to_string())),
     }
 
     result?;

src/ai/handlers.rs

@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-use actix_web::{HttpRequest, HttpResponse, Responder, delete, get, post, web};
+use actix_web::{HttpResponse, Responder, delete, get, post, web};
 use futures::StreamExt;
-use opentelemetry::KeyValue;
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status, Tracer};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use tracing::Instrument;
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt;
 
 use crate::ai::insight_chat::{ChatStreamEvent, ChatTurnRequest};
 use crate::ai::ollama::ChatMessage;
@@ -11,7 +12,6 @@ use crate::data::Claims;
 use crate::database::models::{InsightGenerationType, InsightJobStatus, PhotoInsight};
 use crate::database::{ExifDao, InsightDao};
 use crate::libraries;
-use crate::otel::{extract_context_from_request, global_tracer};
 use crate::state::AppState;
 use crate::utils::normalize_path;
 
@@ -416,15 +416,13 @@ fn apply_owner_defaults(
 
 /// POST /insights/generate - Generate insight for a specific photo (async)
 #[post("/insights/generate")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.insights.generate", skip_all)]
 pub async fn generate_insight_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     _claims: Claims,
     request: web::Json<GeneratePhotoInsightRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("http.insights.generate", &parent_context);
 
     let mut request = request.0;
     // Stored owner defaults fill what the client omitted (request → pref →
@@ -440,9 +438,9 @@ pub async fn generate_insight_handler(
     let library = app_state.primary_library();
     let gen_type = InsightGenerationType::Standard;
 
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("file_path", normalized_path.clone()));
+    span.set_attribute("file_path", normalized_path.clone());
     if let Some(ref model) = request.model {
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("model", model.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("model", model.clone());
     }
 
     log::info!(
@@ -506,7 +504,8 @@ pub async fn generate_insight_handler(
     let job_handles = app_state.insight_job_handles.clone();
     let path = normalized_path.clone();
 
-    let handle = tokio::spawn(async move {
+    let handle = tokio::spawn(
+        async move {
             let timeout_secs: u64 = std::env::var("INSIGHT_GENERATION_TIMEOUT_SECS")
                 .ok()
                 .and_then(|v| v.parse().ok())
@@ -557,7 +556,8 @@ pub async fn generate_insight_handler(
                         if let Err(e) = dao.complete_job(&ctx, job_id, id) {
                             log::error!("Failed to mark job {} as completed: {:?}", job_id, e);
                         }
-                } else if let Err(e) = dao.fail_job(&ctx, job_id, "generation returned no insight")
+                    } else if let Err(e) =
+                        dao.fail_job(&ctx, job_id, "generation returned no insight")
                     {
                         log::error!("Failed to mark job {} as failed: {:?}", job_id, e);
                     }
@@ -595,7 +595,11 @@ pub async fn generate_insight_handler(
                 .lock()
                 .expect("Unable to lock InsightJobHandles");
             handles.remove(&job_id);
-    });
+        }
+        // Carry the handler span into the job so the generation (and its
+        // LLM / DB spans) stays in the request's trace.
+        .instrument(tracing::Span::current()),
+    );
 
     // Store abort handle
     {
@@ -606,7 +610,7 @@ pub async fn generate_insight_handler(
         handles.insert(job_id, handle.abort_handle());
     }
 
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("job_id", job_id as i64));
+    span.set_attribute("job_id", job_id as i64);
     span.set_status(Status::Ok);
     HttpResponse::Accepted().json(JobIdResponse { job_id })
 }
@@ -744,15 +748,13 @@ pub async fn get_insight_history_handler(
 
 /// POST /insights/generate/agentic - Generate insight using agentic tool-calling loop (async)
 #[post("/insights/generate/agentic")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.insights.generate_agentic", skip_all)]
 pub async fn generate_agentic_insight_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     claims: Claims,
     request: web::Json<GeneratePhotoInsightRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("http.insights.generate_agentic", &parent_context);
 
     let mut request = request.0;
     // Stored owner defaults fill what the client omitted (request → pref →
@@ -768,12 +770,12 @@ pub async fn generate_agentic_insight_handler(
     let library = app_state.primary_library();
     let gen_type = InsightGenerationType::Agentic;
 
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("file_path", normalized_path.clone()));
+    span.set_attribute("file_path", normalized_path.clone());
     if let Some(ref model) = request.model {
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("model", model.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("model", model.clone());
     }
     if let Some(ref backend) = request.backend {
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("backend", backend.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("backend", backend.clone());
     }
 
     log::info!(
@@ -901,7 +903,8 @@ pub async fn generate_agentic_insight_handler(
     let job_handles = app_state.insight_job_handles.clone();
     let path = normalized_path.clone();
 
-    let handle = tokio::spawn(async move {
+    let handle = tokio::spawn(
+        async move {
             let timeout_secs: u64 = std::env::var("INSIGHT_GENERATION_TIMEOUT_SECS")
                 .ok()
                 .and_then(|v| v.parse().ok())
@@ -947,7 +950,8 @@ pub async fn generate_agentic_insight_handler(
                     }
                 }
                 Ok(Ok(Ok((None, _, _)))) => {
-                if let Err(e) = dao.fail_job(&ctx, job_id, "agentic generation returned no insight")
+                    if let Err(e) =
+                        dao.fail_job(&ctx, job_id, "agentic generation returned no insight")
                     {
                         log::error!("Failed to mark job {} as failed: {:?}", job_id, e);
                     }
@@ -985,7 +989,11 @@ pub async fn generate_agentic_insight_handler(
                 .lock()
                 .expect("Unable to lock InsightJobHandles");
             handles.remove(&job_id);
-    });
+        }
+        // Carry the handler span into the job so the generation (and its
+        // LLM / DB spans) stays in the request's trace.
+        .instrument(tracing::Span::current()),
+    );
 
     // Store abort handle
     {
@@ -996,7 +1004,7 @@ pub async fn generate_agentic_insight_handler(
         handles.insert(job_id, handle.abort_handle());
     }
 
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("job_id", job_id as i64));
+    span.set_attribute("job_id", job_id as i64);
     span.set_status(Status::Ok);
     HttpResponse::Accepted().json(JobIdResponse { job_id })
 }
@@ -1270,16 +1278,14 @@ pub struct ChatTurnHttpResponse {
 
 /// POST /insights/chat — submit a follow-up turn against an existing insight.
 #[post("/insights/chat")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.insights.chat", skip_all)]
 pub async fn chat_turn_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     claims: Claims,
     request: web::Json<ChatTurnHttpRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
+    span.set_attribute("file_path", request.file_path.clone());
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("http.insights.chat", &parent_context);
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("file_path", request.file_path.clone()));
 
     let mut request = request.0;
     // Stored owner defaults fill what the client omitted (request → pref →
@@ -1667,12 +1673,10 @@ pub struct ChatSwitchBranchRequest {
 /// Returns `text/event-stream` with one event per chat stream event.
 #[post("/insights/chat/stream")]
 pub async fn chat_stream_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     claims: Claims,
     request: web::Json<ChatTurnHttpRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> HttpResponse {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
     let mut request = request.0;
     // Stored owner defaults fill what the client omitted (request → pref →
     // hard default; the hard default still applies downstream).
@@ -1718,7 +1722,7 @@ pub async fn chat_stream_handler(
     };
 
     let service = app_state.insight_chat.clone();
-    let events = service.chat_turn_stream(chat_req, parent_context);
+    let events = service.chat_turn_stream(chat_req);
 
     // Map ChatStreamEvent → SSE frame bytes.
     let sse_stream = futures::stream::StreamExt::map(events, |ev| {
@@ -1819,16 +1823,14 @@ fn sse_event_payload(ev: &ChatStreamEvent) -> (&'static str, serde_json::Value)
 /// POST /insights/chat/turn — async turn dispatch. Returns turn_id immediately,
 /// client then polls GET /insights/chat/turn/{turn_id} for SSE replay.
 #[post("/insights/chat/turn")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.insights.chat_turn_async", skip_all)]
 pub async fn turn_async_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     claims: Claims,
     request: web::Json<ChatTurnHttpRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
+    span.set_attribute("file_path", request.file_path.clone());
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("http.insights.chat_turn_async", &parent_context);
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("file_path", request.file_path.clone()));
 
     let mut request = request.0;
     // Stored owner defaults fill what the client omitted (request → pref →
@@ -1877,7 +1879,7 @@ pub async fn turn_async_handler(
     let registry = app_state.turn_registry.clone();
 
     let turn_id = service.chat_turn_async(registry, chat_req).await;
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("turn_id", turn_id.clone()));
+    span.set_attribute("turn_id", turn_id.clone());
     span.set_status(Status::Ok);
     HttpResponse::Accepted().json(serde_json::json!({
         "turn_id": turn_id,
@@ -1896,13 +1898,13 @@ pub struct ReplayQuery {
 
 /// GET /insights/chat/turn/{turn_id} — SSE replay stream.
 #[get("/insights/chat/turn/{turn_id}")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.chat.turn.replay", skip_all)]
 pub async fn turn_replay_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     path: web::Path<String>,
     query: web::Query<ReplayQuery>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> HttpResponse {
-    turn_replay_impl(http_request, path, query, app_state).await
+    turn_replay_impl(path, query, app_state).await
 }
 
 /// Core of the SSE replay, kept attribute-free so the persona-chat routes
@@ -1910,7 +1912,6 @@ pub async fn turn_replay_handler(
 /// on `turn_id` only, and `render_turn_info_frame` already scopes the
 /// identity (persona turns carry `persona_id` and no `file_path`).
 pub(crate) async fn turn_replay_impl(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     path: web::Path<String>,
     query: web::Query<ReplayQuery>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
@@ -1920,11 +1921,9 @@ pub(crate) async fn turn_replay_impl(
     let turn_id = path.into_inner();
     let skip_before = query.skip_before.unwrap_or(0);
 
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
+    span.set_attribute("turn_id", turn_id.clone());
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.chat.turn.replay", &parent_context);
+    span.set_attribute("skip_before", skip_before as i64);
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("turn_id", turn_id.clone()));
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("skip_before", skip_before as i64));
 
     let registry = app_state.turn_registry.clone();
     let entry = match registry.get(&turn_id).await {
@@ -1938,11 +1937,8 @@ pub(crate) async fn turn_replay_impl(
     };
 
     let info = entry.info().await;
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("status", info.status.as_str()));
+    span.set_attribute("status", info.status.as_str());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new(
+    span.set_attribute("event_count", info.total_events_pushed as i64);
-        "event_count",
-        info.total_events_pushed as i64,
-    ));
     let turn_info_frame = render_turn_info_frame(&info);
 
     // Initial buffered batch: events produced before this connection attached.
@@ -2074,27 +2070,24 @@ fn render_turn_info_frame(info: &crate::ai::turn_registry::TurnInfo) -> String {
 
 /// DELETE /insights/chat/turn/{turn_id} — cancel a running turn.
 #[delete("/insights/chat/turn/{turn_id}")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.chat.turn.cancel", skip_all)]
 pub async fn cancel_turn_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     path: web::Path<String>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    cancel_turn_impl(http_request, path, app_state).await
+    cancel_turn_impl(path, app_state).await
 }
 
 /// Core of the turn-cancel, attribute-free so the persona-chat DELETE route
 /// can reuse it under `/persona_chat/turn/{turn_id}`.
 pub(crate) async fn cancel_turn_impl(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     path: web::Path<String>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
     let turn_id = path.into_inner();
 
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
+    span.set_attribute("turn_id", turn_id.clone());
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.chat.turn.cancel", &parent_context);
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("turn_id", turn_id.clone()));
 
     let registry = app_state.turn_registry.clone();
     let entry = match registry.get(&turn_id).await {
@@ -2111,7 +2104,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn cancel_turn_impl(
     // also checks `is_running()` at each iteration boundary as a graceful
     // backstop in case the abort lands between await points.
     let aborted = entry.abort();
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("aborted", aborted));
+    span.set_attribute("aborted", aborted);
 
     // Push the terminal event BEFORE flipping status: a replay reader treats a
     // terminal status with no buffered tail as "closed", so the Done must be

src/ai/insight_chat.rs

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 use anyhow::{Result, anyhow, bail};
 use chrono::{TimeZone, Utc};
-use opentelemetry::KeyValue;
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status, TraceContextExt, Tracer};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use tokio::sync::Mutex as TokioMutex;
@@ -15,9 +14,10 @@ use crate::ai::turn_registry::TurnEntry;
 use crate::ai::turn_registry::TurnRegistry;
 use crate::database::InsightDao;
 use crate::database::models::InsertPhotoInsight;
-use crate::otel::global_tracer;
 use crate::utils::{normalize_path, retry_with_backoff};
 use futures::stream::{BoxStream, StreamExt};
+use tracing::Instrument;
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt;
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
 pub const DEFAULT_MAX_ITERATIONS: usize = 6;
@@ -200,13 +200,12 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         })
     }
 
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.insight.chat_turn", skip_all)]
     pub async fn chat_turn(&self, req: ChatTurnRequest) -> Result<ChatTurnResult> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let parent_cx = opentelemetry::Context::new();
+        span.set_attribute("file_path", req.file_path.clone());
-        let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.insight.chat_turn", &parent_cx);
+        span.set_attribute("library_id", req.library_id as i64);
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("file_path", req.file_path.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("amend", req.amend);
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("library_id", req.library_id as i64));
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("amend", req.amend));
 
         if req.user_message.trim().is_empty() {
             bail!("user_message must not be empty");
@@ -220,7 +219,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
             .clone()
             .filter(|s| !s.trim().is_empty())
             .unwrap_or_else(|| "default".to_string());
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("persona_id", active_persona.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("persona_id", active_persona.clone());
 
         let normalized = normalize_path(&req.file_path);
 
@@ -278,13 +277,13 @@ impl InsightChatService {
             .unwrap_or_else(|| stored_backend.clone());
         validate_cross_replay(&stored_backend, &effective_backend)?;
         let kind = BackendKind::parse(&effective_backend)?;
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("backend", kind.as_str()));
+        span.set_attribute("backend", kind.as_str());
 
         let max_iterations = req
             .max_iterations
             .unwrap_or(DEFAULT_MAX_ITERATIONS)
             .clamp(1, env_max_iterations());
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("max_iterations", max_iterations as i64));
+        span.set_attribute("max_iterations", max_iterations as i64);
 
         let stored_model = insight.model_version.clone();
         let overrides = SamplingOverrides {
@@ -302,7 +301,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         };
         let backend = self.generator.resolve_backend(kind, &overrides).await?;
         let model_used = backend.model().to_string();
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("model", model_used.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("model", model_used.clone());
 
         // 5. Decide vision + tool set. In hybrid (describe-then-inline) mode
         //    we omit `describe_photo`. Otherwise trust the stored history:
@@ -333,7 +332,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         let budget_bytes = budget_tokens.saturating_mul(BYTES_PER_TOKEN);
         let truncated = apply_context_budget(&mut messages, budget_bytes);
         if truncated {
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("history_truncated", true));
+            span.set_attribute("history_truncated", true);
         }
         // Everything in `messages` at this point is replayed history that is
         // ALREADY in the tree; only what the turn appends past this mark
@@ -359,12 +358,12 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         // accumulate across turns.
         let original_system_content = annotate_system_with_budget(&mut messages, max_iterations);
 
-        let insight_cx = parent_cx.with_span(span);
-
         // 8. Agentic loop — same shape as insight_generator's, but capped
         //    tighter and dispatching tools through the shared executor.
-        let loop_span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.chat.loop", &insight_cx);
+        //    Each LLM / tool await runs inside `loop_span` so their spans
-        let loop_cx = insight_cx.with_span(loop_span);
+        //    nest under it.
+        let loop_span = tracing::info_span!("ai.chat.loop");
+        let loop_cx = loop_span.context();
         let mut tool_calls_made = 0usize;
         let mut iterations_used = 0usize;
         let mut last_prompt_eval_count: Option<i32> = None;
@@ -377,7 +376,8 @@ impl InsightChatService {
 
             let (response, prompt_tokens, eval_tokens) = backend
                 .chat()
-                .chat_with_tools(&loop_cx, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .chat_with_tools(messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .instrument(loop_span.clone())
                 .await?;
             last_prompt_eval_count = prompt_tokens;
             last_eval_count = eval_tokens;
@@ -416,6 +416,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
                             &active_persona,
                             &loop_cx,
                         )
+                        .instrument(loop_span.clone())
                         .await;
                     messages.push(ChatMessage::tool_result(result));
                 }
@@ -434,7 +435,8 @@ impl InsightChatService {
             let synthetic_idx = push_synthetic_final_prompt(&mut messages);
             let (final_response, prompt_tokens, eval_tokens) = backend
                 .chat()
-                .chat_with_tools(&loop_cx, messages.clone(), vec![])
+                .chat_with_tools(messages.clone(), vec![])
+                .instrument(loop_span.clone())
                 .await?;
             last_prompt_eval_count = prompt_tokens;
             last_eval_count = eval_tokens;
@@ -449,7 +451,8 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         // return / persist as the reply (the raw transcript keeps it).
         let final_content = crate::ai::llm_client::strip_think_blocks(&final_content);
 
