The missing OTel data source

Synthetic intelligence that speaks OTel nativelyAnd enriches every tool in your stack

Every browser check emits a rich OTLP insight pack: anomaly scores, third-party attribution, screenshot URLs, and W3C traceparent headers. Not metrics bolted onto a silo. Structured intelligence that flows into your existing backend.

otlp signals → your backend
# synthetics.check.run span
synthetics.check.name          "Checkout Flow"
synthetics.check.type          browser
synthetics.location.name       London, UK
synthetics.tls.days_until_expiry  42
synthetics.tls.fingerprint_sha256 a1b2c3d4...
synthetics.response_time_ms      4023
synthetics.third_party.count          12
synthetics.third_party.total_bytes    847293
synthetics.third_party.domains        [cdn.tagmanager.net, ...]
synthetics.screenshot.url        https://r2.yorkermonitoring.com/...

# OTLP top-level field (ClickHouse TraceId column, not a span attribute)
TraceId                       4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736

# synthetics.check.completed log event (fires every run;
# anomaly attrs below attached on this anomalous example)
synthetics.is_anomalous          true
synthetics.anomaly.deviation_sigma  2.8
synthetics.anomaly.baseline_value   1842

# synthetics.correlation.detected log event (browser checks only;
# fires when 2+ browser checks co-fail within a 5-min window sharing a domain)
synthetics.correlation.affected_count      4
synthetics.correlation.shared_dependency   cdn.tagmanager.net
synthetics.correlation.affected_monitors   [chk_checkout, chk_signup, ...]

How it works

01

Check runs from a global location

Your HTTP or browser check executes from one of 14 hosted locations, or a private location behind your firewall. Real browser, real network, real TLS handshake.

02

Anomaly scores and attribution computed

Anomaly deviations calculated against per-metric, per-location, per-hour-of-day baselines. Third-party requests classified: count, total bytes, and domain list emitted as span attributes. Correlation signals detected for the alerting UI.

03

Full OTLP insight pack emitted

Metrics, traces, and logs emitted in parallel to your backend with anomaly scores, third-party attribution, screenshot URLs, and W3C traceparent already attached.

What's in every insight pack

Every check run, HTTP or browser, emits the same six categories of structured intelligence into your OTel backend. No configuration required.

  • Anomaly scores
    Deviation in σ from a 14-day rolling baseline, calculated per metric, per location, and per hour of day.
  • Dependency attribution
    Third-party domains classified, payload bytes tracked, latency measured, and compared across your monitor portfolio.
  • Cross-monitor correlation
    When two or more browser monitors fail within a five-minute window and observe the same third-party dependency, Yorker emits a synthetics.correlation.detected log event with the affected check IDs and shared domain. De-duplicated by team, shared dependency, and the exact affected-monitor set: one event per distinct correlation slice, not one per failing check run. Browser checks only: the signal is derived from network-summary data the browser executor captures.
  • Screenshot URLs in spans
    Screenshot stored in R2, URL embedded directly in the OTel span. Pull up visual evidence from inside Grafana, your runbook, or a PagerDuty alert.
  • W3C trace propagation
    traceparent injected into browser check HTTP requests. Your backend picks it up, so synthetic check and backend trace become one distributed trace.
  • TLS context
    Certificate expiry, issuer chain, fingerprint, and TLS handshake duration emitted as span attributes on every HTTPS check.
Emitted on every browser check run
synthetics.is_anomaloustrue
synthetics.anomaly.deviation_sigma2.8
synthetics.anomaly.baseline_value1842
synthetics.third_party.count4
synthetics.third_party.total_bytes847293
synthetics.third_party.domains[cdn.tagmanager.net, ...]
synthetics.tls.days_until_expiry42
synthetics.tls.fingerprint_sha256a1b2c3d4...
synthetics.screenshot.urlhttps://r2.yorkermonitoring.com/...
TraceId (column, not attribute)4bf92f35...
ClickStack
First-class
Dash0
OTLP/HTTP
Grafana Cloud
OTLP/gRPC
Datadog
OTLP ingest
Honeycomb
OTLP/HTTP
Any OTLP endpoint
Standard spec

Works with your existing stack

Yorker emits standard OTLP signals. No proprietary format, no vendor lock-in. Configure your OTLP endpoint once: synthetic intelligence lands alongside your infrastructure telemetry, in the same backend, in the same dashboards.

First-class integration with the ClickStack ecosystem: ClickHouse + HyperDX. Connect any OTLP-compatible backend in under a minute.

Trace propagation

W3C traceparent injected into every browser check HTTP request. Your backend instruments pick it up, so the synthetic check and the backend trace become one distributed trace in your observability backend.

No separate synthetic trace tree. No context-switching. One trace, from the Playwright browser to the database query, with the synthetic check as the root span.

w3c trace propagation
# Browser check emits root span
trace_id  4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736
span_id   a3ce929d0e0e4736
service  synthetics.browser

# Request to your API carries traceparent
traceparent 00-4bf92f35...-a3ce929d-01

# Your backend continues the trace
trace_id  4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736
parent_id a3ce929d0e0e4736
service  your-api-service

Unlike basic OTel bolt-ons

  • Checkly and Datadog Synthetics emit basic metrics to OTel. Yorker emits anomaly-scored spans with third-party attribution, screenshot URLs, full timing breakdowns, and W3C traceparent already attached.

  • No separate dashboard to context-switch to. Your synthetic intelligence lands in the same backend as your infrastructure telemetry, queryable alongside APM, logs, and infrastructure metrics.

  • W3C traceparent propagation links synthetic checks into your existing distributed traces, not a separate trace tree. One trace from browser to database.

Close your observability blind spot

Free tier includes 10,000 HTTP + MCP checks and 1,500 browser checks per month. No credit card required.

npx yorker init