[ux-design-patrol] Inconsistent OTLP acronym in new Filebeat trace endpoint parse error

[github-actions]

Recent commits introduced a user-facing wording inconsistency in OTLP tracing errors.

Design Drift Findings

1. OTLP endpoint parse error says "OLTP" instead of established "OTLP"

Commit(s):

• fb0542fabb73d5e0445295df5deb3da41f4a6467 (CEL input: Add OTel tracing, PR CEL input: Add OTel tracing #48440)

New pattern (introduced by commit):

// x-pack/filebeat/otel/trace.go:191
return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't parse OLTP endpoint URL: %w", err)

Existing pattern (established elsewhere):

// x-pack/filebeat/otel/trace.go:108
return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported OTLP traces protocol %q (expected grpc or http/protobuf)", cfg.Protocol)

// x-pack/filebeat/otel/exporter_factory.go:64
// - OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT: Required. The OTLP endpoint URL.

Location of new pattern:

• x-pack/filebeat/otel/trace.go:191

Location of existing pattern:

• x-pack/filebeat/otel/trace.go:108
• x-pack/filebeat/otel/exporter_factory.go:63-65

User impact:
Users troubleshooting OTLP exporter configuration can encounter mixed terms ("OLTP" vs "OTLP") for the same concept, which reduces clarity and makes log/error searching less reliable.

Suggested Actions

• Change "can't parse OLTP endpoint URL: %w" to "can't parse OTLP endpoint URL: %w" in x-pack/filebeat/otel/trace.go.
• Do a quick scan of nearby OTLP tracing strings in x-pack/filebeat/otel/* to ensure acronym consistency across user-facing messages.

Duplicate Check

• Checked /tmp/previous-findings.json: no existing OTLP/OLTP item.
• Searched elastic/beats issues and PRs for "can't parse OLTP endpoint URL" and "OLTP endpoint" + "OTLP": no matching tracking issue found.

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What is this? | From workflow: UX Design Patrol

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• expires on Mar 31, 2026, 1:39 PM UTC

[strawgate]

@chrisberkhout does this look accurate to you?

[elasticmachine]

Pinging @elastic/security-service-integrations (Team:Security-Service Integrations)

[chrisberkhout]

@strawgate Yes.