Phoenix Tracing

Comprehensive guide for instrumenting LLM applications with OpenInference tracing in Phoenix. Contains reference files covering setup, instrumentation, span types, and production deployment.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Setting up Phoenix tracing (Python or TypeScript)
• Creating custom spans for LLM operations
• Adding attributes following OpenInference conventions
• Deploying tracing to production
• Querying and analyzing trace data

Reference Categories

Quick Reference

1. Setup (START HERE)

• setup-python - Install arize-phoenix-otel, configure endpoint
• setup-typescript - Install @arizeai/phoenix-otel, configure endpoint

2. Instrumentation

• instrumentation-auto-python - Auto-instrument OpenAI, LangChain, etc. (also covers OTel GenAI native instrumentation)
• instrumentation-auto-typescript - Auto-instrument supported frameworks
• instrumentation-manual-python - Custom spans with decorators
• instrumentation-manual-typescript - Custom spans with wrappers
• instrumentation-atif-python - Import ATIF agent trajectories (Claude Code, OpenHands, Codex, etc.)

3. Span Types (with full attribute schemas)

• span-llm - LLM API calls (model, tokens, messages, cost)
• span-chain - Multi-step workflows and pipelines
• span-retriever - Document retrieval (documents, scores)
• span-tool - Function/API calls (name, parameters)
• span-agent - Multi-step reasoning agents
• span-embedding - Vector generation
• span-reranker - Document re-ranking
• span-guardrail - Safety checks
• span-evaluator - LLM evaluation
• span-decision - Decision model calls (routing, classification, scoring) — experimental

4. Organization

• projects-python / projects-typescript - Group traces by application
• sessions-python / sessions-typescript - Track conversations

5. Enrichment

• metadata-python / metadata-typescript - Custom attributes

6. Production (CRITICAL)

• production-python / production-typescript - Batch processing, PII masking

7. Feedback

• annotations-overview - Feedback concepts
• annotations-python / annotations-typescript - Add feedback to spans

Reference Files

• fundamentals-overview - Traces, spans, attributes basics
• fundamentals-required-attributes - Required fields per span type
• fundamentals-universal-attributes - Common attributes (user.id, session.id)
• fundamentals-flattening - JSON flattening rules

Common Workflows

• Quick Start: setup-{lang} → instrumentation-auto-{lang} → Check Phoenix
• Custom Spans: setup-{lang} → instrumentation-manual-{lang} → span-{type}
• Session Tracking: sessions-{lang} for conversation grouping patterns
• Production: production-{lang} for batching, masking, and deployment

How to Use This Skill

Navigation Patterns:

# By category prefix
references/setup-*              # Installation and configuration
references/instrumentation-*    # Auto and manual tracing
references/span-*               # Span type specifications
references/sessions-*           # Session tracking
references/production-*         # Production deployment
references/fundamentals-*       # Core concepts

# By language
references/*-python.md          # Python implementations
references/*-typescript.md      # TypeScript implementations

Reading Order:

1. Start with setup-{lang} for your language
2. Choose instrumentation-auto-{lang} OR instrumentation-manual-{lang}
3. Reference span-{type} files as needed for specific operations
4. See fundamentals-* files for attribute specifications

References

Phoenix Documentation:

• Phoenix Documentation
• OpenInference Spec

Python API Documentation:

• Python OTEL Package - arize-phoenix-otel API reference
• Python Client Package - arize-phoenix-client API reference

TypeScript API Documentation:

• TypeScript Packages - @arizeai/phoenix-otel, @arizeai/phoenix-client, and other TypeScript packages