-        loop_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
+        loop_span.set_status(Status::Ok);
+        drop(loop_span);
 
         // Drop the per-turn iteration-budget note from the system message
         // before we persist so it doesn't snowball on each subsequent turn.
@@ -492,7 +495,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
             let title_raw = backend
                 .chat()
                 .generate(
-                    &loop_cx,
                     &title_prompt,
                     Some(
                         "You are my long term memory assistant. Use only the information provided. Do not invent details.",
@@ -779,14 +781,22 @@ impl InsightChatService {
     ///
     /// The stream takes ownership of the service via `Arc<Self>` (passed by
     /// the caller) so it can live past the handler's await boundary.
+    ///
+    /// Must be called from inside the request's span: the turn span is
+    /// created here, eagerly, so it parents on the caller. The returned
+    /// stream is polled by the HTTP body writer, outside any span.
     pub fn chat_turn_stream(
         self: Arc<Self>,
         req: ChatTurnRequest,
-        cx: opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> BoxStream<'static, ChatStreamEvent> {
+        let span = tracing::info_span!(
+            "ai.chat.turn.stream",
+            file_path = %req.file_path,
+            library_id = req.library_id,
+        );
         let svc = self;
         let s = async_stream::stream! {
-            match svc.chat_turn_stream_inner(req, cx, Ok).await {
+            match svc.chat_turn_stream_inner(req, span, Ok).await {
                 Ok(mut rx) => {
                     while let Some(ev) = rx.recv().await {
                         yield ev;
@@ -808,7 +818,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
     async fn chat_turn_stream_inner<F>(
         self: Arc<Self>,
         req: ChatTurnRequest,
-        cx: opentelemetry::Context,
+        span: tracing::Span,
         _ev_mapper: F,
     ) -> Result<tokio::sync::mpsc::Receiver<ChatStreamEvent>>
     where
@@ -816,12 +826,22 @@ impl InsightChatService {
     {
         let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel::<ChatStreamEvent>(64);
         let svc = self.clone();
-        tokio::spawn(async move {
+        // Carry the turn span into the task explicitly — tracing context is
-            let result = svc.run_streaming_turn(req, cx, tx.clone()).await;
+        // thread-local, so without `.instrument` every LLM / DB span inside
+        // the turn would orphan onto a fresh trace.
+        tokio::spawn(
+            async move {
+                let result = svc.run_streaming_turn(req, tx.clone()).await;
+                let span = tracing::Span::current();
                 if let Err(e) = result {
+                    span.set_status(Status::error(format!("{e}")));
                     let _ = tx.send(ChatStreamEvent::Error(format!("{}", e))).await;
+                } else {
+                    span.set_status(Status::Ok);
                 }
-        });
+            }
+            .instrument(span),
+        );
         Ok(rx)
     }
 
@@ -843,22 +863,23 @@ impl InsightChatService {
 
         let svc = self.clone();
         let entry_clone = entry.clone();
-        let turn_id_for_span = turn_id.clone();
+        // Span covering the whole spawned turn execution. Created before the
-        let library_id = req.library_id;
+        // spawn so it parents on the dispatching request (same trace as the
-        let handle = tokio::spawn(async move {
+        // 202), and carried into the task with `.instrument`. It outlives the
-            // Span covering the whole spawned turn execution. Created here (not
+        // dispatch span, which ends at the 202 response.
-            // in the HTTP handler) because the dispatch span ends at the 202
+        let turn_span = tracing::info_span!(
-            // response, long before this work runs.
+            "ai.chat.turn.execute",
-            let tracer = global_tracer();
+            turn_id = %turn_id,
-            let mut span = tracer.start("ai.chat.turn.execute");
+            library_id = req.library_id,
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("turn_id", turn_id_for_span));
+        );
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("library_id", library_id as i64));
+        let handle = tokio::spawn(
-
+            async move {
+                let span = tracing::Span::current();
                 let result = svc
-                .run_streaming_turn_with_entry(req, entry_clone.clone(), &mut span)
+                    .run_streaming_turn_with_entry(req, entry_clone.clone(), &span)
                     .await;
                 if let Err(ref e) = result {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("status", "error"));
+                    span.set_attribute("status", "error");
                     span.set_status(Status::error(format!("{e}")));
                     // Push the terminal event BEFORE flipping status: a replay
                     // reader treats a terminal status with no buffered tail as
@@ -868,10 +889,12 @@ impl InsightChatService {
                         .await;
                     entry_clone.set_terminal_status(crate::ai::turn_registry::TurnStatus::Error);
                 } else {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("status", "done"));
+                    span.set_attribute("status", "done");
                     span.set_status(Status::Ok);
                 }
-        });
+            }
+            .instrument(turn_span),
+        );
 
         // Install the abort handle so DELETE can actually stop the task.
         entry.set_abort_handle(handle.abort_handle());
@@ -885,7 +908,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         self: Arc<Self>,
         req: ChatTurnRequest,
         entry: Arc<TurnEntry>,
-        turn_span: &mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan,
+        turn_span: &tracing::Span,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         if req.user_message.trim().is_empty() {
             bail!("user_message must not be empty");
@@ -930,7 +953,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         normalized: String,
         insight: crate::database::models::PhotoInsight,
         entry: Arc<TurnEntry>,
-        turn_span: &mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan,
+        turn_span: &tracing::Span,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         let active_persona = req
             .persona_id
@@ -988,10 +1011,8 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         let model_used = backend.model().to_string();
         // llm.* attributes on the turn-level span (issue #130): clients can't
         // know local-vs-hybrid, but the turn knows its resolved backend.
-        turn_span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.backend", kind.as_str()));
+        turn_span.set_attribute("llm.backend", kind.as_str());
-        turn_span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.model", model_used.clone()));
+        turn_span.set_attribute("llm.model", model_used.clone());
-        let turn_cx = opentelemetry::Context::new()
-            .with_remote_span_context(turn_span.span_context().clone());
 
         let local_first_user_has_image = messages
             .iter()
@@ -1041,7 +1062,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
                 &active_persona,
                 max_iterations,
                 &entry,
-                &turn_cx,
             )
             .await?;
         let AgenticLoopOutcome {
@@ -1158,7 +1178,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         req: ChatTurnRequest,
         normalized: String,
         entry: Arc<TurnEntry>,
-        turn_span: &mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan,
+        turn_span: &tracing::Span,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         let active_persona = req
             .persona_id
@@ -1185,10 +1205,8 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         let backend = self.generator.resolve_backend(kind, &overrides).await?;
         let model_used = backend.model().to_string();
         // llm.* attributes on the turn-level span (issue #130).
-        turn_span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.backend", kind.as_str()));
+        turn_span.set_attribute("llm.backend", kind.as_str());
-        turn_span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.model", model_used.clone()));
+        turn_span.set_attribute("llm.model", model_used.clone());
-        let turn_cx = opentelemetry::Context::new()
-            .with_remote_span_context(turn_span.span_context().clone());
 
         let image_base64: Option<String> = self.generator.load_image_as_base64(&normalized).ok();
 
@@ -1208,7 +1226,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
 
         let visual_block = if !backend.images_inline {
             match image_base64.as_deref() {
-                Some(b64) => match backend.local().describe_image(&turn_cx, b64).await {
+                Some(b64) => match backend.local().describe_image(b64).await {
                     Ok(desc) => {
                         format!("Visual description (from local vision model):\n{}\n", desc)
                     }
@@ -1263,7 +1281,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
                 &active_persona,
                 max_iterations,
                 &entry,
-                &turn_cx,
             )
             .await?;
         let AgenticLoopOutcome {
@@ -1352,7 +1369,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         active_persona: &str,
         max_iterations: usize,
         entry: &Arc<TurnEntry>,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> Result<AgenticLoopOutcome> {
         crate::ai::insight_chat::run_streaming_agentic_loop_with_entry(
             &self.generator,
@@ -1365,7 +1381,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
             active_persona,
             max_iterations,
             entry,
-            cx,
         )
         .await
     }
@@ -1373,7 +1388,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
     async fn run_streaming_turn(
         self: Arc<Self>,
         req: ChatTurnRequest,
-        cx: opentelemetry::Context,
         tx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<ChatStreamEvent>,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         if req.user_message.trim().is_empty() {
@@ -1410,10 +1424,10 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         };
 
         if req.regenerate || existing_insight.is_none() {
-            return self.run_bootstrap_streaming(req, normalized, cx, tx).await;
+            return self.run_bootstrap_streaming(req, normalized, tx).await;
         }
         let insight = existing_insight.expect("just checked Some above");
-        self.run_continuation_streaming(req, normalized, cx, insight, tx)
+        self.run_continuation_streaming(req, normalized, insight, tx)
             .await
     }
 
@@ -1425,7 +1439,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         &self,
         req: ChatTurnRequest,
         normalized: String,
-        cx: opentelemetry::Context,
         insight: crate::database::models::PhotoInsight,
         tx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<ChatStreamEvent>,
     ) -> Result<()> {
@@ -1523,7 +1536,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
                 &active_persona,
                 max_iterations,
                 &tx,
-                &cx,
             )
             .await?;
         let AgenticLoopOutcome {
@@ -1635,7 +1647,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         &self,
         req: ChatTurnRequest,
         normalized: String,
-        cx: opentelemetry::Context,
         tx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<ChatStreamEvent>,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         let active_persona = req
@@ -1692,7 +1703,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         // images_inline backends send images directly to the chat model.
         let visual_block = if !backend.images_inline {
             match image_base64.as_deref() {
-                Some(b64) => match backend.local().describe_image(&cx, b64).await {
+                Some(b64) => match backend.local().describe_image(b64).await {
                     Ok(desc) => {
                         format!("Visual description (from local vision model):\n{}\n", desc)
                     }
@@ -1759,7 +1770,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
                 &active_persona,
                 max_iterations,
                 &tx,
-                &cx,
             )
             .await?;
         let AgenticLoopOutcome {
@@ -1842,7 +1852,6 @@ impl InsightChatService {
         active_persona: &str,
         max_iterations: usize,
         tx: &tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<ChatStreamEvent>,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> Result<AgenticLoopOutcome> {
         let mut tool_calls_made = 0usize;
         let mut iterations_used = 0usize;
@@ -1861,7 +1870,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
 
             let mut stream = backend
                 .chat()
-                .chat_with_tools_stream(cx, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .chat_with_tools_stream(messages.clone(), tools.clone())
                 .await?;
 
             let mut final_message: Option<ChatMessage> = None;
@@ -1955,7 +1964,7 @@ impl InsightChatService {
             let synthetic_idx = push_synthetic_final_prompt(messages);
             let mut stream = backend
                 .chat()
-                .chat_with_tools_stream(cx, messages.clone(), vec![])
+                .chat_with_tools_stream(messages.clone(), vec![])
                 .await?;
             let mut final_message: Option<ChatMessage> = None;
             while let Some(ev) = stream.next().await {
@@ -2335,7 +2344,6 @@ pub async fn run_streaming_agentic_loop_with_entry(
     active_persona: &str,
     max_iterations: usize,
     entry: &Arc<TurnEntry>,
-    cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
 ) -> Result<AgenticLoopOutcome> {
     let mut tool_calls_made = 0usize;
     let mut iterations_used = 0usize;
@@ -2365,7 +2373,7 @@ pub async fn run_streaming_agentic_loop_with_entry(
 
         let mut stream = backend
             .chat()
-            .chat_with_tools_stream(cx, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+            .chat_with_tools_stream(messages.clone(), tools.clone())
             .await?;
 
         let mut final_message: Option<ChatMessage> = None;
@@ -2448,7 +2456,7 @@ pub async fn run_streaming_agentic_loop_with_entry(
         let synthetic_idx = push_synthetic_final_prompt(messages);
         let mut stream = backend
             .chat()
-            .chat_with_tools_stream(cx, messages.clone(), vec![])
+            .chat_with_tools_stream(messages.clone(), vec![])
             .await?;
         let mut final_message: Option<ChatMessage> = None;
         while let Some(ev) = stream.next().await {

src/ai/insight_generator.rs

@@ -2,13 +2,14 @@ use anyhow::Result;
 use base64::Engine as _;
 use chrono::{DateTime, Local, NaiveDate, TimeZone, Utc};
 use image::ImageFormat;
-use opentelemetry::KeyValue;
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status, TraceContextExt, Tracer};
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::io::Cursor;
 use std::str::FromStr;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
+use tracing::Instrument;
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt;
 
 use crate::ai::apollo_client::{ApolloClient, ApolloPlace};
 use crate::ai::backend::{BackendKind, ResolvedBackend, SamplingOverrides};
@@ -25,7 +26,6 @@ use crate::database::{
 };
 use crate::libraries::Library;
 use crate::memories::extract_date_from_filename;
-use crate::otel::global_tracer;
 use crate::tags::TagDao;
 use crate::utils::{earliest_fs_time, normalize_path, retry_with_backoff, retry_with_backoff_if};
 
@@ -502,9 +502,9 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
 
     /// Find relevant messages using RAG, excluding recent messages (>30 days ago)
     /// This prevents RAG from returning messages already in the immediate time window
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.rag.filter_historical", skip_all)]
     async fn find_relevant_messages_rag_historical(
         &self,
-        parent_cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
         date: chrono::NaiveDate,
         location: Option<&str>,
         contact: Option<&str>,
@@ -512,33 +512,20 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         limit: usize,
         extra_context: Option<&str>,
     ) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.rag.filter_historical", parent_cx);
-        let filter_cx = parent_cx.with_span(span);
 
-        filter_cx
+        span.set_attribute("date", date.to_string());
-            .span()
+        span.set_attribute("limit", limit as i64);
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("date", date.to_string()));
+        span.set_attribute("exclusion_window_days", 30);
-        filter_cx
-            .span()
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("limit", limit as i64));
-        filter_cx
-            .span()
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("exclusion_window_days", 30));
         if let Some(t) = topics {
-            filter_cx
+            span.set_attribute("topics", t.join(", "));
-                .span()
-                .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("topics", t.join(", ")));
         }
 
         let query_results = self
             .find_relevant_messages_rag(date, location, contact, topics, limit * 2, extra_context)
             .await?;
 
-        filter_cx.span().set_attribute(KeyValue::new(
+        span.set_attribute("rag_results_count", query_results.len() as i64);
-            "rag_results_count",
-            query_results.len() as i64,
-        ));
 
         // Filter out messages from within 30 days of the photo date
         let photo_timestamp = date
@@ -576,17 +563,15 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             historical_only.len()
         );
 
-        filter_cx.span().set_attribute(KeyValue::new(
+        span.set_attribute("historical_results_count", historical_only.len() as i64);
-            "historical_results_count",
+        span.set_status(Status::Ok);
-            historical_only.len() as i64,
-        ));
-        filter_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
 
         Ok(historical_only)
     }
 
     /// Find relevant daily summaries using RAG (semantic search)
     /// Returns formatted daily summary strings for LLM context
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.rag.search_daily_summaries", skip_all)]
     async fn find_relevant_messages_rag(
         &self,
         date: chrono::NaiveDate,
@@ -596,16 +581,14 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         limit: usize,
         extra_context: Option<&str>,
     ) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let current_cx = opentelemetry::Context::current();
+        span.set_attribute("date", date.to_string());
-        let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.rag.search_daily_summaries", &current_cx);
+        span.set_attribute("limit", limit as i64);
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("date", date.to_string()));
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("limit", limit as i64));
         if let Some(loc) = location {
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("location", loc.to_string()));
+            span.set_attribute("location", loc.to_string());
         }
         if let Some(c) = contact {
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("contact", c.to_string()));
+            span.set_attribute("contact", c.to_string());
         }
 
