# tracestate-without-traceparent

An event has a **`tracestate` without a `traceparent`**.

- **Route:** `write-events`
- **Description:** `tracestate is set without a traceparent`
- **Details:** **`event`**, the place of the event in its list, counting from 0.

## Why It Happens

A `tracestate` adds vendor-specific data to the trace that a `traceparent` names, so under W3C Trace Context it **cannot stand alone**, see **[Integrating OpenTelemetry](/docs/eventsourcingdb/integrating-opentelemetry)**. The database reports this error for an event that has a `tracestate` but leaves out its `traceparent`, **even if the `tracestate` is empty**. It is the last check of an event, so a `tracestate` that is not valid is reported as **[`tracestate-malformed`](/docs/eventsourcingdb/errors/tracestate-malformed)** instead.

A typical cause is a client that always sets both fields from its trace context and sends an empty `tracestate` where there is no trace.

## How to Fix It

Send a `traceparent` with every `tracestate`, or leave out the `tracestate` where an event has no trace. Sending the same request again fails the same way, since the error depends on the request alone.

## Example

For a write whose first event has the `tracestate` `rojo=00f067aa0ba902b7` but no `traceparent`, EventSourcingDB answers with this error, as a line of the stream, and then ends the stream with its `end` item:

```json
{
  "type": "error",
  "data": {
    "code": "https://docs.eventsourcingdb.io/errors/tracestate-without-traceparent",
    "description": "tracestate is set without a traceparent",
    "details": {
      "event": 0
    }
  }
}
```