From b6792130a6f298541cd3879166180d3b19206950 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alex Boten <aboten@lightstep.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2023 04:07:23 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] add definition for standard output span exporter (#3740)

---
 CHANGELOG.md                                |  3 +++
 specification/trace/sdk_exporters/stdout.md | 22 +++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 25 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 specification/trace/sdk_exporters/stdout.md

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5debda72f5f..e46c4e9d708 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ release.
 
 ### Traces
 
+- Add definition for standard output span exporter.
+  ([#3740](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/3740))
+
 ### Metrics
 
 ### Logs
diff --git a/specification/trace/sdk_exporters/stdout.md b/specification/trace/sdk_exporters/stdout.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0ec93f343b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/specification/trace/sdk_exporters/stdout.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<!--- Hugo front matter used to generate the website version of this page:
+linkTitle: Stdout
+--->
+
+# OpenTelemetry Span Exporter - Standard output
+
+**Status**: [Stable](../../document-status.md)
+
+"Standard output" Span Exporter is a [Span
+Exporter](../sdk.md#span-exporter) which outputs the spans to
+stdout/console.
+
+[OpenTelemetry SDK](../../overview.md#sdk) authors MAY choose the best idiomatic
+name for their language. For example, ConsoleExporter, StdoutExporter,
+StreamExporter, LoggingExporter etc.
+
+If a language provides a mechanism to automatically configure a
+[Span processor](../sdk.md#span-processor) to pair with the associated
+exporter (e.g., using the [`OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER` environment
+variable](../../configuration/sdk-environment-variables.md#exporter-selection)), by
+default the standard output exporter SHOULD be paired with a [simple
+processor](../sdk.md#simple-processor).