         // Build query string - prioritize topics if available (semantically meaningful)
@@ -633,10 +616,10 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             base_query
         };
 
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("query", query.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("query", query.clone());
 
         // Create context with this span for child operations
-        let search_cx = current_cx.with_span(span);
+        let search_cx = span.context();
 
         log::info!("========================================");
         log::info!("RAG QUERY: {}", query);
@@ -646,8 +629,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         // (`LLM_BACKEND` switch). Must match the backend that populated the
         // daily-summary embeddings or similarity search will be garbage.
         let query_embedding =
-            crate::ai::embed_query(&search_cx, &self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), &query)
+            crate::ai::embed_query(&self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), &query).await?;
-                .await?;
 
         // Search for similar daily summaries with time-based weighting
         // This prioritizes summaries temporally close to the query date
@@ -666,10 +648,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             similar_summaries.len()
         );
 
-        search_cx.span().set_attribute(KeyValue::new(
+        span.set_attribute("results_count", similar_summaries.len() as i64);
-            "results_count",
-            similar_summaries.len() as i64,
-        ));
 
         // Format daily summaries for LLM context
         let formatted = similar_summaries
@@ -682,7 +661,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             })
             .collect();
 
-        search_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
+        span.set_status(Status::Ok);
 
         Ok(formatted)
     }
@@ -691,30 +670,28 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
     /// tool. Embeds the caller's query as-is (no metadata boilerplate) and
     /// only applies time weighting when an anchor date is provided —
     /// without one, results rank purely by similarity across all time.
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.rag.search_daily_summaries", skip_all)]
     async fn search_summaries_semantic(
         &self,
         query: &str,
         date: Option<chrono::NaiveDate>,
         limit: usize,
     ) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let current_cx = opentelemetry::Context::current();
+        span.set_attribute("query", query.to_string());
-        let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.rag.search_daily_summaries", &current_cx);
+        span.set_attribute("limit", limit as i64);
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("query", query.to_string()));
+        span.set_attribute("time_weighted", date.is_some());
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("limit", limit as i64));
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("time_weighted", date.is_some()));
         if let Some(d) = date {
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("date", d.to_string()));
+            span.set_attribute("date", d.to_string());
         }
-        let search_cx = current_cx.with_span(span);
+        let search_cx = span.context();
 
         log::info!("RAG QUERY: {} (anchor date: {:?})", query, date);
 
         // Must use the same backend that populated the daily-summary
         // embeddings or similarity search is garbage (see embed_one docs).
         let query_embedding =
-            crate::ai::embed_query(&search_cx, &self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), query)
+            crate::ai::embed_query(&self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), query).await?;
-                .await?;
 
         let mut summary_dao = self
             .daily_summary_dao
@@ -732,11 +709,8 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         }
         .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to find similar summaries: {:?}", e))?;
 
-        search_cx.span().set_attribute(KeyValue::new(
+        span.set_attribute("results_count", similar_summaries.len() as i64);
-            "results_count",
+        span.set_status(Status::Ok);
-            similar_summaries.len() as i64,
-        ));
-        search_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
 
         Ok(similar_summaries
             .into_iter()
@@ -789,20 +763,17 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
 
     /// Gather calendar context for photo timestamp
     /// Uses hybrid time + semantic search (±7 days, ranked by relevance)
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.context.calendar", skip_all)]
     async fn gather_calendar_context(
         &self,
-        parent_cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
         timestamp: i64,
         location: Option<&str>,
     ) -> Result<Option<String>> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.context.calendar", parent_cx);
+        let calendar_cx = span.context();
-        let calendar_cx = parent_cx.with_span(span);
 
         let query_embedding = if let Some(loc) = location {
-            match crate::ai::embed_query(&calendar_cx, &self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), loc)
+            match crate::ai::embed_query(&self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), loc).await {
-                .await
-            {
                 Ok(emb) => Some(emb),
                 Err(e) => {
                     log::warn!("Failed to generate embedding for location '{}': {}", loc, e);
@@ -828,7 +799,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             .ok()
         };
 
-        calendar_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
+        span.set_status(Status::Ok);
 
         if let Some(events) = events {
             if events.is_empty() {
@@ -866,15 +837,14 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
 
     /// Gather location context for photo timestamp
     /// Finds nearest location record (±30 minutes)
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.context.location", skip_all)]
     async fn gather_location_context(
         &self,
-        parent_cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
         timestamp: i64,
         exif_gps: Option<(f64, f64)>,
     ) -> Result<Option<String>> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.context.location", parent_cx);
+        let location_cx = span.context();
-        let location_cx = parent_cx.with_span(span);
 
         let nearest = {
             let mut dao = self
@@ -890,7 +860,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             .flatten()
         };
 
-        location_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
+        span.set_status(Status::Ok);
 
         if let Some(loc) = nearest {
             // Check if this adds NEW information compared to EXIF
@@ -943,17 +913,16 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
 
     /// Gather search context for photo date
     /// Uses semantic search on queries (±30 days, top 5 relevant)
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.context.search", skip_all)]
     async fn gather_search_context(
         &self,
-        parent_cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
         timestamp: i64,
         location: Option<&str>,
         contact: Option<&str>,
         enrichment: Option<&str>,
     ) -> Result<Option<String>> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.context.search", parent_cx);
+        let search_cx = span.context();
-        let search_cx = parent_cx.with_span(span);
 
         // Use enrichment (topics + photo description + tags) if available;
         // fall back to generic temporal query.
@@ -973,18 +942,13 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             )
         };
 
-        let query_embedding = match crate::ai::embed_query(
+        let query_embedding =
-            &search_cx,
+            match crate::ai::embed_query(&self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), &query_text).await
-            &self.ollama,
-            self.llamacpp.as_deref(),
-            &query_text,
-        )
-        .await
             {
                 Ok(emb) => emb,
                 Err(e) => {
                     log::warn!("Failed to generate search embedding: {}", e);
-                search_cx.span().set_status(Status::Error {
+                    span.set_status(Status::Error {
                         description: e.to_string().into(),
                     });
                     return Ok(None);
@@ -1006,7 +970,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             .ok()
         };
 
-        search_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
+        span.set_status(Status::Ok);
 
         if let Some(searches) = searches {
             if searches.is_empty() {
@@ -1068,6 +1032,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
     }
 
     /// Generate AI insight for a single photo with custom configuration
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.insight.generate", skip_all)]
     pub async fn generate_insight_for_photo_with_config(
         &self,
         file_path: &str,
@@ -1079,20 +1044,18 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         top_k: Option<i32>,
         min_p: Option<f32>,
     ) -> Result<()> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let current_cx = opentelemetry::Context::current();
-        let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.insight.generate", &current_cx);
 
         // Normalize path to ensure consistent forward slashes in database
         let file_path = normalize_path(file_path);
         log::info!("Generating insight for photo: {}", file_path);
 
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("file_path", file_path.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("file_path", file_path.clone());
 
         // Create custom Ollama client if model is specified
         let mut ollama_client = if let Some(model) = custom_model {
             log::info!("Using custom model: {}", model);
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("custom_model", model.clone()));
+            span.set_attribute("custom_model", model.clone());
             OllamaClient::new(
                 self.ollama.primary_url.clone(),
                 self.ollama.fallback_url.clone(),
@@ -1100,14 +1063,14 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                 Some(model), // Use the same custom model for fallback server
             )
         } else {
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("model", self.ollama.primary_model.clone()));
+            span.set_attribute("model", self.ollama.primary_model.clone());
             self.ollama.clone()
         };
 
         // Set context size if specified
         if let Some(ctx) = num_ctx {
             log::info!("Using custom context size: {}", ctx);
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("num_ctx", ctx as i64));
+            span.set_attribute("num_ctx", ctx as i64);
             ollama_client.set_num_ctx(Some(ctx));
         }
 
@@ -1121,22 +1084,22 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                 min_p
             );
             if let Some(t) = temperature {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("temperature", t as f64));
+                span.set_attribute("temperature", t as f64);
             }
             if let Some(p) = top_p {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("top_p", p as f64));
+                span.set_attribute("top_p", p as f64);
             }
             if let Some(k) = top_k {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("top_k", k as i64));
+                span.set_attribute("top_k", k as i64);
             }
             if let Some(m) = min_p {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("min_p", m as f64));
+                span.set_attribute("min_p", m as f64);
             }
             ollama_client.set_sampling_params(temperature, top_p, top_k, min_p);
         }
 
         // Create context with this span for child operations
-        let insight_cx = current_cx.with_span(span);
+        let insight_cx = span.context();
 
         // 1. Get EXIF data for the photo
         let exif = {
@@ -1153,13 +1116,9 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         let contact = Self::extract_contact_from_path(&file_path);
         log::info!("Extracted contact from path: {:?}", contact);
 
-        insight_cx
+        span.set_attribute("date_taken", date_taken.to_string());
-            .span()
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("date_taken", date_taken.to_string()));
         if let Some(ref c) = contact {
-            insight_cx
+            span.set_attribute("contact", c.clone());
-                .span()
-                .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("contact", c.clone()));
         }
 
         // Fetch file tags (used to enrich RAG and final context)
@@ -1197,9 +1156,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                         .into_iter()
                         .next();
                     let combined = compose_location_string(apollo_primary, nominatim, lat, lon);
-                    insight_cx
+                    span.set_attribute("location", combined.clone());
-                        .span()
-                        .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("location", combined.clone()));
                     Some(combined)
                 } else {
                     None
@@ -1234,9 +1191,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             }
         };
 
-        insight_cx
+        span.set_attribute("model_has_vision", has_vision);
-            .span()
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("model_has_vision", has_vision));
 
         // Load image and encode as base64 only if model supports vision
         let image_base64 = if has_vision {
@@ -1263,10 +1218,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
 
         // Generate brief photo description for RAG enrichment (vision models only)
         let photo_description: Option<String> = if let Some(ref img_b64) = image_base64 {
-            match ollama_client
+            match ollama_client.generate_photo_description(img_b64).await {
-                .generate_photo_description(&insight_cx, img_b64)
-                .await
-            {
                 Ok(desc) => {
                     log::info!("Photo description for RAG enrichment: {}", desc);
                     Some(desc)
@@ -1335,7 +1287,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             if !immediate_messages.is_empty() {
                 // Step 2: Extract topics from immediate messages to enrich RAG query
                 let topics = self
-                    .extract_topics_from_messages(&immediate_messages, &ollama_client, &insight_cx)
+                    .extract_topics_from_messages(&immediate_messages, &ollama_client)
                     .await;
 
                 log::info!("Extracted topics for query enrichment: {:?}", topics);
@@ -1367,7 +1319,6 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                 };
                 match self
                     .find_relevant_messages_rag_historical(
-                        &insight_cx,
                         date_taken,
                         None,
                         contact.as_deref(),
@@ -1391,7 +1342,6 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                                 &immediate_messages,
                                 &ollama_client,
                                 custom_system_prompt.as_deref(),
-                                &insight_cx,
                             )
                             .await
                             .unwrap_or_else(|| String::from("No immediate context"));
@@ -1401,7 +1351,6 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                                 &historical_messages,
                                 &ollama_client,
                                 custom_system_prompt.as_deref(),
-                                &insight_cx,
                             )
                             .await
                             .unwrap_or_else(|| String::from("No historical context"));
@@ -1420,7 +1369,6 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                                 &immediate_messages,
                                 &ollama_client,
                                 custom_system_prompt.as_deref(),
-                                &insight_cx,
                             )
                             .await;
                     }
@@ -1431,7 +1379,6 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                                 &immediate_messages,
                                 &ollama_client,
                                 custom_system_prompt.as_deref(),
-                                &insight_cx,
                             )
                             .await;
                     }
@@ -1457,7 +1404,6 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
                                 &rag_messages,
                                 &ollama_client,
                                 custom_system_prompt.as_deref(),
-                                &insight_cx,
                             )
                             .await;
                     }
@@ -1490,7 +1436,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             if !sms_messages.is_empty() {
                 match self
                     .sms_client
-                    .summarize_context(&sms_messages, &ollama_client, &insight_cx)
+                    .summarize_context(&sms_messages, &ollama_client)
                     .await
                 {
                     Ok(summary) => {
@@ -1504,12 +1450,8 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         }
 
         let retrieval_method = if used_rag { "RAG" } else { "time-based" };
-        insight_cx
+        span.set_attribute("retrieval_method", retrieval_method);
-            .span()
+        span.set_attribute("has_sms_context", sms_summary.is_some());
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("retrieval_method", retrieval_method));
-        insight_cx
-            .span()
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("has_sms_context", sms_summary.is_some()));
 
         log::info!(
             "Photo context: date={}, location={:?}, retrieval_method={}",
@@ -1520,7 +1462,7 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
 
         // 6. Gather Google Takeout context from all sources
         let calendar_context = self
-            .gather_calendar_context(&insight_cx, timestamp, location.as_deref())
+            .gather_calendar_context(timestamp, location.as_deref())
             .await
             .ok()
             .flatten();
@@ -1534,14 +1476,13 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         });
 
         let location_context = self
-            .gather_location_context(&insight_cx, timestamp, exif_gps)
+            .gather_location_context(timestamp, exif_gps)
             .await
             .ok()
             .flatten();
 
         let search_context = self
             .gather_search_context(
-                &insight_cx,
                 timestamp,
                 location.as_deref(),
                 contact.as_deref(),
@@ -1574,7 +1515,6 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         // 10. Generate summary first, then derive title from the summary
         let summary = ollama_client
             .generate_photo_summary(
-                &insight_cx,
                 date_taken,
                 location.as_deref(),
                 contact.as_deref(),
@@ -1585,18 +1525,14 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
             .await?;
 
         let title = ollama_client
-            .generate_photo_title(&insight_cx, &summary, custom_system_prompt.as_deref())
+            .generate_photo_title(&summary, custom_system_prompt.as_deref())
             .await?;
 
         log::info!("Generated title: {}", title);
         log::info!("Generated summary: {}", summary);
 
-        insight_cx
+        span.set_attribute("title_length", title.len() as i64);
-            .span()
+        span.set_attribute("summary_length", summary.len() as i64);
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("title_length", title.len() as i64));
-        insight_cx
-            .span()
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("summary_length", summary.len() as i64));
 
         // 11. Store in database. content_hash is None here — store_insight
         // looks it up from image_exif before persisting; reconciliation
@@ -1635,11 +1571,11 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         match &result {
             Ok(_) => {
                 log::info!("Successfully stored insight for {}", file_path);
-                insight_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
+                span.set_status(Status::Ok);
             }
             Err(e) => {
                 log::error!("Failed to store insight: {:?}", e);
-                insight_cx.span().set_status(Status::error(e.to_string()));
+                span.set_status(Status::error(e.to_string()));
             }
         }
 
@@ -1652,7 +1588,6 @@ impl InsightGenerator {
         &self,
         messages: &[crate::ai::SmsMessage],
         ollama: &OllamaClient,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> Vec<String> {
         if messages.is_empty() {
             return Vec::new();
@@ -1688,7 +1623,7 @@ Return ONLY the comma-separated list, nothing else."#,
         );
 
         match ollama
-            .generate(cx, &prompt, Some("You are an entity extraction assistant. Extract proper nouns, people, places, and domain-specific terms that provide context."))
+            .generate(&prompt, Some("You are an entity extraction assistant. Extract proper nouns, people, places, and domain-specific terms that provide context."))
             .await
         {
             Ok(response) => {
@@ -1723,7 +1658,6 @@ Return ONLY the comma-separated list, nothing else."#,
         messages: &[String],
         ollama: &OllamaClient,
         custom_system: Option<&str>,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> Option<String> {
         if messages.is_empty() {
             return None;
@@ -1744,7 +1678,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         let system = custom_system
             .unwrap_or("You are a context summarization assistant. Be concise and factual.");
 
-        match ollama.generate(cx, &prompt, Some(system)).await {
+        match ollama.generate(&prompt, Some(system)).await {
             Ok(summary) => Some(summary),
             Err(e) => {
                 log::warn!("Failed to summarize messages: {}", e);
@@ -1760,7 +1694,6 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         messages: &[crate::ai::SmsMessage],
         ollama: &OllamaClient,
         custom_system: Option<&str>,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> Option<String> {
         if messages.is_empty() {
             return None;
@@ -1806,7 +1739,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
             "You are a context summarization assistant. Be detailed and factual, preserving important context.",
         );
 
