diff --git a/docs/architecture/opentelemetry.md b/docs/architecture/opentelemetry.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e22ad63a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/architecture/opentelemetry.md
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# OpenTelemetry Routing Semantics
+
+Praxis AI can add AI routing decisions to the request trace created and
+exported by Praxis core. Build the proxy with:
+
+```sh
+cargo build --release -p praxis-ai-proxy --features opentelemetry
+```
+
+The feature is disabled by default. It does not install an exporter or parse
+OpenTelemetry environment variables. Configure exporting, propagation,
+sampling, and request lifecycle tracing through Praxis core.
+
+After `intelligent_route` successfully selects a provider, the feature emits a
+short `routing.select` child span. The span contains bounded routing identity,
+admission, locality, rank, tier, and overlay revision attributes. It never
+records request or response bodies, prompts, credentials, authorization
+headers, cookies, or session keys.
+
+The division of responsibility is intentional:
+
+```text
+Praxis core request span
+  |
+  `-- routing.select        (Praxis AI)
+        |
+        `-- upstream hop    (Praxis core)
+```
+
+Praxis core owns the complete HTTP span lifetime and transport boundaries.
+Praxis AI records only the semantic decision it makes. This prevents duplicate
+request roots, conflicting trace propagation, and multiple exporter runtimes.
diff --git a/filters/Cargo.toml b/filters/Cargo.toml
index 185a344e5..1eeb981bb 100644
--- a/filters/Cargo.toml
+++ b/filters/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ name = "praxis_ai_filters"
 [features]
 default = ["apis"]
 apis = ["praxis-ai-apis/default"]
+opentelemetry = []
 praxis-main = []
 
