diff --git a/core/packages/gax/package.json b/core/packages/gax/package.json
index 4a5f7239562..1701f9d81ff 100644
--- a/core/packages/gax/package.json
+++ b/core/packages/gax/package.json
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@grpc/grpc-js": "^1.12.6",
     "@grpc/proto-loader": "^0.8.0",
+    "@opentelemetry/api": "^1.9.0",
     "duplexify": "^4.1.3",
     "google-auth-library": "^11.0.0",
     "google-logging-utils": "^2.0.0",
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@babel/plugin-proposal-private-methods": "^7.18.6",
+    "@opentelemetry/sdk-trace-base": "^2.10.0",
     "@types/mocha": "^10.0.10",
     "@types/ncp": "^2.0.8",
     "@types/node": "^24.0.0",
diff --git a/core/packages/gax/src/observability/TracerHelper.ts b/core/packages/gax/src/observability/TracerHelper.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5958fe0d6a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/packages/gax/src/observability/TracerHelper.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import { Span, trace, Tracer } from '@opentelemetry/api';
+
+export interface StaticTraceContext {
+  gcpClientService?: string;
+  gcpVersion?: string;
+  gcpRepo?: string;
+  gcpArtifact?: string;
+}
+
+export interface DynamicTraceContext {
+  clientName: string;
+  methodName: string;
+  rpcType: 'grpc' | 'http';
+}
+
+export function getGaxTracer(): Tracer {
+  return trace.getTracer('google-gax');
+}
+
+export async function traceAttempt(dynamicArgs: DynamicTraceContext, staticArgs: StaticTraceContext, fn: () => Promise<any>): Promise<any> {
+  const spanName = `${dynamicArgs.clientName}.${dynamicArgs.methodName}`;
+  return getGaxTracer().startActiveSpan(spanName, {}, async (span: Span) => {
+    span.setAttributes({
+      'gcp.client.service': staticArgs.gcpClientService,
+      'gcp.client.version': staticArgs.gcpVersion,
+      'gcp.repo': staticArgs.gcpRepo,
+      'gcp.artifact': staticArgs.gcpArtifact,
+      'gcp.method.name': dynamicArgs.methodName,
+      'gcp.method.type': dynamicArgs.rpcType,
+    });
+
+    try {
+      const result = await fn();
+      return result;
+    } catch (e: any) {
+      span.setAttributes({
+        'error.message': e.message,
+        'error.type': e.constructor?.name ?? e.name,
+      });
+      span.recordException(e);
+      if (e.name) {
+        span.setAttribute('exception.type', e.name);
+      }
+      throw e;
+    } finally {
+      span.end();
+    }
+  });
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/packages/gax/test/unit/otelHarness.ts b/core/packages/gax/test/unit/otelHarness.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7a9a9fafe43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/packages/gax/test/unit/otelHarness.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import {trace, context} from '@opentelemetry/api';
+import {
+  BasicTracerProvider,
+  InMemorySpanExporter,
+  SimpleSpanProcessor,
+  ReadableSpan,
+} from '@opentelemetry/sdk-trace-base';
+
+export class OtelHarness {
+  readonly exporter: InMemorySpanExporter;
+  readonly provider: BasicTracerProvider;
+
+  constructor() {
+    this.exporter = new InMemorySpanExporter();
+    this.provider = new BasicTracerProvider({
+      spanProcessors: [new SimpleSpanProcessor(this.exporter)],
+    });
+  }
+
+  setup(): void {
+    trace.setGlobalTracerProvider(this.provider);
+  }
+
+  teardown(): void {
+    trace.disable();
+    context.disable();
+    this.reset();
+  }
+
+  reset(): void {
+    this.exporter.reset();
+  }
+
+  getSpans(tracerName?: string): ReadableSpan[] {
+    const spans = this.exporter.getFinishedSpans();
+    if (tracerName) {
+      return spans.filter(
+        span =>
+          span.instrumentationScope?.name?.startsWith(tracerName) ||
+          (span as unknown as {instrumentationLibrary?: {name?: string}}).instrumentationLibrary?.name?.startsWith(tracerName)
+      );
+    }
+    return spans;
+  }
+
+  getLastSpan(tracerName?: string): ReadableSpan | undefined {
+    const spans = this.getSpans(tracerName);
+    return spans[spans.length - 1];
+  }
+}
+
diff --git a/core/packages/gax/test/unit/tracerHelper.ts b/core/packages/gax/test/unit/tracerHelper.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a14a991c555
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/packages/gax/test/unit/tracerHelper.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import * as assert from 'assert';
+import {describe, it, beforeEach, afterEach} from 'mocha';
+import {
+  getGaxTracer,
+  traceAttempt,
+  DynamicTraceContext,
+  StaticTraceContext,
+} from '../../src/observability/TracerHelper';
+import {OtelHarness} from './otelHarness';
+
+describe('TracerHelper', () => {
+  let harness: OtelHarness;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    harness = new OtelHarness();
+    harness.setup();
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    harness.teardown();
