# OpenTelemetry Spring Boot Starter Adds Declarative YAML Configuration in Version 2.26.0

DevFeed: [OpenTelemetry Spring Boot Starter Adds Declarative YAML Configuration in Version 2.26.0](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-voyage-of-a-small-environment-variable-32584.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://opentelemetry.io/blog/2026/spring-boot-declarative-config/>)

Author: OpenTelemetry Authors; Docs CC BY

Published: 2026-07-14T07:47:36Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Blog on OpenTelemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/blog-on-opentelemetry.md>)

Topics: [OpenTelemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/opentelemetry.md>), [Spring Boot](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/spring-boot.md>), [YAML](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/yaml.md>), [configuration](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/configuration.md>), [Environment Variables](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/environment-variables.md>), [telemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/telemetry.md>), [tracing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/tracing.md>)

Tags: [configuration](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/configuration.md>), [environment](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/environment.md>), [java](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/java.md>), [opentelemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/opentelemetry.md>), [schema](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/schema.md>), [setup](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/setup.md>), [spring-boot](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/spring-boot.md>), [telemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/telemetry.md>), [traces](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/traces.md>), [yaml](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/yaml.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains how declarative configuration in the OpenTelemetry Spring Boot starter, available from version 2.26.0, embeds the SDK's YAML schema in application.yaml. It contrasts this approach with environment-variable configuration and describes how the YAML schema can represent telemetry pipelines and options beyond the fixed environment-variable catalog.

## Source excerpt

The OpenTelemetry Spring Boot starter gained declarative-configuration support starting in version 2.26.0 -- the same YAML schema the Java agent introduced in late 2025, now embedded inside application.yaml. This post traces what one env var, OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=petclinic, does in that new world, and where the seams are. In a hurry? Jump straight to the Spring Boot starter declarative-config docs, paste your application.properties into the interactive converter, or pick your SDK setup in the Ecosystem Explorer with the Spring Boot starter target selected. Come back for the story when you have a coffee.