Docs: Modify Prometheus exporters section under Language APIs & SDKs

[Wineshuga]

• I have read and followed the Contributing docs, especially the "First-time contributing?" section.
• This PR has content that I did not fully write myself.
  • I used AI and I have read and followed the Generative AI Contribution Policy.
• I have the experience and knowledge necessary to understand, review, and validate all content in this PR.¹

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Description

Related to #9520

As discussed in the issue above, I have replaced the configuration section found in the _includes page with a brief description and redirected users to the Prometheus getting-started page and Prometheus page for enabling the OTLP receiver.

However, as I worked through the documentation some more, I found something else I would like your input on.

I noticed that the OpenTelemetry _includes page doesn't mention the OTLP → Prometheus push flow at all, even though the Prometheus OpenTelemetry page — where users will be redirected — actually includes OTel-side config for it.

This led me to reason that, if this method exists and is acknowledged by Prometheus itself, then it is worth listing as a method of sending metrics in the OpenTelemetry documentation.

I think we can serve users better by:

1. Including this method in the OpenTelemetry docs with the relevant OTel-side config (moved from the Prometheus page), explicitly marked as 'development or testing only' since it's not production-recommended.
2. Still redirecting to the Prometheus getting-started page as originally proposed

I understand this is more than the original proposal, but I want to make sure the documentation across both projects tells a coherent story for users. I have included these changes in this PR so you can get a view of my thoughts. Please let me know what you think about this.

Footnotes

1. Yes, I can answer maintainer questions about the content of this PR, without using AI. ↩

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[tiffany76]

Great work! This PR is the perfect opportunity to practice lots of technical writing skills, so I've added some general guidance. See what you can come up with for the task section, and let me know if you have any questions!

[Wineshuga]

Thank you for the review, @tiffany76. Working through the comments now.

[ArthurSens]

Great start, thanks for tackling this, Uzo!

Besides Tiffany's comments on tech writing best practices, I'd like to raise another question:

[ArthurSens]

This "includes" file you're changing is embedded in a part of the documentation that is 100% focused on how SDKs can expose metrics. I'm wondering if mentioning the OTLP exporter here is helpful at all. We might need to take a step back and understand how things are organized and re-evaluate if this piece of information makes sense here.

[Wineshuga]

I see what you mean — introducing the OTLP push flow here could confuse users.

I looked through the OpenTelemetry docs and couldn’t find a section where the OTLP → Prometheus flow fits cleanly. It might be better to handle this in a dedicated “Prometheus integration patterns” page, where we can clearly separate and document the different data flow options between OpenTelemetry and Prometheus.

[ArthurSens]

Yeah, let's find the right place to document this. I feel like adding it here will be a distraction.

[tiffany76]

Well done on the edits! I raised a few more questions. Let me know if something doesn't make sense!

[tiffany76]

You don't need to worry about the CI checks right now; I can help you fix them once the content is ready.

But if you do want to try your hand at fixing things locally, you can find all the commands in the Contributing guide.

[tiffany76]

Nice job, @Wineshuga! I made one more tiny suggestion, but otherwise, I think this is ready for a copy edit perspective.

@ArthurSens and @open-telemetry/prometheus-interoperability, PTAL!

[Wineshuga]

Thanks @tiffany76. I’ve been a bit concerned about the checks : ) I’ll follow the guide you shared.

Following @ArthurSens’ recommendation, I’ve created a follow-up issue for the OTLP-Prometheus push flow. If agreed, I’ll move that section from _includes to a more appropriate location

[ArthurSens]

Following @ArthurSens’ recommendation, I’ve created a follow-up issue for the OTLP-Prometheus push flow. If agreed, I’ll move that section from _includes to a more appropriate location

To unblock this PR, let's remove this information from here. We can discuss in #9650 how to better document that part

[ArthurSens]

Thanks!

[tiffany76]

/fix:refcache

[otelbot-docs]

✅ fix:refcache applied successfully in run 24688936113.

[tiffany76]

Well done, @Wineshuga! And you did an excellent job of getting the CI checks to pass!

Let's get this merged! 🎉

[otelbot]

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