+  });
+
+  describe('getGaxTracer', () => {
+    it('returns a tracer for google-gax', () => {
+      const tracer = getGaxTracer();
+      assert.ok(tracer);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('traceAttempt', () => {
+    const dynamicArgs: DynamicTraceContext = {
+      clientName: 'StorageClient',
+      methodName: 'GetObject',
+      rpcType: 'grpc',
+    };
+
+    const staticArgs: StaticTraceContext = {
+      gcpClientService: 'storage.googleapis.com',
+      gcpVersion: '1.2.3',
+      gcpRepo: 'googleapis/google-cloud-node',
+      gcpArtifact: '@google-cloud/storage',
+    };
+
+    it('creates and ends a span with correct name and attributes on success', async () => {
+      const expectedResult = {data: 'test'};
+      const result = await traceAttempt(dynamicArgs, staticArgs, async () => {
+        return expectedResult;
+      });
+
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(result, expectedResult);
+
+      const spans = harness.getSpans('google-gax');
+      assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 1);
+
+      const span = spans[0];
+      assert.strictEqual(span.name, 'StorageClient.GetObject');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.ended, true);
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        span.attributes['gcp.client.service'],
+        'storage.googleapis.com'
+      );
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.client.version'], '1.2.3');
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        span.attributes['gcp.repo'],
+        'googleapis/google-cloud-node'
+      );
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        span.attributes['gcp.artifact'],
+        '@google-cloud/storage'
+      );
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.method.name'], 'GetObject');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.method.type'], 'grpc');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.events.length, 0);
+    });
+
+    it('records error attributes, exceptions, and rethrows when fn throws an Error', async () => {
+      const error = new Error('RPC Failed');
+      error.name = 'CustomRpcError';
+
+      await assert.rejects(async () => {
+        await traceAttempt(dynamicArgs, staticArgs, async () => {
+          throw error;
+        });
+      }, (err: Error) => {
+        assert.strictEqual(err.message, 'RPC Failed');
+        return true;
+      });
+
+      const spans = harness.getSpans('google-gax');
+      assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 1);
+
+      const span = spans[0];
+      assert.strictEqual(span.name, 'StorageClient.GetObject');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.ended, true);
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['error.message'], 'RPC Failed');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['error.type'], 'Error');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['exception.type'], 'CustomRpcError');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.events.length, 1);
+      assert.strictEqual(span.events[0].name, 'exception');
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        span.events[0].attributes?.['exception.message'],
+        'RPC Failed'
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('handles missing optional static arguments gracefully', async () => {
+      const emptyStaticArgs: StaticTraceContext = {};
+      const result = await traceAttempt(dynamicArgs, emptyStaticArgs, async () => {
+        return 42;
+      });
+
+      assert.strictEqual(result, 42);
+
+      const spans = harness.getSpans('google-gax');
+      assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 1);
+
+      const span = spans[0];
+      assert.strictEqual(span.name, 'StorageClient.GetObject');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.ended, true);
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.client.service'], undefined);
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.client.version'], undefined);
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.repo'], undefined);
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.artifact'], undefined);
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.method.name'], 'GetObject');
+      assert.strictEqual(span.attributes['gcp.method.type'], 'grpc');
+    });
+
+    it('supports http rpcType', async () => {
+      const httpDynamicArgs: DynamicTraceContext = {
+        clientName: 'ComputeClient',
+        methodName: 'InsertInstance',
+        rpcType: 'http',
+      };
+
+      await traceAttempt(httpDynamicArgs, staticArgs, async () => {
+        return 'ok';
+      });
+
+      const spans = harness.getSpans('google-gax');
+      assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 1);
+      assert.strictEqual(spans[0].attributes['gcp.method.type'], 'http');
+    });
+  });
+});