How to ship performance data from Gatsby with OpenTelemetry

Building large Jamstack applications, particularly with Gatsby, can be complex and time-consuming, as illustrated by New Relic's experience with their substantial docs site. To enhance build efficiency and address lengthy build times, New Relic leverages OpenTelemetry, an open-source project for performance tracing, to monitor and analyze build processes. Gatsby, which integrates React, GraphQL, and webpack, allows pre-built files to be served over a CDN, improving performance, security, and scalability. By using telemetry data and tools like Jaeger for distributed tracing, New Relic can identify bottlenecks in API and plugin performance, enabling more efficient code changes and build processes. This approach not only optimizes build times but also enhances the productivity of the development team, which includes numerous contributors. The article provides a detailed tutorial on setting up an environment to use these tools effectively, emphasizing the importance of streamlining the development process for a better user experience and inviting further exploration through additional tutorials.