 [lints]
diff --git a/filters/src/lib.rs b/filters/src/lib.rs
index 16ced9341..e8aaca3ba 100644
--- a/filters/src/lib.rs
+++ b/filters/src/lib.rs
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 pub mod agentic;
 pub mod guardrails;
 pub mod inference;
+#[cfg(feature = "opentelemetry")]
+mod opentelemetry;
 pub mod prompt_enrich;
 mod register;
 pub mod routing;
diff --git a/filters/src/opentelemetry.rs b/filters/src/opentelemetry.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ebdb12623
--- /dev/null
+++ b/filters/src/opentelemetry.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+// Copyright (c) 2026 Praxis Contributors
+
+//! Feature-gated routing semantics for Praxis core request traces.
+//!
+//! Praxis core owns subscriber installation, OTLP export, propagation,
+//! sampling, request lifecycle spans, and provider-hop client spans. AI owns
+//! only the semantic routing decision made by `intelligent_route`.
+
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+use tracing::field::Empty;
+
+use crate::routing::descriptor::RouteCandidate;
+
+/// Borrowed, validated attributes for a routing decision span.
+struct RoutingSelection<'a> {
+    /// Producer-assigned admission state label.
+    admission_state: &'static str,
+    /// Selected upstream cluster name.
+    cluster: &'a str,
+    /// Routed capability kind.
+    kind: &'static str,
+    /// Site handling the inbound request.
+    local_site: &'a str,
+    /// Selected provider capability name.
+    provider: &'a str,
+    /// Producer-assigned candidate rank, when available.
+    rank: Option<u32>,
+    /// Serving overlay semantic revision, when available.
+    revision: Option<&'a str>,
+    /// Site that owns the selected provider.
+    site: &'a str,
+    /// Stable identifier assigned to the selected provider.
+    stable_id: &'a str,
+    /// Producer-assigned selection tier, when available.
+    tier: Option<&'a str>,
+}
+
+impl<'a> RoutingSelection<'a> {
+    /// Project only bounded routing state; request and credential state is not
+    /// accepted by this constructor.
+    fn from_candidate(
+        candidate: &'a RouteCandidate,
+        local_site: &'a Arc<str>,
+        semantic_revision: Option<&'a Arc<str>>,
+    ) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            admission_state: candidate.admission_state.as_str(),
+            cluster: candidate.cluster.as_ref(),
+            kind: candidate.kind.as_str(),
+            local_site: local_site.as_ref(),
+            provider: candidate.name.as_ref(),
+            rank: candidate.rank,
+            revision: semantic_revision.map(AsRef::as_ref),
+            site: candidate.site.as_ref(),
+            stable_id: candidate.stable_id.as_ref(),
+            tier: candidate.selection_tier.as_deref(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Emit a bounded child span for a completed routing decision.
+///
+/// No prompt, body, credential, authorization header, cookie, session key, or
+/// raw request identifier is recorded. When the feature is disabled this call
+/// site is compiled out entirely.
+pub(crate) fn record_routing_selection(
+    candidate: &RouteCandidate,
+    local_site: &Arc<str>,
+    semantic_revision: Option<&Arc<str>>,
+) {
+    let selection = RoutingSelection::from_candidate(candidate, local_site, semantic_revision);
+    let span = tracing::info_span!(
+        "routing.select",
+        "selected.provider" = selection.provider,
+        "selected.cluster" = selection.cluster,
+        "selected.site" = selection.site,
+        "selected.stable_id" = selection.stable_id,
+        "routing.admission_state" = selection.admission_state,
+        "routing.kind" = selection.kind,
+        "routing.local_site" = selection.local_site,
+        "routing.rank" = Empty,
+        "routing.selection_tier" = Empty,
+        "overlay.revision" = Empty,
+    );
+    if let Some(rank) = selection.rank {
+        span.record("routing.rank", rank);
+    }
+    if let Some(tier) = selection.tier {
+        span.record("routing.selection_tier", tier);
+    }
+    if let Some(revision) = selection.revision {
+        span.record("overlay.revision", revision);
+    }
+    let _entered = span.enter();
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use std::sync::Arc;
+
+    use super::RoutingSelection;
+    use crate::routing::descriptor::{AdmissionState, CapabilityKind, RouteCandidate};
+
+    #[test]
+    fn projects_only_validated_routing_attributes() {
+        let candidate = candidate();
+        let local_site = Arc::from("site-local");
+        let revision = Arc::from("revision-a");
+        let fields = RoutingSelection::from_candidate(&candidate, &local_site, Some(&revision));
+
+        assert_eq!(fields.provider, "model-a", "provider must match the candidate name");
+        assert_eq!(fields.cluster, "provider-a", "cluster must match the selected upstream");
+        assert_eq!(fields.site, "site-a", "site must match the provider owner");
+        assert_eq!(fields.stable_id, "stable-a", "stable ID must match the candidate");
+        assert_eq!(
+            fields.local_site, "site-local",
+            "local site must match the routing context"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(fields.rank, Some(2), "rank must preserve producer metadata");
+        assert_eq!(
+            fields.tier,
+            Some("same_region"),
+            "selection tier must preserve producer metadata"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            fields.revision,
+            Some("revision-a"),
+            "revision must identify the serving overlay"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn optional_attributes_remain_absent() {
+        let mut candidate = candidate();
+        candidate.rank = None;
+        candidate.selection_tier = None;
+        let local_site = Arc::from("site-local");
+        let fields = RoutingSelection::from_candidate(&candidate, &local_site, None);
+
+        assert_eq!(fields.rank, None, "missing rank must remain absent");
+        assert_eq!(fields.tier, None, "missing selection tier must remain absent");
+        assert_eq!(fields.revision, None, "missing overlay revision must remain absent");
+    }
+
+    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    // Test Utilities
+    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    /// Build a fully populated candidate for attribute projection tests.
+    fn candidate() -> RouteCandidate {
+        RouteCandidate {
+            admission_state: AdmissionState::NewAndExisting,
+            cluster: Arc::from("provider-a"),
+            fresh: true,
+            kind: CapabilityKind::InferenceModel,
+            name: Arc::from("model-a"),
+            rank: Some(2),
+            selection_tier: Some(Arc::from("same_region")),
+            site: Arc::from("site-a"),
+            stable_id: Arc::from("stable-a"),
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/filters/src/routing/intelligent_route.rs b/filters/src/routing/intelligent_route.rs
index 7fa4706d4..5b1c2962b 100644
--- a/filters/src/routing/intelligent_route.rs
+++ b/filters/src/routing/intelligent_route.rs
@@ -661,6 +661,8 @@ fn apply_reused(
     ctx.cluster = Some(Arc::clone(&candidate.cluster));
     record_route_decision(ctx, local_site, candidate);
     write_provider_context(ctx, candidate, provider_hop_clusters, semantic_revision)?;
+    #[cfg(feature = "opentelemetry")]
+    crate::opentelemetry::record_routing_selection(candidate, local_site, semantic_revision);
     ctx.set_metadata("intelligent_route.session.bound", "true");
     ctx.set_metadata("intelligent_route.session.reused", "true");
     ctx.set_metadata("intelligent_route.session.failover", "false");
@@ -677,7 +679,10 @@ fn apply_route(
 ) -> Result<(), FilterError> {
     ctx.cluster = Some(Arc::clone(&candidate.cluster));
     record_route_decision(ctx, local_site, candidate);
-    write_provider_context(ctx, candidate, provider_hop_clusters, semantic_revision)
+    write_provider_context(ctx, candidate, provider_hop_clusters, semantic_revision)?;
+    #[cfg(feature = "opentelemetry")]
+    crate::opentelemetry::record_routing_selection(candidate, local_site, semantic_revision);
+    Ok(())
 }
 
 /// Record session-affinity metadata and store a binding.
diff --git a/server/Cargo.toml b/server/Cargo.toml
index 0e4018d3f..11ba812c4 100644
--- a/server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/server/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ name = "praxis-ai"
 path = "src/main.rs"
 
 [features]
+opentelemetry = ["praxis-ai-filters/opentelemetry"]
 praxis-main = ["praxis-ai-filters/praxis-main", "praxis-ai-apis/praxis-main"]
 
 [lints]