Broken context usually appears as separate traces where one distributed request should have a parent-child chain.
Checks
- Identify the outbound span in the calling service and the inbound span in the receiving service.
- Confirm that the caller injects context into the supported request or message carrier.
- Confirm that the receiver extracts context before creating its server or consumer span.
- Verify that intermediaries preserve the required propagation headers or message properties.
- Ensure both sides use the same approved propagator, or a deliberately configured compatible set.
- Check asynchronous handoffs for lost execution context and create links where parent-child semantics are not appropriate.
Do not log propagation headers in production diagnostics because they can contain operational identifiers. Reproduce with a controlled request and compare only sanitized trace and span identifiers. If a gateway rewrites headers, coordinate the correction with its owner rather than adding unrelated identifiers to application spans.