import type { Context } from '@opentelemetry/api';
import type { IMessageMeta } from '../interfaces';
/**
 * Returns the OTel context to use as the parent for a new span.
 * If `meta.span` is present it is set as the active span on the current context;
 * otherwise the current active context is returned unchanged.
 *
 * Imports `@opentelemetry/api` lazily so the core library has no hard runtime
 * dependency on it — the browser bundle and environments without OTel stay lean.
 */
export declare function spanContext(meta?: IMessageMeta): Context;