-        match ollama.generate(cx, &prompt, Some(system)).await {
+        match ollama.generate(&prompt, Some(system)).await {
             Ok(summary) => Some(summary),
             Err(e) => {
                 log::warn!("Failed to summarize immediate context: {}", e);
@@ -1842,7 +1775,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         let model = backend.model();
         let backend_label = backend.kind.as_str();
         let result = match tool_name {
-            "search_rag" => self.tool_search_rag(arguments, backend.local(), cx).await,
+            "search_rag" => self.tool_search_rag(arguments, backend.local()).await,
             "search_messages" => self.tool_search_messages(arguments, cx).await,
             "get_sms_messages" => self.tool_get_sms_messages(arguments, cx).await,
             "get_calendar_events" => self.tool_get_calendar_events(arguments, cx).await,
@@ -1850,7 +1783,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
             "get_file_tags" => self.tool_get_file_tags(arguments, cx).await,
             "get_faces_in_photo" => self.tool_get_faces_in_photo(arguments, cx).await,
             "describe_photo" => {
-                self.tool_describe_photo(backend.local(), image_base64, cx)
+                self.tool_describe_photo(backend.local(), image_base64)
                     .await
             }
             "reverse_geocode" => self.tool_reverse_geocode(arguments).await,
@@ -1897,12 +1830,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
     }
 
     /// Tool: search_rag — semantic search over daily summaries
-    async fn tool_search_rag(
+    async fn tool_search_rag(&self, args: &serde_json::Value, local: &dyn LlmClient) -> String {
-        &self,
-        args: &serde_json::Value,
-        local: &dyn LlmClient,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
-    ) -> String {
         let query = match args.get("query").and_then(|v| v.as_str()) {
             Some(q) => q.to_string(),
             None => return "Error: missing required parameter 'query'".to_string(),
@@ -1965,10 +1893,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         };
 
         let final_results = if rerank_enabled && results.len() > limit {
-            match self
+            match self.rerank_with_llm(&query, &results, limit, local).await {
-                .rerank_with_llm(cx, &query, &results, limit, local)
-                .await
-            {
                 Ok(reordered) => reordered,
                 Err(e) => {
                     log::warn!("rerank failed, using vector order: {}", e);
@@ -1991,7 +1916,6 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
     /// tool_result. On parse failure we fall back to the input order.
     async fn rerank_with_llm(
         &self,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
         query: &str,
         candidates: &[String],
         limit: usize,
@@ -2035,7 +1959,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         let started = std::time::Instant::now();
         let system =
             Some("You are a terse relevance ranker. You output only numbers separated by commas.");
-        let response = local.generate(cx, &prompt, system, None).await?;
+        let response = local.generate(&prompt, system, None).await?;
         log::info!(
             "rerank: finished in {} ms (prompt={} chars)",
             started.elapsed().as_millis(),
@@ -2645,11 +2569,10 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         &self,
         local: &dyn LlmClient,
         image_base64: &Option<String>,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> String {
         log::info!("tool_describe_photo: generating visual description");
         match image_base64 {
-            Some(img) => match local.describe_image(cx, img).await {
+            Some(img) => match local.describe_image(img).await {
                 Ok(desc) => desc,
                 Err(e) => format!("Error describing photo: {}", e),
             },
@@ -3057,7 +2980,6 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         // configured local backend.
         let embed_text = format!("{} {}", name, description);
         let embedding: Option<Vec<u8>> = match crate::ai::embed_document(
-            cx,
             &self.ollama,
             self.llamacpp.as_deref(),
             &embed_text,
@@ -4175,6 +4097,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         Ok(ResolvedBackend::new(chat, local, kind, images_inline))
     }
 
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "ai.insight.generate_agentic", skip_all)]
     pub async fn generate_agentic_insight_for_photo(
         &self,
         file_path: &str,
@@ -4193,19 +4116,17 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         user_id: i32,
         persona_id: String,
     ) -> Result<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
-        let tracer = global_tracer();
+        let span = tracing::Span::current();
-        let current_cx = opentelemetry::Context::current();
-        let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.insight.generate_agentic", &current_cx);
 
         let file_path = normalize_path(file_path);
         log::info!("Generating agentic insight for photo: {}", file_path);
 
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("file_path", file_path.clone()));
+        span.set_attribute("file_path", file_path.clone());
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("max_iterations", max_iterations as i64));
+        span.set_attribute("max_iterations", max_iterations as i64);
 
         // 1. Resolve backend + build clients.
         let kind = BackendKind::parse(backend.as_deref().unwrap_or("local"))?;
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("backend", kind.as_str()));
+        span.set_attribute("backend", kind.as_str());
         let overrides = SamplingOverrides {
             model: custom_model,
             num_ctx,
@@ -4216,10 +4137,10 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
             enable_thinking,
         };
         let backend = self.resolve_backend(kind, &overrides).await?;
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("model", backend.model().to_string()));
+        span.set_attribute("model", backend.model().to_string());
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("images_inline", backend.images_inline));
+        span.set_attribute("images_inline", backend.images_inline);
 
-        let insight_cx = current_cx.with_span(span);
+        let insight_cx = span.context();
 
         // 3. Fetch EXIF
         let exif = {
@@ -4304,7 +4225,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         // the local backend so non-text work stays off OpenRouter.
         let inlined_visual_description: Option<String> = if !backend.images_inline {
             match image_base64.as_deref() {
-                Some(b64) => match backend.local().describe_image(&insight_cx, b64).await {
+                Some(b64) => match backend.local().describe_image(b64).await {
                     Ok(desc) => {
                         log::info!("{}: vision describe succeeded ({} chars)", kind, desc.len());
                         Some(desc)
@@ -4410,8 +4331,10 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
 
         let mut messages = vec![system_msg, user_msg];
 
-        let loop_span = tracer.start_with_context("ai.agentic.loop", &insight_cx);
+        // LLM / tool awaits below run inside `loop_span` so their spans
-        let loop_cx = insight_cx.with_span(loop_span);
+        // nest under it.
+        let loop_span = tracing::info_span!("ai.agentic.loop");
+        let loop_cx = loop_span.context();
 
         let mut final_content = String::new();
         let mut iterations_used = 0usize;
@@ -4424,7 +4347,8 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
 
             let (response, prompt_tokens, eval_tokens) = backend
                 .chat()
-                .chat_with_tools(&loop_cx, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .chat_with_tools(messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .instrument(loop_span.clone())
                 .await?;
 
             last_prompt_eval_count = prompt_tokens;
@@ -4470,6 +4394,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
                             &persona_id,
                             &loop_cx,
                         )
+                        .instrument(loop_span.clone())
                         .await;
                     messages.push(ChatMessage::tool_result(result));
                 }
@@ -4493,7 +4418,8 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
             )));
             let (final_response, prompt_tokens, eval_tokens) = backend
                 .chat()
-                .chat_with_tools(&loop_cx, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .chat_with_tools(messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .instrument(loop_span.clone())
                 .await?;
             last_prompt_eval_count = prompt_tokens;
             last_eval_count = eval_tokens;
@@ -4521,12 +4447,14 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
                             &persona_id,
                             &loop_cx,
                         )
+                        .instrument(loop_span.clone())
                         .await;
                     messages.push(ChatMessage::tool_result(result));
                 }
                 let (resp2, pt2, et2) = backend
                     .chat()
-                    .chat_with_tools(&loop_cx, messages.clone(), vec![])
+                    .chat_with_tools(messages.clone(), vec![])
+                    .instrument(loop_span.clone())
                     .await?;
                 last_prompt_eval_count = pt2;
                 last_eval_count = et2;
@@ -4538,10 +4466,9 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
             }
         }
 
-        loop_cx
+        loop_span.set_attribute("iterations_used", iterations_used as i64);
-            .span()
+        loop_span.set_status(Status::Ok);
-            .set_attribute(KeyValue::new("iterations_used", iterations_used as i64));
+        drop(loop_span);
-        loop_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
 
         // 13. Strip any leaked <think>…</think> reasoning block (thinking
         // models emit it ahead of the answer; the raw transcript in
@@ -4608,11 +4535,11 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
         match &stored {
             Ok(_) => {
                 log::info!("Successfully stored agentic insight for {}", file_path);
-                insight_cx.span().set_status(Status::Ok);
+                span.set_status(Status::Ok);
             }
             Err(e) => {
                 log::error!("Failed to store agentic insight: {:?}", e);
-                insight_cx.span().set_status(Status::error(e.to_string()));
+                span.set_status(Status::error(e.to_string()));
             }
         }
 
@@ -4672,7 +4599,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
 
             let (response, _prompt_tokens, _eval_tokens) = backend
                 .chat()
-                .chat_with_tools(&loop_cx, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .chat_with_tools(messages.clone(), tools.clone())
                 .await?;
 
             // Sanitize tool call arguments before pushing back into history.
@@ -4738,7 +4665,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
             ));
             let (final_response, _, _) = backend
                 .chat()
-                .chat_with_tools(&loop_cx, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .chat_with_tools(messages.clone(), tools.clone())
                 .await?;
             // Same bounded tool round as the insight loop: execute any last
             // tool call, then force a tool-less turn for the actual answer.
@@ -4763,7 +4690,7 @@ Return ONLY the summary, nothing else."#,
                 }
                 let (resp2, _, _) = backend
                     .chat()
-                    .chat_with_tools(&loop_cx, messages.clone(), vec![])
+                    .chat_with_tools(messages.clone(), vec![])
                     .await?;
                 final_content = resp2.content;
             } else {

src/ai/llamacpp.rs

@@ -23,12 +23,12 @@
 use anyhow::Context as _;
 use anyhow::{Result, anyhow, bail};
 use async_trait::async_trait;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status};
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::{Context, KeyValue};
 use reqwest::Client;
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use serde_json::{Value, json};
 use std::time::Duration;
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt as _;
 
 use crate::ai::llm_client::{
     ChatMessage, LlmClient, LlmStreamEvent, ModelCapabilities, Tool, ToolCall, ToolCallFunction,
@@ -489,7 +489,7 @@ impl LlamaCppClient {
     async fn chat_completion_with_model(
         &self,
         model: &str,
-        mut span: Option<&mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan>,
+        span: Option<&tracing::Span>,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<(ChatMessage, Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
@@ -522,13 +522,13 @@ impl LlamaCppClient {
         // timeout starts (see ai::gpu).
         let _gpu = crate::ai::gpu::llm_lease().await;
         let mut request = self.client.post(&url).json(&Value::Object(body));
-        if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+        if let Some(s) = span {
-            request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, s.span_context());
+            request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, s);
         }
         let resp = match request.send().await {
             Ok(r) => r,
             Err(e) => {
-                if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                if let Some(s) = span {
                     s.set_status(Status::error("llama-swap request failed"));
                 }
                 return Err(e).with_context(|| format!("POST {} failed", url));
@@ -538,14 +538,14 @@ impl LlamaCppClient {
         if !resp.status().is_success() {
             let status = resp.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                span.as_deref_mut(),
+                span,
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("llama-swap chat request failed: {status}"),
             );
             let body = resp.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
             bail!("llama-swap chat request failed: {} — {}", status, body);
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(span.as_deref_mut(), resp.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(span, resp.status().as_u16());
 
         let parsed: Value = resp.json().await.context("parsing chat response")?;
         let choice = parsed
@@ -578,12 +578,12 @@ impl LlamaCppClient {
 
         log_timings(&parsed, prompt_tokens, completion_tokens);
 
-        if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+        if let Some(s) = span {
             if let Some(pt) = prompt_tokens {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64);
             }
             if let Some(ct) = completion_tokens {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64);
             }
             s.set_status(Status::Ok);
         }
@@ -592,13 +592,8 @@ impl LlamaCppClient {
     }
 
     /// Start the `llm.request` span for an outgoing llama-swap call.
-    fn start_request_span(
+    fn start_request_span(&self, operation: &str, model: &str) -> tracing::Span {
-        &self,
+        crate::otel::start_llm_request_span("llamacpp", operation, model)
-        cx: &Context,
-        operation: &str,
-        model: &str,
-    ) -> opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan {
-        crate::otel::start_llm_request_span(cx, "llamacpp", operation, model)
     }
 }
 
@@ -606,7 +601,6 @@ impl LlamaCppClient {
 impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
     async fn generate(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         prompt: &str,
         system: Option<&str>,
         images: Option<Vec<String>>,
@@ -621,13 +615,12 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
 
         // Delegates to chat_with_tools, which starts the llm.request span
         // (operation=chat) — one span per HTTP request.
-        let (reply, _, _) = self.chat_with_tools(cx, messages, Vec::new()).await?;
+        let (reply, _, _) = self.chat_with_tools(messages, Vec::new()).await?;
         Ok(reply.content)
     }
 
     async fn chat_with_tools(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<(ChatMessage, Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
@@ -637,25 +630,19 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
             messages.len(),
             tools.len()
         );
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "chat", &self.primary_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("chat", &self.primary_model);
-        self.chat_completion_with_model(
+        self.chat_completion_with_model(&self.primary_model.clone(), Some(&span), messages, tools)
-            &self.primary_model.clone(),
-            Some(&mut span),
-            messages,
-            tools,
-        )
             .await
     }
 
     async fn chat_with_tools_stream(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<BoxStream<'static, Result<LlmStreamEvent>>> {
         // The span outlives this method — it moves into the stream
         // generator and is finalized when the response drains.
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "chat_stream", &self.primary_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("chat_stream", &self.primary_model);
         let url = format!("{}/chat/completions", self.base_url);
         let roles: Vec<&str> = messages.iter().map(|m| m.role.as_str()).collect();
         log::debug!(
@@ -690,7 +677,7 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
         // below so the lease spans the whole generation, not just the send.
         let gpu = crate::ai::gpu::llm_lease().await;
         let mut request = self.client.post(&url).json(&Value::Object(body));
-        request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, span.span_context());
+        request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, &span);
         let resp = request
             .send()
             .await
@@ -699,14 +686,14 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
         if !resp.status().is_success() {
             let status = resp.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                Some(&mut span),
+                Some(&span),
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("llama-swap stream request failed: {status}"),
             );
             let body = resp.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
             bail!("llama-swap stream request failed: {} — {}", status, body);
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&mut span), resp.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&span), resp.status().as_u16());
 
         let byte_stream = resp.bytes_stream();
         let stream = async_stream::stream! {
@@ -816,10 +803,10 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
                 images: None,
             };
             if let Some(pt) = prompt_tokens {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64));
+                span.set_attribute("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64);
             }
             if let Some(ct) = completion_tokens {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64));
+                span.set_attribute("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64);
             }
             span.set_status(Status::Ok);
             yield Ok(LlmStreamEvent::Done {
@@ -832,8 +819,8 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
         Ok(Box::pin(stream))
     }
 
-    async fn generate_embeddings(&self, cx: &Context, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
+    async fn generate_embeddings(&self, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "embeddings", &self.embedding_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("embeddings", &self.embedding_model);
         // Deliberately NO GPU lease: the embed slot sits in llama-swap's
         // always-resident group and never participates in a model swap, so
         // leasing here would only stall searches behind a queued synthesis.
@@ -844,7 +831,7 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
         });
 
         let mut request = self.client.post(&url).json(&body);
-        request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, span.span_context());
+        request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, &span);
         let resp = match request.send().await {
             Ok(r) => r,
             Err(e) => {
@@ -856,14 +843,14 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
         if !resp.status().is_success() {
             let status = resp.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                Some(&mut span),
+                Some(&span),
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("llama-swap embedding request failed: {status}"),
             );
             let body = resp.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
             bail!("llama-swap embedding request failed: {} — {}", status, body);
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&mut span), resp.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&span), resp.status().as_u16());
 
         #[derive(Deserialize)]
         struct EmbedResponse {
@@ -885,9 +872,9 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
         Ok(parsed.data.into_iter().map(|i| i.embedding).collect())
     }
 
