diff --git a/datasette/telemetry.py b/datasette/telemetry.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6f5ed093
--- /dev/null
+++ b/datasette/telemetry.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+"""
+OpenTelemetry integration for Datasette core.
+
+Core depends on `opentelemetry-api` only. It never creates a
+`TracerProvider`, never configures an exporter, and never touches
+sampling - that is the responsibility of whoever is running Datasette
+(an `opentelemetry-instrument` agent, a future plugin, or a test
+harness). With no provider installed every span produced here is a
+`NonRecordingSpan` and costs approximately nothing.
+"""
+
+from opentelemetry import trace as otel_trace
+
+tracer = otel_trace.get_tracer("datasette")
+
+MAX_SQL_LENGTH = 2048
+
+
+def sql_attribute(sql: str) -> str:
+    "Truncate SQL text so it is safe to attach to a span as an attribute."
+    sql = sql.strip()
+    if len(sql) <= MAX_SQL_LENGTH:
+        return sql
+    return sql[:MAX_SQL_LENGTH] + "…[truncated]"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e658955f..9dd231d7 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "setuptools",
     "pip",
     "pydantic>=2",
+    "opentelemetry-api>=1.37",
 ]
 
 [project.urls]
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ dev = [
     "cogapp>=3.3.0",
     "multipart-form-data-conformance==0.1a0",
     "ruff>=0.16.0",
+    "opentelemetry-sdk>=1.37",
     # docs
     "Sphinx==7.4.7",
     "furo==2025.9.25",
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 12dce417..b01f111d 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -58,6 +58,62 @@ def find_free_port():
         return sock.getsockname()[1]
 
 
+_otel_span_exporter = None
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session", autouse=True)
+def _otel_provider():
+    """
+    Install a real OTel SDK TracerProvider + InMemorySpanExporter exactly
+    once, before any span is ever created in this process.
+
+    This has to be session-scoped and autouse because
+    `opentelemetry.trace.set_tracer_provider()` is effectively
+    once-per-process: a second call logs a warning and is ignored. So the
+    install must happen exactly once, before anything asserts on spans.
+
+    `datasette.telemetry.tracer` is a module-level `ProxyTracer`. Once a
+    provider exists, the first span it starts resolves a concrete tracer
+    and caches it permanently. It does *not* cache the no-op tracer, so
+    any span started before this fixture runs is merely lost rather than
+    poisoning the tracer for the rest of the process. If the SDK isn't
+    installed, do nothing: core spans stay no-op `NonRecordingSpan`s and
+    the rest of the suite is unaffected.
+    """
+    global _otel_span_exporter
+    try:
+        from opentelemetry import trace as otel_trace
+        from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
+        from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import SimpleSpanProcessor
+        from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export.in_memory_span_exporter import (
+            InMemorySpanExporter,
+        )
+    except ImportError:
+        return
+    exporter = InMemorySpanExporter()
+    provider = TracerProvider()
+    # SimpleSpanProcessor exports synchronously on span end - no background
+    # batching thread, so assertions immediately after a request never race.
+    provider.add_span_processor(SimpleSpanProcessor(exporter))
+    otel_trace.set_tracer_provider(provider)
+    _otel_span_exporter = exporter
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def otel_spans():
+    """
+    Function-scoped access to the finished-spans exporter: clears any spans
+    left over from previous tests, then yields the exporter so a test can
+    call `.get_finished_spans()` after making requests. Skips (rather than
+    fails) if the OTel SDK is not installed.
+    """
+    pytest.importorskip("opentelemetry.sdk")
+    if _otel_span_exporter is None:
+        pytest.skip("OpenTelemetry SDK provider was not installed")
+    _otel_span_exporter.clear()
+    yield _otel_span_exporter
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def bare_ds():
     """
@@ -168,6 +224,12 @@ def pytest_collection_modifyitems(config, items):
     move_to_front(items, "test_spatialite_error_if_attempt_to_open_spatialite")
     move_to_front(items, "test_package")
     move_to_front(items, "test_package_with_port")
+    # Same reason: this one shells out to a fresh interpreter. Late in a serial
+    # run the pytest process holds enough threads that the fork half of
+    # subprocess' fork+exec crashes the interpreter on macOS/CPython 3.13
+    # (SIGSEGV/SIGBUS inside _execute_child). Reproduces with any subprocess
+    # call placed there, on an unmodified tree - running it first avoids it.
+    move_to_front(items, "test_datasette_package_never_imports_the_sdk")
 
 
 def move_to_front(items, test_name):
diff --git a/tests/test_telemetry.py b/tests/test_telemetry.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b71be504
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_telemetry.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+
+def test_datasette_package_never_imports_the_sdk():
+    """
+    Core depends on opentelemetry-api only. The SDK is a test dependency.
+
+    Checked by importing datasette in a fresh process and inspecting
+    sys.modules, rather than by grepping, so a lazy `import
+    opentelemetry.sdk` inside a function body cannot slip past.
+
+    conftest.py's pytest_collection_modifyitems() moves this test to the
+    front of the run by name - if you rename it, rename it there too.
+    """
+    code = (
+        "import datasette.app, datasette.database, datasette.telemetry, sys; "
+        "print([m for m in sys.modules if m.startswith('opentelemetry.sdk')])"
+    )
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        [sys.executable, "-c", code], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True
+    )
+    assert (
+        result.stdout.strip() == "[]"
+    ), f"datasette imported the OpenTelemetry SDK: {result.stdout.strip()}"