# istio_zipkin-timeout-headers.yaml
apiVersion: release-notes/v2
kind: feature
area: telemetry

# issue is a list of GitHub issues resolved in this note.
issue: []

docs:
  - '[envoy] https://www.envoyproxy.io/docs/envoy/latest/api-v3/config/trace/v3/zipkin.proto'
  - '[reference] https://istio.io/latest/docs/reference/config/istio.mesh.v1alpha1/#MeshConfig-ExtensionProvider-ZipkinTracingProvider'
  - '[usage] https://istio.io/latest/docs/tasks/observability/distributed-tracing/'

releaseNotes:
- |
  **Added** `timeout` and `headers` fields to `ZipkinTracingProvider` in MeshConfig extensionProviders.
  The `timeout` field configures the HTTP request timeout when sending spans to the Zipkin collector,
  providing better control over trace export reliability. The `headers` field allows including custom
  HTTP headers for authentication, authorization, and custom metadata use cases. Headers support both
  direct values and environment variable references for secure credential management.