-    async fn describe_image(&self, cx: &Context, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String> {
+    async fn describe_image(&self, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String> {
         // Own span with operation=describe_image — routes through the vision slot.
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "describe_image", &self.vision_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("describe_image", &self.vision_model);
         let prompt = "Briefly describe what you see in this image in 1-2 sentences. \
                       Focus on the people, location, and activity.";
         let system = "You are a scene description assistant. Be concise and factual.";
@@ -905,7 +892,7 @@ impl LlmClient for LlamaCppClient {
         let (reply, _, _) = self
             .chat_completion_with_model(
                 &self.vision_model.clone(),
-                Some(&mut span),
+                Some(&span),
                 messages,
                 Vec::new(),
             )

src/ai/llm_client.rs

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 use anyhow::Result;
 use async_trait::async_trait;
 use futures::stream::BoxStream;
-use opentelemetry::Context;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
 /// Provider-agnostic surface for LLM backends (Ollama, OpenRouter, …).
@@ -12,11 +11,10 @@ use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 /// stays as base64 strings here and is rewritten into content-parts where
 /// needed.
 ///
-/// Every method that performs an HTTP call takes the caller's tracing
+/// Every method that performs an HTTP call starts an `llm.request` span
-/// `Context` as its first parameter so the impl can start an `llm.request`
+/// parented on the caller's ambient `tracing` span, so callers must run
-/// span parented under the caller's feature span — the codebase threads
+/// inside their feature span (`#[instrument]` / `.instrument(span)`) — and
-/// contexts explicitly rather than relying on ambient `Context::current()`
+/// carry it across any `tokio::spawn` — for the LLM span to nest under it.
-/// at deep call sites.
 // First consumer lands in a later PR (OpenRouter impl + hybrid mode routing).
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 #[async_trait]
@@ -25,7 +23,6 @@ pub trait LlmClient: Send + Sync {
     /// base64 images (ignored by providers without vision support).
     async fn generate(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         prompt: &str,
         system: Option<&str>,
         images: Option<Vec<String>>,
@@ -35,7 +32,6 @@ pub trait LlmClient: Send + Sync {
     /// (which may contain tool_calls) plus optional prompt/eval token counts.
     async fn chat_with_tools(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<(ChatMessage, Option<i32>, Option<i32>)>;
@@ -48,17 +44,16 @@ pub trait LlmClient: Send + Sync {
     /// as one `Done` event.
     async fn chat_with_tools_stream(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<BoxStream<'static, Result<LlmStreamEvent>>>;
 
     /// Batch embedding generation. Dimensionality is provider/model specific.
-    async fn generate_embeddings(&self, cx: &Context, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>>;
+    async fn generate_embeddings(&self, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>>;
 
     /// One-shot vision description of an image. Used to convert images into
     /// plain text for the hybrid-mode conversation flow.
-    async fn describe_image(&self, cx: &Context, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String>;
+    async fn describe_image(&self, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String>;
 
     /// Enumerate available models with their capabilities.
     async fn list_models(&self) -> Result<Vec<ModelCapabilities>>;

src/ai/local_llm.rs

@@ -47,24 +47,12 @@ impl LocalLlm {
     /// pick query vs document — retrieval models treat the two sides
     /// differently and an unmarked embed invites prefix-mismatch bugs.
     pub async fn embed_query(&self, text: &str) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
-        super::embed_query(
+        super::embed_query(&self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), text).await
-            &opentelemetry::Context::new(),
-            &self.ollama,
-            self.llamacpp.as_deref(),
-            text,
-        )
-        .await
     }
 
     /// Embed corpus text (applies `EMBED_DOCUMENT_PREFIX`).
     pub async fn embed_document(&self, text: &str) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
-        super::embed_document(
+        super::embed_document(&self.ollama, self.llamacpp.as_deref(), text).await
-            &opentelemetry::Context::new(),
-            &self.ollama,
-            self.llamacpp.as_deref(),
-            text,
-        )
-        .await
     }
 
     /// Single-shot local text generation via the `LLM_BACKEND`-selected
@@ -72,23 +60,14 @@ impl LocalLlm {
     pub async fn generate(&self, prompt: &str, system: Option<&str>) -> Result<String> {
         if super::local_backend_is_llamacpp() {
             if let Some(lc) = self.llamacpp.as_deref() {
-                return <LlamaCppClient as LlmClient>::generate(
+                return <LlamaCppClient as LlmClient>::generate(lc, prompt, system, None).await;
-                    lc,
-                    &opentelemetry::Context::new(),
-                    prompt,
-                    system,
-                    None,
-                )
-                .await;
             }
             anyhow::bail!(
                 "LLM_BACKEND=llamacpp but LlamaCppClient is unconfigured — \
                  set LLAMA_SWAP_URL or switch to LLM_BACKEND=ollama"
             );
         }
-        self.ollama
+        self.ollama.generate(prompt, system).await
-            .generate(&opentelemetry::Context::new(), prompt, system)
-            .await
     }
 
     /// Label identifying which backend + model produces embeddings right

src/ai/mod.rs

@@ -115,26 +115,24 @@ fn embed_prefix(key: &str) -> String {
 /// `Instruct: <task>\nQuery: `. Must pair with the document prefix the
 /// corpus was embedded with or similarity degrades.
 pub async fn embed_query(
-    cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ollama: &OllamaClient,
     llamacpp: Option<&LlamaCppClient>,
     text: &str,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<f32>> {
     let prefixed = format!("{}{}", embed_prefix("EMBED_QUERY_PREFIX"), text);
-    embed_one(cx, ollama, llamacpp, &prefixed).await
+    embed_one(ollama, llamacpp, &prefixed).await
 }
 
 /// Embed corpus text (the stored side of retrieval). Applies
 /// `EMBED_DOCUMENT_PREFIX` (default empty; nomic v1.5 wants
 /// `search_document: `, Qwen3-Embedding wants none).
 pub async fn embed_document(
-    cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ollama: &OllamaClient,
     llamacpp: Option<&LlamaCppClient>,
     text: &str,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<f32>> {
     let prefixed = format!("{}{}", embed_prefix("EMBED_DOCUMENT_PREFIX"), text);
-    embed_one(cx, ollama, llamacpp, &prefixed).await
+    embed_one(ollama, llamacpp, &prefixed).await
 }
 
 /// Embed a batch of strings via the configured local backend. Routes
@@ -142,32 +140,30 @@ pub async fn embed_document(
 /// configured), else Ollama. See [`local_backend_is_llamacpp`] for the
 /// rationale on consistency.
 pub async fn embed_many(
-    cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ollama: &OllamaClient,
     llamacpp: Option<&LlamaCppClient>,
     texts: &[&str],
 ) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
     if local_backend_is_llamacpp() {
         if let Some(lc) = llamacpp {
-            return <LlamaCppClient as LlmClient>::generate_embeddings(lc, cx, texts).await;
+            return <LlamaCppClient as LlmClient>::generate_embeddings(lc, texts).await;
         }
         anyhow::bail!(
             "LLM_BACKEND=llamacpp but LlamaCppClient is unconfigured — \
              set LLAMA_SWAP_URL or switch to LLM_BACKEND=ollama"
         );
     }
-    ollama.generate_embeddings(cx, texts).await
+    ollama.generate_embeddings(texts).await
 }
 
 /// Embed one string via the configured local backend. Single-text
 /// convenience over [`embed_many`].
 pub async fn embed_one(
-    cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ollama: &OllamaClient,
     llamacpp: Option<&LlamaCppClient>,
     text: &str,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<f32>> {
-    let mut vecs = embed_many(cx, ollama, llamacpp, &[text]).await?;
+    let mut vecs = embed_many(ollama, llamacpp, &[text]).await?;
     vecs.pop()
         .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("embedding backend returned no embeddings"))
 }

src/ai/nl_query.rs

@@ -259,13 +259,10 @@ pub async fn translate_nl_query(
     nl: &str,
     tag_vocab: &[(i32, String)],
     today: chrono::NaiveDate,
-    cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
 ) -> Result<StructuredQuery> {
     let system = build_system_prompt(tag_vocab, today);
     let messages = vec![ChatMessage::system(system), ChatMessage::user(nl)];
-    let (msg, _, _) = client
+    let (msg, _, _) = client.chat_with_tools(messages, Vec::<Tool>::new()).await?;
-        .chat_with_tools(cx, messages, Vec::<Tool>::new())
-        .await?;
     parse_response(&msg.content, tag_vocab)
 }
 

src/ai/ollama.rs

@@ -2,14 +2,14 @@ use anyhow::Context as _;
 use anyhow::Result;
 use async_trait::async_trait;
 use chrono::NaiveDate;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status};
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::{Context, KeyValue};
 use reqwest::Client;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering};
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt as _;
 
 use crate::ai::llm_client::{LlmClient, LlmStreamEvent};
 use futures::stream::{BoxStream, StreamExt};
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ impl OllamaClient {
 
     async fn try_generate(
         &self,
-        mut span: Option<&mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan>,
+        span: Option<&tracing::Span>,
         url: &str,
         model: &str,
         prompt: &str,
@@ -390,13 +390,13 @@ impl OllamaClient {
             .client
             .post(format!("{}/api/generate", url))
             .json(&request);
-        if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+        if let Some(s) = span {
-            request_builder = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request_builder, s.span_context());
+            request_builder = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request_builder, s);
         }
         let response = match request_builder.send().await {
             Ok(r) => r,
             Err(e) => {
-                if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                if let Some(s) = span {
                     s.set_status(Status::error("Ollama request failed"));
                 }
                 return Err(e.into());
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ impl OllamaClient {
         if !response.status().is_success() {
             let status = response.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                span.as_deref_mut(),
+                span,
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("Ollama request failed: {status}"),
             );
@@ -417,23 +417,23 @@ impl OllamaClient {
                 error_body
             ));
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(span.as_deref_mut(), response.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(span, response.status().as_u16());
 
         let result: OllamaResponse = match response.json().await {
             Ok(r) => r,
             Err(e) => {
-                if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                if let Some(s) = span {
                     s.set_status(Status::error("parsing Ollama response failed"));
                 }
                 return Err(e.into());
             }
         };
-        if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+        if let Some(s) = span {
             if let Some(pt) = result.prompt_eval_count {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64);
             }
             if let Some(ct) = result.eval_count {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64);
             }
             s.set_status(Status::Ok);
         }
@@ -447,49 +447,32 @@ impl OllamaClient {
     }
 
     /// Start the `llm.request` span for an outgoing Ollama call.
-    fn start_request_span(
+    fn start_request_span(&self, operation: &str, model: &str) -> tracing::Span {
-        &self,
+        crate::otel::start_llm_request_span("ollama", operation, model)
-        cx: &Context,
-        operation: &str,
-        model: &str,
-    ) -> opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan {
-        crate::otel::start_llm_request_span(cx, "ollama", operation, model)
     }
 
-    pub async fn generate(
+    pub async fn generate(&self, prompt: &str, system: Option<&str>) -> Result<String> {
-        &self,
+        self.generate_with_images(prompt, system, None).await
-        cx: &Context,
-        prompt: &str,
-        system: Option<&str>,
-    ) -> Result<String> {
-        self.generate_with_images(cx, prompt, system, None).await
     }
 
     #[allow(dead_code)]
-    pub async fn generate_no_think(
+    pub async fn generate_no_think(&self, prompt: &str, system: Option<&str>) -> Result<String> {
-        &self,
+        self.generate_with_options(prompt, system, None, Some(false), "generate")
-        cx: &Context,
-        prompt: &str,
-        system: Option<&str>,
-    ) -> Result<String> {
-        self.generate_with_options(cx, prompt, system, None, Some(false), "generate")
             .await
     }
 
     pub async fn generate_with_images(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         prompt: &str,
         system: Option<&str>,
         images: Option<Vec<String>>,
     ) -> Result<String> {
-        self.generate_with_options(cx, prompt, system, images, None, "generate")
+        self.generate_with_options(prompt, system, images, None, "generate")
             .await
     }
 
     async fn generate_with_options(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         prompt: &str,
         system: Option<&str>,
         images: Option<Vec<String>>,
@@ -509,7 +492,7 @@ impl OllamaClient {
 
         // Span for the whole generate attempt; the model attribute
         // reflects whichever server actually answered.
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, operation, &self.primary_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span(operation, &self.primary_model);
 
         // Try primary server first with primary model
         log::info!(
@@ -519,7 +502,7 @@ impl OllamaClient {
         );
         let primary_result = self
             .try_generate(
-                Some(&mut span),
+                Some(&span),
                 &self.primary_url,
                 &self.primary_model,
                 prompt,
@@ -548,10 +531,10 @@ impl OllamaClient {
                         fallback_url,
                         fallback_model
                     );
-                    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.model", fallback_model.to_string()));
+                    span.set_attribute("llm.model", fallback_model.to_string());
                     match self
                         .try_generate(
-                            Some(&mut span),
+                            Some(&span),
                             fallback_url,
                             fallback_model,
                             prompt,
@@ -598,7 +581,6 @@ impl OllamaClient {
     /// Generate a title for a single photo based on its generated summary
     pub async fn generate_photo_title(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         summary: &str,
         custom_system: Option<&str>,
     ) -> Result<String> {
@@ -614,7 +596,7 @@ Capture the key moment or theme. Return ONLY the title, nothing else."#,
         let system = custom_system.unwrap_or("You are my long term memory assistant. Use only the information provided. Do not invent details.");
 
         let title = self
-            .generate_with_images(cx, &prompt, Some(system), None)
+            .generate_with_images(&prompt, Some(system), None)
             .await?;
         // Models decorate despite "Return ONLY the title": quotes, bold
         // markers, sometimes a "Title:" label.
@@ -631,7 +613,6 @@ Capture the key moment or theme. Return ONLY the title, nothing else."#,
     /// Generate a summary for a single photo based on its context
     pub async fn generate_photo_summary(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         date: NaiveDate,
         location: Option<&str>,
         contact: Option<&str>,
@@ -714,32 +695,21 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
         let system = custom_system.unwrap_or("You are a memory refreshing assistant who is able to provide insights through analyzing past conversations. Use only the information provided. Do not invent details.");
 
         let images = image_base64.map(|img| vec![img]);
-        self.generate_with_images(cx, &prompt, Some(system), images)
+        self.generate_with_images(&prompt, Some(system), images)
             .await
     }
 
     /// Generate a brief visual description of a photo for use in RAG query enrichment.
     /// Returns 1-2 sentences describing people, location, and activity visible in the image.
     /// Only called when the model has vision capabilities.
-    pub async fn generate_photo_description(
+    pub async fn generate_photo_description(&self, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String> {
-        &self,
-        cx: &Context,
-        image_base64: &str,
-    ) -> Result<String> {
         let prompt = "Briefly describe what you see in this image in 1-2 sentences. \
                       Focus on the people, location, and activity.";
         let system = "You are a scene description assistant. Be concise and factual.";
         let images = vec![image_base64.to_string()];
 
         let description = self
-            .generate_with_options(
+            .generate_with_options(prompt, Some(system), Some(images), None, "describe_image")
-                cx,
-                prompt,
-                Some(system),
-                Some(images),
-                None,
-                "describe_image",
-            )
             .await?;
 
         Ok(description.trim().to_string())
@@ -752,11 +722,10 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
     /// iteration of the agent loop.
     pub async fn chat_with_tools(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<(ChatMessage, Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "chat", &self.primary_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("chat", &self.primary_model);
         let order = self.attempt_order();
         let mut errors: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
 
@@ -768,10 +737,10 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
                 model
             );
             if *label == "fallback" {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.model", model.to_string()));
+                span.set_attribute("llm.model", model.to_string());
             }
             match self
-                .try_chat_with_tools(Some(&mut span), url, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .try_chat_with_tools(Some(&span), url, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
                 .await
             {
                 Ok(result) => {
@@ -813,7 +782,6 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
     /// any, live on the final message).
     pub async fn chat_with_tools_stream(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<BoxStream<'static, Result<LlmStreamEvent>>> {
@@ -828,7 +796,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
 
         for (label, url, _model) in &order {
             match self
-                .try_chat_with_tools_stream(cx, url, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
+                .try_chat_with_tools_stream(url, messages.clone(), tools.clone())
                 .await
             {
                 Ok(s) => {
@@ -848,7 +816,6 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
 
     async fn try_chat_with_tools_stream(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         base_url: &str,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
@@ -866,7 +833,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
         // The span outlives this method — the stream yields until the
         // response fully drains, so the owned span moves into the
         // generator and is finalized there.
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "chat_stream", model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("chat_stream", model);
 
         let request_body = OllamaChatRequest {
             model,
@@ -878,7 +845,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
 
         let response = {
             let mut rb = self.client.post(&url).json(&request_body);
-            rb = crate::otel::with_traceparent(rb, span.span_context());
+            rb = crate::otel::with_traceparent(rb, &span);
             match rb.send().await {
                 Ok(r) => r,
                 Err(e) => {
@@ -892,7 +859,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
         if !response.status().is_success() {
             let status = response.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                Some(&mut span),
+                Some(&span),
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("Ollama stream request failed: {status}"),
             );
@@ -903,7 +870,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
                 body
             );
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&mut span), response.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&span), response.status().as_u16());
 
