googleapis/mcp-toolbox · error

unable to set up meter provider: %w

Error message

unable to set up meter provider: %w

What it means

SetupOTel failed to create the metrics (meter) provider. After the tracer provider is installed, newMeterProvider wires the metric exporter (OTLP or GCP Cloud Monitoring); any failure is wrapped as 'unable to set up meter provider' and delivered to handleErr, aborting telemetry setup before instruments are created.

Source

Thrown at internal/telemetry/telemetry.go:83

	res, err := newResource(ctx, versionString, telemetryServiceName)
	if err != nil {
		errMsg := fmt.Errorf("unable to set up resource: %w", err)
		handleErr(errMsg)
		return
	}

	tracerProvider, err := newTracerProvider(ctx, res, telemetryOTLP, telemetryGCP, telemetryGCPProject)
	if err != nil {
		errMsg := fmt.Errorf("unable to set up trace provider: %w", err)
		handleErr(errMsg)
		return
	}
	shutdownFuncs = append(shutdownFuncs, tracerProvider.Shutdown)
	otel.SetTracerProvider(tracerProvider)

	meterProvider, err := newMeterProvider(ctx, res, telemetryOTLP, telemetryGCP, telemetryGCPProject)
	if err != nil {
		errMsg := fmt.Errorf("unable to set up meter provider: %w", err)
		handleErr(errMsg)
		return
	}
	shutdownFuncs = append(shutdownFuncs, meterProvider.Shutdown)
	otel.SetMeterProvider(meterProvider)

	return shutdown, nil
}

// newResource create default resources for telemetry data.
// Resource represents the entity producing telemetry.
func newResource(ctx context.Context, versionString string, telemetryServiceName string) (*resource.Resource, error) {
	// Ensure default SDK resources and the required service name are set.
	r, err := resource.New(
		ctx,
		resource.WithFromEnv(),      // Discover and provide attributes from OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES and OTEL_SERVICE_NAME environment variables.
		resource.WithTelemetrySDK(), // Discover and provide information about the OTel SDK used.
		resource.WithOS(),           // Discover and provide OS information.

View on GitHub (pinned to 8cc6e09de2)

Solutions

1. Inspect the error sent to handleErr; for OTLP, confirm the metrics endpoint and collector health.
2. For GCP, verify ADC credentials, project ID, and that the Cloud Monitoring API is enabled.
3. Validate the telemetry flags (--telemetry-metrics, otlp/gcp selection) for correct values.
4. Check network egress/firewall to the metrics backend from the host.
5. If metrics are optional, disable them so the server can start without telemetry.

Example fix

// before
--telemetry-gcp --telemetry-gcp-project="" // empty project
// after
--telemetry-gcp --telemetry-gcp-project="my-gcp-project"

// Pre-flight: check metrics exporter reachability and GCP project
if (process.env.TELEMETRY_GCP === 'true' && !process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT) {
  console.error('telemetryGCP requires a project id');
}

try { await setupOTel(); }
catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes("unable to set up meter provider")) {
    // check metrics endpoint/GCP creds/monitoring API; restart with metrics disabled if optional
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Setup/SetupOTel with metrics enabled where newMeterProvider errors — invalid OTLP metrics endpoint, GCP Cloud Monitoring credential/project failure, or exporter configuration errors.

Common situations: Unreachable OTLP collector on the metrics port, missing GCP credentials or monitoring API not enabled for the project, wrong --telemetry-metrics flags, egress/firewall blocking metric export.

Related errors

• unable to set up trace provider: %w
• unable to create %s metric: %w
• unable to set up resource: %w
• error setting up OpenTelemetry: %w
• error shutting down OpenTelemetry: %w

AI-assisted analysis of googleapis/mcp-toolbox@8cc6e09de2 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c6f56180d1bb92f2. Report an issue: GitHub.