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Jaeger

INFRA · APIS
Velocity3.8

End-to-end distributed tracing platform for microservices

jaegertracing.io ↗

Jaeger 2.23 lets people and agents query traces in SQL.

sql-querymcpclickhousetrace-searchbreaking-changes
◆Current state
Jaeger 2.23 adds a SQL query surface that compiles to its RFC 0005 structured filters, and the MCP search_traces tool now accepts a SQL statement. Storage search capabilities are exposed over api_v3 HTTP and gRPC, and ClickHouse now routes structured filters into SQL WHERE clauses. The release also breaks things: unused ClickHouse feature gates are gone, schema creation needs an explicit table engine, and the Gemini reference sidecar is removed.
◆Where it's heading
Since merging MCP into the query service in July, Jaeger has been rebuilding search: trace summaries, then span search and pagination, now SQL. Each release makes the query layer more expressive and more usable by AI agents, while ClickHouse becomes the backend that gets the new capabilities first.
◆Prediction
Expect the SQL surface and structured filters to move from new to beta or stable over the next releases, with more backends routing filters natively like ClickHouse does now.

◆Recent moves

  1. 9d ago

    SQL queries for traces, in the API and the MCP tool

    ⚡ SPARK

    2.23 caps the search rework that began with trace summaries and span search: traces can now be queried in SQL, compiled down to the structured filters, and the MCP tool takes SQL directly. Breaking ClickHouse changes come with it.

    View source ↗
  2. 1mo ago

    Span search and pagination reach the query service

    FindSpans arrives in the query service with RFC 0014 pagination and Elasticsearch span search, and native trace summaries go stable. It builds directly on the trace-summaries path from 2.19 and 2.20, and carries several breaking Elasticsearch and remote-storage config changes.

    View source ↗
  3. 2mo ago

    ClickHouse goes stable; unused v1 HTTP endpoints removed

    ClickHouse storage reaches a stable gate, v1 HTTP endpoints the UI no longer calls are removed, and ai.enable_mcp gives way to an ai.mcp config block. The release settles the ClickHouse work and clears older surface before span search lands.

    View source ↗
  4. 3mo ago

    MCP merges into the query service; Elasticsearch 6 support removed

    ⚡ SPARK

    The most consequential release in this window on both axes: the MCP extension stops being separate and becomes part of jaegerquery, while Elasticsearch 6 is dropped and rotation and index-cleaner gates reach beta. Native trace summaries land here too, completing the lightweight-search path started in 2.19.

    View source ↗
  5. 5mo ago

    Lightweight trace-summaries endpoint arrives in the v3 API

    A new GET /api/v3/trace-summaries endpoint plus a matching gRPC handler introduce cheap search results that do not require fetching whole traces. This is the groundwork that 2.20 later backs with a native Elasticsearch implementation, and ClickHouse picks up TLS configuration in the same release.

    View source ↗
  6. 6mo ago

    Header forwarding to storage backends and UI base-path autodetection

    Configurable header forwarding to Elasticsearch, OpenSearch and gRPC storage backends is the substantive addition, useful for multi-tenant and auth-proxied deployments. The MCP tidying here — normalising span_kind input, removing a non-standard health tool — shows the extension being groomed before its merge into query.

    View source ↗