         // Ollama streams NDJSON: each line is a full `OllamaStreamChunk`.
         // We buffer partial lines across chunks from the byte stream.
@@ -986,10 +953,10 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
                 eval_duration,
             );
             if let Some(pt) = prompt_eval_count {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64));
+                span.set_attribute("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64);
             }
             if let Some(ct) = eval_count {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64));
+                span.set_attribute("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64);
             }
             span.set_status(Status::Ok);
             let message = ChatMessage {
@@ -1010,7 +977,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
 
     async fn try_chat_with_tools(
         &self,
-        mut span: Option<&mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan>,
+        span: Option<&tracing::Span>,
         base_url: &str,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
@@ -1040,13 +1007,13 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
 
         let response = {
             let mut rb = self.client.post(&url).json(&request_body);
-            if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+            if let Some(s) = span {
-                rb = crate::otel::with_traceparent(rb, s.span_context());
+                rb = crate::otel::with_traceparent(rb, s);
             }
             match rb.send().await {
                 Ok(r) => r,
                 Err(e) => {
-                    if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                    if let Some(s) = span {
                         s.set_status(Status::error("Ollama chat connect failed"));
                     }
                     return Err(e)
@@ -1058,7 +1025,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
         if !response.status().is_success() {
             let status = response.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                span.as_deref_mut(),
+                span,
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("Ollama chat request failed: {status}"),
             );
@@ -1078,23 +1045,23 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
                 body
             );
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(span.as_deref_mut(), response.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(span, response.status().as_u16());
 
         let chat_response: OllamaChatResponse = match response.json().await {
             Ok(r) => r,
             Err(e) => {
-                if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                if let Some(s) = span {
                     s.set_status(Status::error("parsing Ollama chat response failed"));
                 }
                 return Err(e).with_context(|| "Failed to parse Ollama chat response");
             }
         };
-        if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+        if let Some(s) = span {
             if let Some(pt) = chat_response.prompt_eval_count {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64);
             }
             if let Some(ct) = chat_response.eval_count {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64);
             }
             s.set_status(Status::Ok);
         }
@@ -1119,8 +1086,8 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
 
     /// Generate an embedding vector for text using nomic-embed-text:v1.5
     /// Returns a 768-dimensional vector as Vec<f32>
-    pub async fn generate_embedding(&self, cx: &Context, text: &str) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
+    pub async fn generate_embedding(&self, text: &str) -> Result<Vec<f32>> {
-        let embeddings = self.generate_embeddings(cx, &[text]).await?;
+        let embeddings = self.generate_embeddings(&[text]).await?;
         embeddings
             .into_iter()
             .next()
@@ -1130,10 +1097,10 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
     /// Generate embeddings for multiple texts in a single API call (batch mode)
     /// Returns a vector of 768-dimensional vectors
     /// This is much more efficient than calling generate_embedding multiple times
-    pub async fn generate_embeddings(&self, cx: &Context, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
+    pub async fn generate_embeddings(&self, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
         let embedding_model = EMBEDDING_MODEL;
 
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "embeddings", embedding_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("embeddings", embedding_model);
 
         log::debug!("=== Ollama Batch Embedding Request ===");
         log::debug!("Model: {}", embedding_model);
@@ -1148,7 +1115,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
             embedding_model
         );
         let primary_result = self
-            .try_generate_embeddings(Some(&mut span), &self.primary_url, embedding_model, texts)
+            .try_generate_embeddings(Some(&span), &self.primary_url, embedding_model, texts)
             .await;
 
         let embeddings = match primary_result {
@@ -1171,12 +1138,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
                         embedding_model
                     );
                     match self
-                        .try_generate_embeddings(
+                        .try_generate_embeddings(Some(&span), fallback_url, embedding_model, texts)
-                            Some(&mut span),
-                            fallback_url,
-                            embedding_model,
-                            texts,
-                        )
                         .await
                     {
                         Ok(embeddings) => {
@@ -1223,7 +1185,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
     /// Internal helper to try generating embeddings for multiple texts from a specific server
     async fn try_generate_embeddings(
         &self,
-        mut span: Option<&mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan>,
+        span: Option<&tracing::Span>,
         url: &str,
         model: &str,
         texts: &[&str],
@@ -1238,13 +1200,13 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
                 .client
                 .post(format!("{}/api/embed", url))
                 .json(&request);
-            if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+            if let Some(s) = span {
-                rb = crate::otel::with_traceparent(rb, s.span_context());
+                rb = crate::otel::with_traceparent(rb, s);
             }
             match rb.send().await {
                 Ok(r) => r,
                 Err(e) => {
-                    if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                    if let Some(s) = span {
                         s.set_status(Status::error("Ollama embedding request failed"));
                     }
                     return Err(e.into());
@@ -1255,7 +1217,7 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
         if !response.status().is_success() {
             let status = response.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                span.as_deref_mut(),
+                span,
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("Ollama batch embedding request failed: {status}"),
             );
@@ -1266,18 +1228,18 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
                 error_body
             ));
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(span.as_deref_mut(), response.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(span, response.status().as_u16());
 
         let result: OllamaEmbedResponse = match response.json().await {
             Ok(r) => r,
             Err(e) => {
-                if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                if let Some(s) = span {
                     s.set_status(Status::error("parsing Ollama embed response failed"));
                 }
                 return Err(e.into());
             }
         };
-        if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+        if let Some(s) = span {
             s.set_status(Status::Ok);
         }
         Ok(result.embeddings)
@@ -1288,38 +1250,35 @@ Analyze the image and use specific details from both the visual content and the
 impl LlmClient for OllamaClient {
     async fn generate(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         prompt: &str,
         system: Option<&str>,
         images: Option<Vec<String>>,
     ) -> Result<String> {
-        self.generate_with_images(cx, prompt, system, images).await
+        self.generate_with_images(prompt, system, images).await
     }
 
     async fn chat_with_tools(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<(ChatMessage, Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
-        OllamaClient::chat_with_tools(self, cx, messages, tools).await
+        OllamaClient::chat_with_tools(self, messages, tools).await
     }
 
     async fn chat_with_tools_stream(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<BoxStream<'static, Result<LlmStreamEvent>>> {
-        OllamaClient::chat_with_tools_stream(self, cx, messages, tools).await
+        OllamaClient::chat_with_tools_stream(self, messages, tools).await
     }
 
-    async fn generate_embeddings(&self, cx: &Context, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
+    async fn generate_embeddings(&self, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
-        OllamaClient::generate_embeddings(self, cx, texts).await
+        OllamaClient::generate_embeddings(self, texts).await
     }
 
-    async fn describe_image(&self, cx: &Context, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String> {
+    async fn describe_image(&self, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String> {
-        self.generate_photo_description(cx, image_base64).await
+        self.generate_photo_description(image_base64).await
     }
 
     async fn list_models(&self) -> Result<Vec<ModelCapabilities>> {

src/ai/openrouter.rs

@@ -5,14 +5,14 @@
 use anyhow::Context as _;
 use anyhow::{Result, anyhow, bail};
 use async_trait::async_trait;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status};
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::{Context, KeyValue};
 use reqwest::Client;
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use serde_json::{Value, json};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt as _;
 
 use crate::ai::llm_client::{
     ChatMessage, LlmClient, LlmStreamEvent, ModelCapabilities, Tool, ToolCall, ToolCallFunction,
@@ -152,13 +152,8 @@ impl OpenRouterClient {
     /// `chat`, `embeddings`, or `describe` — the call shape, not the entry
     /// point (a `describe_image` funneled through `chat_with_tools` is
     /// still a `describe`).
-    fn start_request_span(
+    fn start_request_span(&self, operation: &str, model: &str) -> tracing::Span {
-        &self,
+        crate::otel::start_llm_request_span("openrouter", operation, model)
-        cx: &Context,
-        operation: &str,
-        model: &str,
-    ) -> opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan {
-        crate::otel::start_llm_request_span(cx, "openrouter", operation, model)
     }
 
     /// Translate canonical messages to the OpenAI-compatible wire shape.
@@ -329,7 +324,6 @@ impl OpenRouterClient {
 impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
     async fn generate(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         prompt: &str,
         system: Option<&str>,
         images: Option<Vec<String>>,
@@ -344,31 +338,29 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
 
         // Delegates to chat_with_tools, which starts the llm.request span
         // (operation=chat) — one span per HTTP request.
-        let (reply, _, _) = self.chat_with_tools(cx, messages, Vec::new()).await?;
+        let (reply, _, _) = self.chat_with_tools(messages, Vec::new()).await?;
         Ok(reply.content)
     }
 
     async fn chat_with_tools(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<(ChatMessage, Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "chat", &self.primary_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("chat", &self.primary_model);
-        self.chat_with_tools_impl(Some(&mut span), messages, tools)
+        self.chat_with_tools_impl(Some(&span), messages, tools)
             .await
     }
 
     async fn chat_with_tools_stream(
         &self,
-        cx: &Context,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<BoxStream<'static, Result<LlmStreamEvent>>> {
         // The span outlives this method — the stream yields until the
         // response fully drains, so the owned span moves into the
         // generator and is finalized there.
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "chat_stream", &self.primary_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("chat_stream", &self.primary_model);
 
         let url = format!("{}/chat/completions", self.base_url);
         let mut body = serde_json::Map::new();
@@ -397,7 +389,7 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
         let mut request = self
             .authed(self.client.post(&url))
             .json(&Value::Object(body));
-        request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, span.span_context());
+        request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, &span);
         let resp = request
             .send()
             .await
@@ -406,14 +398,14 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
         if !resp.status().is_success() {
             let status = resp.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                Some(&mut span),
+                Some(&span),
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("OpenRouter stream request failed: {status}"),
             );
             let body = resp.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
             bail!("OpenRouter stream request failed: {} — {}", status, body);
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&mut span), resp.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&span), resp.status().as_u16());
 
         // OpenAI-compat SSE stream. Each event is `data: <json>\n\n`, with
         // `data: [DONE]` signalling completion. Tool calls arrive as
@@ -489,7 +481,7 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
                                 .and_then(|n| n.as_i64())
                                 .map(|n| n as i32);
                             if let Some(cost) = usage.get("cost").and_then(|c| c.as_f64()) {
-                                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.cost_usd", cost));
+                                span.set_attribute("llm.cost_usd", cost);
                             }
                         }
 
@@ -581,10 +573,10 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
                 images: None,
             };
             if let Some(pt) = prompt_tokens {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64));
+                span.set_attribute("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64);
             }
             if let Some(ct) = completion_tokens {
-                span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64));
+                span.set_attribute("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64);
             }
             span.set_status(Status::Ok);
             yield Ok(LlmStreamEvent::Done {
@@ -597,8 +589,8 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
         Ok(Box::pin(stream))
     }
 
-    async fn generate_embeddings(&self, cx: &Context, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
+    async fn generate_embeddings(&self, texts: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<Vec<f32>>> {
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "embeddings", &self.embedding_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("embeddings", &self.embedding_model);
         let url = format!("{}/embeddings", self.base_url);
         let body = json!({
             "model": self.embedding_model,
@@ -606,7 +598,7 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
         });
 
         let mut request = self.authed(self.client.post(&url)).json(&body);
-        request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, span.span_context());
+        request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, &span);
         let resp = request
             .send()
             .await
@@ -618,14 +610,14 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
         if !resp.status().is_success() {
             let status = resp.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                Some(&mut span),
+                Some(&span),
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("OpenRouter embedding request failed: {status}"),
             );
             let body = resp.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
             bail!("OpenRouter embedding request failed: {} — {}", status, body);
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&mut span), resp.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(Some(&span), resp.status().as_u16());
 
         #[derive(Deserialize)]
         struct EmbedResponse {
@@ -641,10 +633,10 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
         Ok(parsed.data.into_iter().map(|i| i.embedding).collect())
     }
 
-    async fn describe_image(&self, cx: &Context, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String> {
+    async fn describe_image(&self, image_base64: &str) -> Result<String> {
         // Own span with operation=describe_image — the funnel into
         // chat_with_tools_impl keeps the request on a single span.
-        let mut span = self.start_request_span(cx, "describe_image", &self.primary_model);
+        let span = self.start_request_span("describe_image", &self.primary_model);
         let prompt = "Briefly describe what you see in this image in 1-2 sentences. \
                       Focus on the people, location, and activity.";
         let mut messages: Vec<ChatMessage> = Vec::new();
@@ -656,7 +648,7 @@ impl LlmClient for OpenRouterClient {
         messages.push(user);
 
         let (reply, _, _) = self
-            .chat_with_tools_impl(Some(&mut span), messages, Vec::new())
+            .chat_with_tools_impl(Some(&span), messages, Vec::new())
             .await?;
         Ok(reply.content)
     }
@@ -719,7 +711,7 @@ impl OpenRouterClient {
     /// operation label.
     async fn chat_with_tools_impl(
         &self,
-        mut span: Option<&mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan>,
+        span: Option<&tracing::Span>,
         messages: Vec<ChatMessage>,
         tools: Vec<Tool>,
     ) -> Result<(ChatMessage, Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
@@ -751,13 +743,13 @@ impl OpenRouterClient {
         let mut request = self
             .authed(self.client.post(&url))
             .json(&Value::Object(body));
-        if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+        if let Some(s) = span {
-            request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, s.span_context());
+            request = crate::otel::with_traceparent(request, s);
         }
         let resp = match request.send().await {
             Ok(r) => r,
             Err(e) => {
-                if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                if let Some(s) = span {
                     s.set_status(Status::error("OpenRouter request failed"));
                 }
                 return Err(e).with_context(|| format!("POST {} failed", url));
@@ -767,19 +759,19 @@ impl OpenRouterClient {
         if !resp.status().is_success() {
             let status = resp.status();
             crate::otel::record_http_failure(
-                span.as_deref_mut(),
+                span,
                 status.as_u16(),
                 &format!("OpenRouter chat request failed: {status}"),
             );
             let body = resp.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
             bail!("OpenRouter chat request failed: {} — {}", status, body);
         }
-        crate::otel::set_http_status(span.as_deref_mut(), resp.status().as_u16());
+        crate::otel::set_http_status(span, resp.status().as_u16());
 
         let parsed: Value = match resp.json().await {
             Ok(v) => v,
             Err(e) => {
-                if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+                if let Some(s) = span {
                     s.set_status(Status::error("parsing chat response failed"));
                 }
                 return Err(e).context("parsing chat response");
@@ -813,15 +805,15 @@ impl OpenRouterClient {
             .and_then(|v| v.as_i64())
             .map(|n| n as i32);
         // OpenRouter reports per-request USD cost in `usage.cost`.
-        if let Some(s) = span.as_mut() {
+        if let Some(s) = span {
             if let Some(pt) = prompt_tokens {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.tokens.input", pt as i64);
             }
             if let Some(ct) = completion_tokens {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.tokens.output", ct as i64);
             }
             if let Some(cost) = usage.and_then(|u| u.get("cost")).and_then(|c| c.as_f64()) {
-                s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.cost_usd", cost));
+                s.set_attribute("llm.cost_usd", cost);
             }
             s.set_status(Status::Ok);
         }

src/ai/persona_chat.rs

@@ -22,15 +22,16 @@
 //!   registry.
 //! - The HTTP handlers under ` /persona_chat/*`.
 
