diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a7987ad92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[submodule "third-party/opentelemetry-proto"]
+	path = third-party/opentelemetry-proto
+	url = https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto.git
+	branch = main
diff --git a/third-party/opentelemetry-proto b/third-party/opentelemetry-proto
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..049d43328
--- /dev/null
+++ b/third-party/opentelemetry-proto
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 049d4332834935792fd4dbd392ecd31904f99ba2