Traces
A trace is the record of one request: every step it took (retrieval, reranking, model calls, tool calls, hand-offs between agents), how long each took, and the tokens each used, with the input and output. Operate › Traces lists a tenant’s traces, newest first, and opens any one of them.
Traces are where content lives. A run records what an agent did and what it used; its trace records what was said.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”Tracing is a platform setting, off by default. When it is off, this page, Conversations’ traces and the observability overview say Observability is not configured. A tenant user is asked to have a platform admin turn it on. A platform admin turns it on in the platform configuration; see Configuration.
Traces are kept for the platform’s trace retention window, which is separate from the retention of runs and conversations. See Data retention.
Who can open it
Section titled “Who can open it”Admin, Builder and Auditor, and platform admins. A Reviewer judges answers from conversations and does not see traces; an End user does not see this page.
What you see
Section titled “What you see”The list
Section titled “The list”- The page header, with the tenant picker.
- The Recent traces table, “the most recent model requests for this tenant, newest first”, with Search traces.
- Load more traces under the table, when there are more. While a search is applied, the button reads Search older traces: a search reads a stretch of the history at a time, so select it to look further back.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Time | When the request started. |
| Trace | What happened, in words: Agent run: <agent>, Tool call: <tool>, Model call: <model> or Embeddings: <model>. A link that opens the trace. |
| Latency | How long the request took. |
| Tokens | Tokens used. |
| Spans | How many steps the trace holds. |
| Environment | The environment the request ran in. |
When no trace has been recorded, the page says No traces yet: run a query in the Playground, an assistant or a collection, and its trace appears.
A trace, beside the list
Section titled “A trace, beside the list”Selecting a trace opens it in a panel beside the list, so you can step through several without leaving the page. The panel holds the same sections as the full page and offers Open full page.
A trace, on its own page
Section titled “A trace, on its own page”The full page is the one to link to, bookmark or hand to a colleague. It has four tabs:
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Overview | Time, Latency, Tokens, Conversation (a link to the conversation the trace belongs to) and Environment. |
| Spans | The steps as a tree, each with its timing and tokens. |
| Input/output | The request’s Input and Output, each with Copy and Show more. |
| Scores | The verdicts on the answer this trace produced, with Judge its answers in the conversation. A trace that produced no stored answer says Nothing here to score. |
When the platform publishes the address of its tracing service, the trace also offers a link that opens it there. Back to traces returns to the list.
If a trace cannot be found, it may have passed its retention window, or the link names another tenant’s trace.
What you can do
Section titled “What you can do”Find a trace
Section titled “Find a trace”- Type in Search traces.
- If what you want is older, select Search older traces until it appears.
Go from a run to its trace
Section titled “Go from a run to its trace”On Runs, select Trace on a row, or View trace on a run’s page.
Go from a trace to its conversation
Section titled “Go from a trace to its conversation”On the trace’s Overview tab, select the link beside Conversation.
Judge the answer a trace produced
Section titled “Judge the answer a trace produced”On the Scores tab, select Judge its answers in the conversation.
Limits
Section titled “Limits”| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Traces per page | 100 |
| Content shown | Only the steps the tenant’s own scope can see |