-use actix_web::{HttpRequest, HttpResponse, Responder, delete, get, post, web};
+use actix_web::{HttpResponse, Responder, delete, get, post, web};
 use anyhow::{Context, Result, anyhow, bail};
 use chrono::Utc;
-use opentelemetry::KeyValue;
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status, TraceContextExt, Tracer};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex as StdMutex};
 use tokio::sync::Mutex as TokioMutex;
+use tracing::Instrument;
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt;
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
 use crate::ai::backend::{BackendKind, SamplingOverrides};
@@ -45,7 +46,6 @@ use crate::ai::turn_registry::{TurnEntry, TurnRegistry};
 use crate::data::Claims;
 use crate::database::PersonaDao;
 use crate::libraries;
-use crate::otel::{extract_context_from_request, global_tracer};
 use crate::state::AppState;
 
 // ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -660,7 +660,6 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
         let svc = self.clone();
         let persona_for_task = persona.clone();
         let entry_clone = entry.clone();
-        let turn_id_for_task = turn_id.clone();
         let req_for_task = PersonaChatTurnRequest {
             user_message: trimmed.clone(),
             ..req
@@ -669,15 +668,19 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
             in_flight: self.in_flight.clone(),
             conversation_id: conversation_id.clone(),
         };
-        let conversation_for_span = conversation_id.clone();
+        // Created before the spawn so it parents on the dispatching request,
-        let handle = tokio::spawn(async move {
+        // then carried into the task with `.instrument` (tracing context is
-            let tracer = global_tracer();
+        // thread-local and does not cross `tokio::spawn` on its own).
-            let mut span = tracer.start("ai.persona_chat.turn.execute");
+        let turn_span = tracing::info_span!(
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("turn_id", turn_id_for_task.clone()));
+            "ai.persona_chat.turn.execute",
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("persona_id", persona_id.clone()));
+            turn_id = %turn_id,
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("conversation_id", conversation_for_span));
+            persona_id = %persona_id,
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("library_id", library_id as i64));
+            conversation_id = %conversation_id,
-
+            library_id = library_id,
+        );
+        let handle = tokio::spawn(
+            async move {
+                let span = tracing::Span::current();
                 let result = svc
                     .run_streaming_turn(
                         persona_for_task,
@@ -685,16 +688,16 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
                         entry_clone.clone(),
                         user_id,
                         library_id,
-                    &mut span,
+                        &span,
                     )
                     .await;
                 match result {
                     Ok(()) => {
-                    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("status", "done"));
+                        span.set_attribute("status", "done");
                         span.set_status(Status::Ok);
                     }
                     Err(e) => {
-                    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("status", "error"));
+                        span.set_attribute("status", "error");
                         span.set_status(Status::error(format!("{e}")));
                         let _ = entry_clone
                             .push_event(ChatStreamEvent::Error(format!("{e}")))
@@ -706,7 +709,9 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
                 // captured by the spawned task: it must drop when the task ends
                 // (completion, error, or abort) — not when dispatch returns.
                 drop(in_flight_guard);
-        });
+            }
+            .instrument(turn_span),
+        );
 
         entry.set_abort_handle(handle.abort_handle());
         Ok(turn_id)
@@ -722,7 +727,7 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
         entry: Arc<TurnEntry>,
         user_id: i32,
         _library_id: i32,
-        turn_span: &mut opentelemetry::global::BoxedSpan,
+        turn_span: &tracing::Span,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         // Per-conversation mutex — serializes this turn against a
         // concurrent rewind or branch switch on the same transcript.
@@ -810,12 +815,10 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
             .resolve_backend(backend_kind, &overrides)
             .await?;
         let model_used = backend.model().to_string();
-        // llm.* attributes on the turn-level span (issue #130), plus the
+        // llm.* attributes on the turn-level span (issue #130). The child
-        // parent context for the child llm.request spans.
+        // llm.request spans parent on it ambiently (the task is instrumented).
-        turn_span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.backend", backend.kind.as_str()));
+        turn_span.set_attribute("llm.backend", backend.kind.as_str());
-        turn_span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.model", model_used.clone()));
+        turn_span.set_attribute("llm.model", model_used.clone());
-        let turn_cx = opentelemetry::Context::new()
-            .with_remote_span_context(turn_span.span_context().clone());
 
         // Build a no-photo tool catalog. `current_gate_opts_for_persona`
         // already probes each tool's backing table for presence and
@@ -882,7 +885,6 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
             &persona.persona_id,
             max_iterations,
             &entry,
-            &turn_cx,
         )
         .await
         .map_err(|e| anyhow!("persona chat loop failed: {e:?}"))?;
@@ -951,7 +953,7 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
         // list falls back to the persona name while the title is empty.
         if needs_title {
             let title = self
-                .generate_title(&backend, &messages, &turn_cx)
+                .generate_title(&backend, &messages)
                 .await
                 .unwrap_or_else(|| fallback_title(&messages));
             if !title.is_empty() {
@@ -1056,7 +1058,6 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
         &self,
         backend: &crate::ai::backend::ResolvedBackend,
         messages: &[ChatMessage],
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> Option<String> {
         let user_message = messages.iter().find(|m| m.role == "user")?;
         // The last assistant message with actual prose — earlier ones may be
@@ -1067,7 +1068,7 @@ impl PersonaChatSession {
             .find(|m| m.role == "assistant" && !m.content.trim().is_empty())?;
 
         let prompt = title_prompt(&user_message.content, &reply.content);
-        match backend.chat().generate(cx, &prompt, None, None).await {
+        match backend.chat().generate(&prompt, None, None).await {
             Ok(raw) => {
                 let title = sanitize_title(&crate::ai::llm_client::strip_think_blocks(&raw));
                 if title.is_empty() { None } else { Some(title) }
@@ -1276,19 +1277,14 @@ pub async fn persona_chat_history_handler(
 /// the `turn_id` immediately; the streaming agent loop runs in a
 /// background task and the client opens the SSE replay stream with it.
 #[post("/persona_chat/turn")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.persona_chat.turn", skip_all)]
 pub async fn persona_chat_turn_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     claims: Claims,
     request: web::Json<PersonaChatTurnRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let tracer = global_tracer();
+    span.set_attribute("conversation_id", request.conversation_id.clone());
-    let mut span = tracer.start_with_context("http.persona_chat.turn", &parent_context);
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new(
-        "conversation_id",
-        request.conversation_id.clone(),
-    ));
 
     // The transcript is not library-scoped, but the turn's tool catalog
     // (memories, SMS, places) resolves against a library — mirror the
@@ -1313,7 +1309,7 @@ pub async fn persona_chat_turn_handler(
         .await
     {
         Ok(turn_id) => {
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("turn_id", turn_id.clone()));
+            span.set_attribute("turn_id", turn_id.clone());
             span.set_status(Status::Ok);
             HttpResponse::Accepted().json(serde_json::json!({
                 "turn_id": turn_id,
@@ -1540,22 +1536,20 @@ pub async fn persona_chat_branches_handler(
 /// shared renderer.
 #[get("/persona_chat/turn/{turn_id}")]
 pub async fn persona_turn_replay_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     path: web::Path<String>,
     query: web::Query<ReplayQuery>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> HttpResponse {
-    crate::ai::handlers::turn_replay_impl(http_request, path, query, app_state).await
+    crate::ai::handlers::turn_replay_impl(path, query, app_state).await
 }
 
 /// DELETE /persona_chat/turn/{turn_id} — cancel a running persona turn.
 #[delete("/persona_chat/turn/{turn_id}")]
 pub async fn persona_turn_cancel_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     path: web::Path<String>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    crate::ai::handlers::cancel_turn_impl(http_request, path, app_state).await
+    crate::ai::handlers::cancel_turn_impl(path, app_state).await
 }
 
 // ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

src/ai/sms_client.rs

@@ -324,7 +324,6 @@ impl SmsApiClient {
         &self,
         messages: &[SmsMessage],
         ollama: &OllamaClient,
-        cx: &opentelemetry::Context,
     ) -> Result<String> {
         if messages.is_empty() {
             return Ok(String::from("No messages on this day"));
@@ -357,7 +356,6 @@ Summary:"#,
 
         ollama
             .generate(
-                cx,
                 &prompt,
                 // Some("You are a summarizer for the purposes of jogging my memory and highlighting events and situations."),
                 Some("You are the keeper of memories, ingest the context and give me a casual summary of the moment."),

src/ai/tts.rs

@@ -6,13 +6,12 @@
 // (audio read directly; video has its audio track extracted via ffmpeg).
 
 use actix_multipart::Multipart;
-use actix_web::{HttpRequest, HttpResponse, Responder, delete, get, post, web};
+use actix_web::{HttpResponse, Responder, delete, get, post, web};
 use anyhow::Context;
 use base64::Engine;
 use bytes::{BufMut, BytesMut};
 use futures::StreamExt;
-use opentelemetry::KeyValue;
+use opentelemetry::trace::Status;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status, Tracer};
 use regex::Regex;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use serde_json::{Value, json};
@@ -21,6 +20,8 @@ use std::path::Path;
 use std::sync::{LazyLock, Mutex as StdMutex};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
 use tokio::sync::Semaphore;
+use tracing::Instrument;
+use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt;
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
 use crate::ai::llamacpp::LlamaCppClient;
@@ -28,7 +29,6 @@ use crate::data::Claims;
 use crate::file_types::{is_audio_file, is_video_file};
 use crate::files::is_valid_full_path;
 use crate::libraries;
-use crate::otel::{extract_context_from_request, global_tracer};
 use crate::state::AppState;
 
 /// Hard cap on an uploaded voice-reference clip. Chatterbox itself caps the
@@ -382,14 +382,13 @@ pub struct TtsSpeechResponse {
 /// POST /tts/speech — synthesize `text` (optionally in a named `voice`) and
 /// return base64-encoded audio for `data:` URI playback on the client.
 #[post("/tts/speech")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.tts.speech", skip_all)]
 pub async fn tts_speech_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     _claims: Claims,
     req: web::Json<TtsSpeechRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let mut span = global_tracer().start_with_context("http.tts.speech", &parent_context);
 
     let text = prepare_for_tts(&req.text);
     if text.is_empty() {
@@ -414,10 +413,10 @@ pub async fn tts_speech_handler(
         .filter(|s| !s.is_empty())
         .or(dv.as_deref());
 
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.model", client.tts_model.clone()));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.model", client.tts_model.clone());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.format", format.to_string()));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.format", format.to_string());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.has_voice", voice.is_some()));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.has_voice", voice.is_some());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.text_len", text.len() as i64));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.text_len", text.len() as i64);
 
     // Clamp generation knobs to Chatterbox's documented ranges before forwarding.
     let exaggeration = req.exaggeration.map(|x| x.clamp(0.25, 2.0));
@@ -441,7 +440,7 @@ pub async fn tts_speech_handler(
         .await
     {
         Ok(bytes) => {
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.audio_bytes", bytes.len() as i64));
+            span.set_attribute("tts.audio_bytes", bytes.len() as i64);
             span.set_status(Status::Ok);
             let audio_base64 = base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(&bytes);
             HttpResponse::Ok().json(TtsSpeechResponse {
@@ -513,15 +512,13 @@ pub async fn synthesize_serialized(
 /// permit (instead of fast-failing 429) and the client polls the job until
 /// the audio is ready.
 #[post("/tts/speech/jobs")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.tts.speech_job.create", skip_all)]
 pub async fn create_speech_job_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     _claims: Claims,
     req: web::Json<TtsSpeechRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let mut span =
-        global_tracer().start_with_context("http.tts.speech_job.create", &parent_context);
 
     let text = prepare_for_tts(&req.text);
     if text.is_empty() {
@@ -550,9 +547,9 @@ pub async fn create_speech_job_handler(
     let cfg_weight = req.cfg_weight.map(|x| x.clamp(0.0, 1.0));
     let temperature = req.temperature.map(|x| x.clamp(0.05, 5.0));
 
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.format", format.clone()));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.format", format.clone());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.has_voice", voice.is_some()));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.has_voice", voice.is_some());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.text_len", text.len() as i64));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.text_len", text.len() as i64);
 
     let job_id = Uuid::new_v4();
     {
@@ -573,7 +570,8 @@ pub async fn create_speech_job_handler(
     }
 
     let state = app_state.clone();
-    let handle = tokio::spawn(async move {
+    let handle = tokio::spawn(
+        async move {
             // Queue rather than fast-fail: jobs wait their turn for the GPU.
             let _permit = match TTS_PERMIT.acquire().await {
                 Ok(p) => p,
@@ -641,7 +639,10 @@ pub async fn create_speech_job_handler(
                     );
                 }
             }
-    });
+        }
+        // Carry the handler span into the job (tracing context is thread-local).
+        .instrument(tracing::Span::current()),
+    );
     // Aborting an already-finished task is a no-op, so this late install is
     // safe even if the job raced to completion.
     with_job(job_id, |job| {
@@ -660,14 +661,9 @@ pub async fn create_speech_job_handler(
 /// GET /tts/speech/jobs/{id} — poll a speech job; returns the audio once done.
 /// 404s after the job expires (results are kept ~10 min past completion).
 #[get("/tts/speech/jobs/{id}")]
-pub async fn speech_job_status_handler(
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.tts.speech_job.status", skip_all)]
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
+pub async fn speech_job_status_handler(_claims: Claims, path: web::Path<String>) -> impl Responder {
-    _claims: Claims,
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    path: web::Path<String>,
-) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
-    let mut span =
-        global_tracer().start_with_context("http.tts.speech_job.status", &parent_context);
 
     let Ok(id) = Uuid::parse_str(&path.into_inner()) else {
         span.set_status(Status::error("invalid job id"));
@@ -701,14 +697,9 @@ pub async fn speech_job_status_handler(
 /// limitation as the sync path); cancelling stops the wait and discards the
 /// result. Cancelling an already-finished job leaves it terminal.
 #[delete("/tts/speech/jobs/{id}")]
-pub async fn cancel_speech_job_handler(
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.tts.speech_job.cancel", skip_all)]
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
+pub async fn cancel_speech_job_handler(_claims: Claims, path: web::Path<String>) -> impl Responder {
-    _claims: Claims,
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    path: web::Path<String>,
-) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
-    let mut span =
-        global_tracer().start_with_context("http.tts.speech_job.cancel", &parent_context);
 
     let Ok(id) = Uuid::parse_str(&path.into_inner()) else {
         span.set_status(Status::error("invalid job id"));
@@ -749,21 +740,20 @@ pub struct ListVoicesQuery {
 /// in-memory cache when possible so browsing settings doesn't make llama-swap
 /// load the TTS model (and evict the resident LLM); see VOICES_CACHE.
 #[get("/tts/voices")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.tts.voices.list", skip_all)]
 pub async fn list_voices_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     _claims: Claims,
     query: web::Query<ListVoicesQuery>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let mut span = global_tracer().start_with_context("http.tts.voices.list", &parent_context);
 
     let force = query
         .refresh
         .as_deref()
         .is_some_and(|v| matches!(v, "1" | "true" | "yes"));
     if !force && let Some(v) = cached_voices() {
-        span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.voices_cache_hit", true));
+        span.set_attribute("tts.voices_cache_hit", true);
         span.set_status(Status::Ok);
         return HttpResponse::Ok().json(v);
     }
@@ -776,7 +766,7 @@ pub async fn list_voices_handler(
     match client.list_voices().await {
         Ok(v) => {
             store_voices_cache(&v);
-            span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.voices_cache_hit", false));
+            span.set_attribute("tts.voices_cache_hit", false);
             span.set_status(Status::Ok);
             HttpResponse::Ok().json(v)
         }
@@ -790,14 +780,13 @@ pub async fn list_voices_handler(
 
 /// DELETE /tts/voices/{name} — remove a cloned voice from the library.
 #[delete("/tts/voices/{name}")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.tts.voices.delete", skip_all)]
 pub async fn delete_voice_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     _claims: Claims,
     path: web::Path<String>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let mut span = global_tracer().start_with_context("http.tts.voices.delete", &parent_context);
 
     let Some(client) = app_state.llamacpp.as_ref() else {
         span.set_status(Status::error("tts backend not configured"));
@@ -814,7 +803,7 @@ pub async fn delete_voice_handler(
             return HttpResponse::BadRequest().json(json!({ "error": "invalid voice name" }));
         }
     };
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.voice_name", name.clone()));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.voice_name", name.clone());
 
     match client.delete_voice(&name).await {
         Ok(v) => {
@@ -835,14 +824,13 @@ pub async fn delete_voice_handler(
 /// plus optional `start_seconds` / `duration_seconds` (text) selecting which
 /// window of a longer recording becomes the reference clip.
 #[post("/tts/voices/upload")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.tts.voices.upload", skip_all)]
 pub async fn create_voice_upload_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     _claims: Claims,
     mut payload: Multipart,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let mut span = global_tracer().start_with_context("http.tts.voices.upload", &parent_context);
 
     let Some(client) = app_state.llamacpp.as_ref() else {
         span.set_status(Status::error("tts backend not configured"));
@@ -932,8 +920,8 @@ pub async fn create_voice_upload_handler(
         span.set_status(Status::error("voice_file is required"));
         return HttpResponse::BadRequest().json(json!({ "error": "voice_file is required" }));
     }
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.voice_name", name.clone()));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.voice_name", name.clone());
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.upload_bytes", file_bytes.len() as i64));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.upload_bytes", file_bytes.len() as i64);
 
