AWS XRay 0 traces retrieved but can be found by traceid

1. You're Using the New Distributed Tracing Model (CloudWatch Spans)

• Traces are being delivered to the /aws/spans log group. This is the new format used by CloudWatch Observability (CWOT).
• The PutTraceSegments API calls you're seeing in CloudTrail confirm delivery to this newer backend.
• However, the X-Ray SDK/API (e.g., BatchGetTraces, GetTraceSummaries) is still tied to the legacy X-Ray service and data store, not /aws/spans.

---

2. BatchGetTraces Will Return Nothing

If your application or Lambda is instrumented with OpenTelemetry or CloudWatch native tracing, and spans are sent to /aws/spans, they will not be queryable via X-Ray's BatchGetTraces or shown in the legacy X-Ray console.

Only traces stored in the legacy X-Ray segment store (i.e., via PutTraceSegments in the X-Ray API, not CloudWatch Logs) will be retrievable via those APIs.

---

3. How to Query Traces Now

• Use the CloudWatch console → Application Signals or Service Map → Traces tab
• Or query spans from the /aws/spans log group using CloudWatch Logs Insights

You can query spans like this:

fields @timestamp, traceId, serviceName, name
| sort @timestamp desc
| limit 20

---

4. Recommendation

If you want BatchGetTraces to work, you must configure your application to send traces to X-Ray, not CloudWatch. That typically involves using:

• The X-Ray SDK (not OpenTelemetry SDK)
• X-Ray daemon or embedded collector
• PutTraceSegments to X-Ray, not CloudWatch Logs

But if you're already using the new CloudWatch tracing model, it’s better to move entirely to CloudWatch ServiceLens and OpenTelemetry and stop expecting X-Ray API compatibility.