What it does
Tempo is Grafana’s distributed tracing backend. Its Docker Compose quickstart provides a local instance for learning how trace storage works, while the instrumentation guide explains that applications or clients must generate and send traces. Tempo fits an observability stack that needs trace storage alongside logs and metrics.
Start with the Docker Compose example to bring up a local Tempo instance and inspect the shape of the tracing pipeline. The quickstart is explicitly for learning; a production deployment needs a deployment mode and storage configuration that fit the expected trace volume. Then instrument a service with a tracing library and configure it to export data to the backend. Instrumentation is the first building block, not an automatic feature of the storage service.
Tempo stores traces so another interface can explore them; it does not generate the application’s spans or repair the code that created them. The project repository is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Treat the self-managed project and a hosted observability plan as separate deployment and pricing decisions.
Strengths
- The quickstart demonstrates a local Tempo deployment with Docker Compose.
- The documentation identifies application instrumentation as a prerequisite for generating traces.
- The official repository uses AGPL-3.0.
Watch out for
- A trace backend needs an instrumented application or client to provide trace data.
- The local Compose example is for evaluation; production deployment requires separate storage and scaling choices.
Best for
- Storing distributed traces from instrumented services
- Trying a self-managed tracing backend in a local observability lab
Sources
- Quick start for Tempo | Grafana Tempo documentation (Oct 25, 2026)
- Instrument for distributed tracing | Grafana Tempo documentation (Oct 25, 2026)
- tempo/LICENSE at main | GitHub (Oct 25, 2026)