diff --git a/apps/server/src/http.ts b/apps/server/src/http.ts
index 7533b8c1db19b24a43dc3e8ddef826cab463b4dd..30b368e62167fcd0ac18ad9655497995fc91f528 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/http.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/http.ts
@@ -311,9 +311,12 @@ export const serverEnvironmentHttpApiLayer = HttpApiBuilder.group(
 
 class DecodeOtlpTraceRecordsError extends Data.TaggedError("DecodeOtlpTraceRecordsError")<{
   readonly cause: unknown;
-  readonly bodyJson: OtlpTracer.TraceData;
 }> {}
 
+// Renderers export up to once a second while they have spans buffered, so
+// tracing this proxy would add more server spans than it forwards.
+// withTracerEnabled(false) drops the handler's spans, including the forward.
+// untracedRequestsLayer drops the HTTP server span.
 export const otlpTracesProxyRouteLayer = HttpRouter.add(
   "POST",
   OTLP_TRACES_PROXY_PATH,
@@ -330,15 +333,10 @@ export const otlpTracesProxyRouteLayer = HttpRouter.add(
 
     yield* Effect.try({
       try: () => decodeOtlpTraceRecords(bodyJson),
-      catch: (cause) => new DecodeOtlpTraceRecordsError({ cause, bodyJson }),
+      catch: (cause) => new DecodeOtlpTraceRecordsError({ cause }),
     }).pipe(
       Effect.flatMap((records) => browserTraceCollector.record(records)),
-      Effect.catch((cause) =>
-        Effect.logWarning("Failed to decode browser OTLP traces", {
-          cause,
-          bodyJson,
-        }),
-      ),
+      Effect.catch((cause) => Effect.logWarning("Failed to decode browser OTLP traces", { cause })),
     );
 
     if (otlpTracesUrl === undefined) {
@@ -369,9 +367,25 @@ export const otlpTracesProxyRouteLayer = HttpRouter.add(
       EnvironmentInternalError: HttpServerRespondable.toResponse,
       EnvironmentScopeRequiredError: HttpServerRespondable.toResponse,
     }),
+    Effect.withTracerEnabled(false),
   ),
 );
 
+const UNTRACED_REQUEST_PATHS: ReadonlySet<string> = new Set([OTLP_TRACES_PROXY_PATH]);
+
+// Skips the HTTP server span for UNTRACED_REQUEST_PATHS. That span starts
+// before routing, so a route handler cannot skip it. TracerDisabledWhen is one
+// predicate for the whole server and the last layer to provide it wins, so
+// makeRoutesLayer provides this one last. Add paths here instead of providing
+// TracerDisabledWhen again; server.test.ts fails if a later layer replaces it.
+// The query string is ignored, as in routing.
+export const untracedRequestsLayer = Layer.succeed(HttpMiddleware.TracerDisabledWhen)((request) => {
+  const queryIndex = request.url.indexOf("?");
+  return UNTRACED_REQUEST_PATHS.has(
+    queryIndex === -1 ? request.url : request.url.slice(0, queryIndex),
+  );
+});
+
 export const assetRouteLayer = HttpRouter.add(
   "GET",
   `${ASSET_ROUTE_PREFIX}/*`,
diff --git a/apps/server/src/server.test.ts b/apps/server/src/server.test.ts
index 5dc793b5cdf1ed54c79599ba9982404b0d9a3c52..192cdd3191f0efc4118017abdf5338bdecfa3719 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/server.test.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/server.test.ts
@@ -5772,6 +5772,56 @@ it.layer(NodeServices.layer)("server router seam", (it) => {
       }).pipe(Effect.provide(NodeHttpServer.layerTest)),
   );
 