     // Normalize to WAV so any device format (e.g. .aac / .opus, which Chatterbox
     // rejects by extension) is accepted.
@@ -987,15 +975,13 @@ pub struct CreateVoiceFromLibraryRequest {
 /// WAV reference clip (window selected by start/duration_seconds, length
 /// capped by LLAMA_SWAP_TTS_REF_SECONDS).
 #[post("/tts/voices/from-library")]
+#[tracing::instrument(name = "http.tts.voices.from_library", skip_all)]
 pub async fn create_voice_from_library_handler(
-    http_request: HttpRequest,
     _claims: Claims,
     req: web::Json<CreateVoiceFromLibraryRequest>,
     app_state: web::Data<AppState>,
 ) -> impl Responder {
-    let parent_context = extract_context_from_request(&http_request);
+    let span = tracing::Span::current();
-    let mut span =
-        global_tracer().start_with_context("http.tts.voices.from_library", &parent_context);
 
     let Some(client) = app_state.llamacpp.as_ref() else {
         span.set_status(Status::error("tts backend not configured"));
@@ -1045,7 +1031,7 @@ pub async fn create_voice_from_library_handler(
         return HttpResponse::BadRequest()
             .json(json!({ "error": "file is not an audio or video file" }));
     }
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("tts.voice_name", voice_name.clone()));
+    span.set_attribute("tts.voice_name", voice_name.clone());
 
     let wav = match prepare_reference_audio(&abs, ref_start, ref_duration).await {
         Ok(b) => b,

src/bin/test_daily_summary.rs

@@ -220,9 +220,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
 
         println!("Generating summary...");
 
-        let summary = ollama
+        let summary = ollama.generate(&prompt, Some(system_prompt)).await?;
-            .generate(&opentelemetry::Context::new(), &prompt, Some(system_prompt))
-            .await?;
 
         println!("\n📝 GENERATED SUMMARY:");
         println!("─────────────────────────────────────────");
@@ -238,9 +236,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
             );
 
             println!("\nGenerating embedding...");
-            let embedding = ollama
+            let embedding = ollama.generate_embedding(&stripped).await?;
-                .generate_embedding(&opentelemetry::Context::new(), &stripped)
-                .await?;
             println!("✓ Embedding generated ({} dimensions)", embedding.len());
 
             println!("Saving to database...");

src/knowledge.rs

@@ -859,8 +859,7 @@ async fn synthesize_merge<D: KnowledgeDao + 'static>(
 
     let ollama = app_state.ollama.clone();
     let model_used = ollama.primary_model.clone();
-    let cx = opentelemetry::Context::current();
+    let proposed = match ollama.generate(&prompt, Some(system)).await {
-    let proposed = match ollama.generate(&cx, &prompt, Some(system)).await {
         Ok(out) => {
             // Strip the framing models reach for even with explicit
             // "no preamble" guidance: leading "Merged description:"

src/otel.rs

@@ -2,17 +2,15 @@ use actix_web::HttpRequest;
 use actix_web::http::header::HeaderMap;
 use opentelemetry::global::{BoxedSpan, BoxedTracer};
 use opentelemetry::propagation::TextMapPropagator;
-use opentelemetry::trace::{
+use opentelemetry::trace::{Span, Status, TraceContextExt, Tracer, TracerProvider};
-    Span, SpanBuilder, SpanContext, SpanKind, Status, TraceContextExt, Tracer, TracerProvider,
-};
 use opentelemetry::{Context, KeyValue, global};
-use tracing_subscriber::layer::SubscriberExt;
-use tracing_subscriber::util::SubscriberInitExt;
 use opentelemetry_appender_log::OpenTelemetryLogBridge;
 use opentelemetry_otlp::WithExportConfig;
 use opentelemetry_sdk::Resource;
 use opentelemetry_sdk::logs::{BatchLogProcessor, SdkLoggerProvider};
 use opentelemetry_sdk::propagation::TraceContextPropagator;
+use tracing_subscriber::layer::SubscriberExt;
+use tracing_subscriber::util::SubscriberInitExt;
 
 pub fn global_tracer() -> BoxedTracer {
     global::tracer("image-server")
@@ -120,18 +118,19 @@ impl<'a> opentelemetry::propagation::Extractor for HeaderExtractor<'a> {
 /// provider / operation / model attributes) is identical across
 /// openrouter / llamacpp / ollama. `operation` is one of `chat`,
 /// `chat_stream`, `embeddings`, `describe_image`, `generate`.
-pub fn start_llm_request_span(
+///
-    cx: &Context,
+/// The span parents on the caller's ambient `tracing` span — callers no
-    provider: &str,
+/// longer thread an OpenTelemetry `Context`. Code that hands work to a
-    operation: &str,
+/// `tokio::spawn` must carry its span across (`.instrument(span)`), or the
-    model: &str,
+/// LLM span orphans onto a fresh trace.
-) -> BoxedSpan {
+pub fn start_llm_request_span(provider: &str, operation: &str, model: &str) -> tracing::Span {
-    let builder = SpanBuilder::from_name("llm.request").with_kind(SpanKind::Client);
+    tracing::info_span!(
-    let mut span = global_tracer().build_with_context(builder, cx);
+        "llm.request",
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.provider", provider.to_string()));
+        otel.kind = "client",
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.operation", operation.to_string()));
+        llm.provider = provider,
-    span.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("llm.model", model.to_string()));
+        llm.operation = operation,
-    span
+        llm.model = model,
+    )
 }
 
 /// The OpenTelemetry [`Context`] to parent this request's operation spans
@@ -168,34 +167,35 @@ pub fn traceparent_headers(context: &Context) -> Vec<(String, String)> {
     headers.into_iter().filter(|(_, v)| !v.is_empty()).collect()
 }
 
-/// Attach the W3C traceparent header to an outgoing request so a downstream
+/// Attach the W3C traceparent header for `span` to an outgoing request so a
-/// service parents its own spans onto this trace. No-op when the span context
+/// downstream service parents its own spans onto this trace. No-op when the
-/// is not valid — e.g. debug builds, where the global tracer is a no-op and an
+/// span carries no valid OTel context — e.g. a span disabled by the
-/// all-zero traceparent would produce garbage parent spans.
+/// `EnvFilter`, where an all-zero traceparent would produce garbage parents.
 pub fn with_traceparent(
     builder: reqwest::RequestBuilder,
-    span_context: &SpanContext,
+    span: &tracing::Span,
 ) -> reqwest::RequestBuilder {
+    use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt as _;
     let mut b = builder;
-    for (k, v) in
+    for (k, v) in traceparent_headers(&span.context()) {
-        traceparent_headers(&Context::new().with_remote_span_context(span_context.clone()))
-    {
         b = b.header(k, v);
     }
     b
 }
 
 /// Record the HTTP status code on the span (success or failure path).
-pub fn set_http_status(span: Option<&mut BoxedSpan>, status: u16) {
+pub fn set_http_status(span: Option<&tracing::Span>, status: u16) {
+    use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt as _;
     if let Some(s) = span {
-        s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("http.status_code", status as i64));
+        s.set_attribute("http.status_code", status as i64);
     }
 }
 
 /// Record an HTTP failure on the span: status code plus an error status.
-pub fn record_http_failure(span: Option<&mut BoxedSpan>, status: u16, message: &str) {
+pub fn record_http_failure(span: Option<&tracing::Span>, status: u16, message: &str) {
+    use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt as _;
     if let Some(s) = span {
-        s.set_attribute(KeyValue::new("http.status_code", status as i64));
+        s.set_attribute("http.status_code", status as i64);
         s.set_status(Status::error(message.to_string()));
     }
 }

src/reels/script.rs

@@ -281,9 +281,8 @@ pub async fn generate_script(
     beats: &[PlannedBeat],
 ) -> Result<ReelScript> {
     let (system, user) = build_script_messages(meta, beats);
-    let cx = opentelemetry::Context::current();
     let raw = client
-        .generate(&cx, &user, Some(&system), None)
+        .generate(&user, Some(&system), None)
         .await
         .context("LLM script generation failed")?;
     Ok(parse_script_response(&raw, beats.len()))

src/unified_search.rs

@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ pub async fn unified_search<TagD: TagDao>(
     log::info!("unified_search: translating with model={}", backend.model());
 
     let today = chrono::Utc::now().date_naive();
-    let sq = match translate_nl_query(backend.chat(), &nl, &tag_vocab, today, &ctx).await {
+    let sq = match translate_nl_query(backend.chat(), &nl, &tag_vocab, today).await {
         Ok(sq) => sq,
         Err(e) => {
             log::warn!("unified_search: translate_nl_query failed: {e:?}");

tests/otel_llm_spans.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+//! Verifies the LLM-client tracing migration (#140 / map #135).
+//!
+//! The `LlmClient` methods no longer take an OpenTelemetry `Context`; the
+//! `llm.request` span parents on the caller's ambient `tracing` span. Two
+//! properties are pinned here, in the production shape of the streaming chat
+//! path (`insight_chat::chat_turn_stream_inner`: a `tokio::spawn` carrying
+//! the turn span via `.instrument`, on a multi-thread runtime):
+//!
+//! 1. **Nesting.** Both the blocking and the streaming `llm.request` spans
+//!    nest under the caller's span (same trace_id, parent link) and keep the
+//!    `llm.provider` / `llm.operation` / `llm.model` / `http.status_code`
+//!    attributes.
+//! 2. **Propagation.** The outgoing `traceparent` header names the
+//!    `llm.request` span itself, so the downstream server parents onto it.
+//!
+//! One process-global subscriber per test binary, so this file holds a
+//! single test.
+
+use futures::StreamExt;
+use image_api::ai::llamacpp::LlamaCppClient;
+use image_api::ai::llm_client::{ChatMessage, LlmClient, LlmStreamEvent};
+use opentelemetry::Value;
+use opentelemetry::trace::TracerProvider;
+use opentelemetry_sdk::trace::{InMemorySpanExporter, SdkTracerProvider, SpanData};
+use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
+use tokio::io::{AsyncReadExt, AsyncWriteExt};
+use tracing::Instrument;
+use tracing_subscriber::layer::SubscriberExt;
+use tracing_subscriber::registry::Registry;
+use tracing_subscriber::util::SubscriberInitExt;
+
+const CHAT_BODY: &str = r#"{"choices":[{"message":{"role":"assistant","content":"hi"}}],"usage":{"prompt_tokens":3,"completion_tokens":1}}"#;
+const STREAM_BODY: &str = "data: {\"choices\":[{\"delta\":{\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":\"hi\"}}]}\n\n\
+data: {\"choices\":[],\"usage\":{\"prompt_tokens\":3,\"completion_tokens\":1}}\n\n\
+data: [DONE]\n\n";
+
+/// Minimal OpenAI-compatible server: records each request's `traceparent`
+/// and answers with an SSE stream when the body asks for one, JSON otherwise.
+async fn serve(listener: tokio::net::TcpListener, seen: Arc<Mutex<Vec<String>>>) {
+    loop {
+        let (mut sock, _) = listener.accept().await.expect("accept");
+        let seen = seen.clone();
+        tokio::spawn(async move {
+            let mut buf = Vec::new();
+            let mut chunk = [0u8; 4096];
+            let header_end = loop {
+                let n = sock.read(&mut chunk).await.expect("read");
+                buf.extend_from_slice(&chunk[..n]);
+                if let Some(i) = buf.windows(4).position(|w| w == b"\r\n\r\n") {
+                    break i + 4;
+                }
+            };
+            let head = String::from_utf8_lossy(&buf[..header_end]).to_lowercase();
+            let content_length: usize = head
+                .lines()
+                .find_map(|l| l.strip_prefix("content-length:"))
+                .map(|v| v.trim().parse().unwrap())
+                .unwrap_or(0);
+            while buf.len() < header_end + content_length {
+                let n = sock.read(&mut chunk).await.expect("read body");
+                buf.extend_from_slice(&chunk[..n]);
+            }
+            if let Some(tp) = head.lines().find_map(|l| l.strip_prefix("traceparent:")) {
+                seen.lock().unwrap().push(tp.trim().to_string());
+            }
+            let body = String::from_utf8_lossy(&buf[header_end..]);
+            let (ctype, payload) = if body.contains("\"stream\":true") {
+                ("text/event-stream", STREAM_BODY)
+            } else {
+                ("application/json", CHAT_BODY)
+            };
+            let resp = format!(
+                "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\ncontent-type: {ctype}\r\ncontent-length: {}\r\nconnection: close\r\n\r\n{payload}",
+                payload.len()
+            );
+            sock.write_all(resp.as_bytes()).await.expect("write");
+        });
+    }
+}
+
+fn attr(span: &SpanData, key: &str) -> Option<Value> {
+    span.attributes
+        .iter()
+        .find(|kv| kv.key.as_str() == key)
+        .map(|kv| kv.value.clone())
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn llm_spans_nest_under_caller_across_spawn() {
+    let exporter = InMemorySpanExporter::default();
+    let provider = SdkTracerProvider::builder()
+        .with_simple_exporter(exporter.clone())
+        .build();
+    Registry::default()
+        .with(tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetryLayer::new(
+            provider.tracer("llm-span-test"),
+        ))
+        .try_init()
+        .expect("global subscriber not yet set");
+
+    let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
+        .worker_threads(2)
+        .enable_all()
+        .build()
+        .unwrap();
+
+    let seen = Arc::new(Mutex::new(Vec::new()));
+    rt.block_on(async {
+        let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let base = format!("http://{}", listener.local_addr().unwrap());
+        tokio::spawn(serve(listener, seen.clone()));
+
+        let client = Arc::new(LlamaCppClient::new(Some(base), Some("chat".into())));
+        let turn = tracing::info_span!("test.turn");
+        tokio::spawn(
+            async move {
+                let (reply, _, _) = client
+                    .chat_with_tools(vec![ChatMessage::user("hello")], vec![])
+                    .await
+                    .expect("chat");
+                assert_eq!(reply.content, "hi");
+
+                let mut stream = client
+                    .chat_with_tools_stream(vec![ChatMessage::user("hello")], vec![])
+                    .await
+                    .expect("stream");
+                let mut done = false;
+                while let Some(ev) = stream.next().await {
+                    if let LlmStreamEvent::Done { .. } = ev.expect("stream event") {
+                        done = true;
+                    }
+                }
+                assert!(done, "stream ended without Done");
+            }
+            .instrument(turn),
+        )
+        .await
+        .expect("spawned turn");
+    });
+    let _ = provider.force_flush();
+
+    let spans = exporter.get_finished_spans().unwrap();
+    let turn = spans
+        .iter()
+        .find(|s| s.name == "test.turn")
+        .expect("turn span exported");
+    let llm: Vec<&SpanData> = spans.iter().filter(|s| s.name == "llm.request").collect();
+    assert_eq!(llm.len(), 2, "one llm.request per HTTP call");
+
+    let seen = seen.lock().unwrap().clone();
+    assert_eq!(seen.len(), 2, "every LLM request carries a traceparent");
+
+    for (span, op) in llm.iter().zip(["chat", "chat_stream"]) {
+        assert_eq!(
+            span.span_context.trace_id(),
+            turn.span_context.trace_id(),
+            "{op}: llm.request must share the caller's trace"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            span.parent_span_id,
+            turn.span_context.span_id(),
+            "{op}: llm.request must be a child of the caller span"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(span.span_kind, opentelemetry::trace::SpanKind::Client);
+        assert_eq!(attr(span, "llm.provider"), Some("llamacpp".into()));
+        assert_eq!(attr(span, "llm.operation"), Some(op.into()));
+        assert_eq!(attr(span, "llm.model"), Some("chat".into()));
+        assert_eq!(attr(span, "http.status_code"), Some(200i64.into()));
+
+        // Downstream parents onto the llm.request span itself.
+        let expected = format!(
+            "00-{}-{}-01",
+            span.span_context.trace_id(),
+            span.span_context.span_id()
+        );
+        assert!(
+            seen.contains(&expected),
+            "{op}: traceparent {expected} not sent (saw {seen:?})"
+        );
+    }
+}