+  it.effect("does not trace browser OTLP trace exports on the server", () =>
+    Effect.gen(function* () {
+      const spanNames: Array<string> = [];
+      const forwardedUrls: Array<string> = [];
+      yield* buildAppUnderTest({
+        config: { otlpTracesUrl: "http://collector.test/v1/traces" },
+        layers: {
+          httpClient: HttpClient.make((request) =>
+            Effect.sync(() => {
+              forwardedUrls.push(request.url);
+              return HttpClientResponse.fromWeb(request, new Response(null, { status: 204 }));
+            }),
+          ),
+        },
+      }).pipe(
+        Effect.provideService(
+          Tracer.Tracer,
+          Tracer.make({
+            span: (options) => {
+              spanNames.push(options.name);
+              return new Tracer.NativeSpan(options);
+            },
+          }),
+        ),
+      );
+      const cookie = yield* getAuthenticatedSessionCookieHeader();
+      spanNames.length = 0;
+
+      // The query string must not bring back the HTTP server span.
+      for (const url of ["/api/observability/v1/traces", "/api/observability/v1/traces?x=1"]) {
+        const response = yield* HttpClient.post(url, {
+          headers: { cookie, "content-type": "application/json" },
+          body: yield* HttpBody.json({ resourceSpans: [] }),
+        });
+        assert.equal(response.status, 204);
+      }
+
+      assert.deepEqual(forwardedUrls, [
+        "http://collector.test/v1/traces",
+        "http://collector.test/v1/traces",
+      ]);
+      assert.deepEqual(spanNames, []);
+
+      // Other routes keep their HTTP server span.
+      const session = yield* HttpClient.get("/api/auth/session", { headers: { cookie } });
+      assert.equal(session.status, 200);
+      assert.include(spanNames, "http.server GET");
+    }).pipe(Effect.provide(NodeHttpServer.layerTest)),
+  );
+
   it.effect("routes websocket rpc server.upsertKeybinding", () =>
     Effect.gen(function* () {
       const rule: KeybindingRule = {
diff --git a/apps/server/src/server.ts b/apps/server/src/server.ts
index b7020458160de64a1ac14c1451656b50436c11a4..88c08fd3bdee9e98bcaba572a5547b5ec68df69a 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/server.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/server.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import {
   staticAndDevRouteLayer,
   browserApiCorsLayer,
   httpCompressionLayer,
+  untracedRequestsLayer,
 } from "./http.ts";
 import { guardHttpResponseWriteErrors } from "./httpResponseErrorGuard.ts";
 import { fixPath } from "./os-jank.ts";
@@ -605,6 +606,8 @@ export const makeRoutesLayer = Layer.mergeAll(
     websocketRpcRouteLayer,
   ),
   McpHttpServer.layer.pipe(Layer.provide(McpSessionRegistry.layer)),
+  // Last, so no route layer can replace the server's one TracerDisabledWhen.
+  untracedRequestsLayer,
 ).pipe(
   // Both transports consume the same service instance, so caches single-flight across clients
   // and mutations observed on WebSocket invalidate patches subsequently read over HTTP.
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/observability.test.ts b/packages/shared/src/observability.test.ts
index 081291f34b86377754a2d9659a2580c7a3b08a33..b9bf4ef1375da4ab9640a7c55ab6a2ed406367f5 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/observability.test.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/observability.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import * as Tracer from "effect/Tracer";
 import {
   causeErrorTag,
   compactTraceAttributes,
+  decodeOtlpTraceRecords,
   errorTag,
   makeLocalFileTracer,
   makeTraceSink,
@@ -138,6 +139,53 @@ describe("truncateTraceAttributes", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("decodeOtlpTraceRecords", () => {
+  it("clamps oversized renderer span and event attributes", () => {
+    const long = "x".repeat(2_000);
+    const clamped = `${"x".repeat(500)}…[truncated]`;
+    const [record] = decodeOtlpTraceRecords({
+      resourceSpans: [
+        {
+          resource: { attributes: [], droppedAttributesCount: 0 },
+          scopeSpans: [
+            {
+              scope: { name: "effect" },
+              spans: [
+                {
+                  traceId: "11111111111111111111111111111111",
+                  spanId: "2222222222222222",
+                  parentSpanId: undefined,
+                  name: "client.span",
+                  kind: 1,
+                  startTimeUnixNano: "1000000",
+                  endTimeUnixNano: "2000000",
+                  attributes: [{ key: "payload", value: { stringValue: long } }],
+                  droppedAttributesCount: 0,
+                  events: [
+                    {
+                      name: "log",
+                      timeUnixNano: "1500000",
+                      attributes: [{ key: "effect.cause", value: { stringValue: long } }],
+                      droppedAttributesCount: 0,
+                    },
+                  ],
+                  droppedEventsCount: 0,
+                  status: { code: 1 },
+                  links: [],
+                  droppedLinksCount: 0,
+                },
+              ],
+            },
+          ],
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+
+    assert.equal(record?.attributes["payload"], clamped);
+    assert.equal(record?.events[0]?.attributes["effect.cause"], clamped);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("observability", () => {
   it("normalizes circular arrays, maps, and sets without recursing forever", () => {
     const array: Array<unknown> = ["alpha"];
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/observability.ts b/packages/shared/src/observability.ts
index 6393ed0879db862133a04f87418763d180132982..b4dbdf88651a7ec1e6c9c2fc6718a5e1f8b69ece 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/observability.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/observability.ts
@@ -668,7 +668,7 @@ function decodeAttributes(
     entries[attribute.key] = decodeValue(attribute.value);
   }
 
-  return compactTraceAttributes(entries);
+  return truncateTraceAttributes(compactTraceAttributes(entries));
 }
 
 function decodeValue(input: OtlpResource.AnyValue | null | undefined): unknown {