CtrlK
BlogDocsLog inGet started
Tessl Logo

langfuse-hello-world

Create a minimal working Langfuse trace example. Use when starting a new Langfuse integration, testing your setup, or learning basic Langfuse tracing patterns. Trigger with phrases like "langfuse hello world", "langfuse example", "langfuse quick start", "first langfuse trace", "simple langfuse code".

83

Quality

81%

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

Pending

No eval scenarios have been run

SecuritybySnyk

Passed

No known issues

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Langfuse Hello World

Overview

Create your first Langfuse trace with real SDK calls. Demonstrates the trace/span/generation hierarchy, the observe wrapper, and the OpenAI drop-in integration.

Prerequisites

  • Completed langfuse-install-auth setup
  • Valid API credentials in environment variables
  • OpenAI API key (for the OpenAI integration example)

Instructions

Step 1: Hello World with v4+ Modular SDK

// hello-langfuse.ts
import { startActiveObservation, observe, updateActiveObservation } from "@langfuse/tracing";
import { LangfuseSpanProcessor } from "@langfuse/otel";
import { NodeSDK } from "@opentelemetry/sdk-node";

// Register OpenTelemetry processor (once at startup)
const sdk = new NodeSDK({
  spanProcessors: [new LangfuseSpanProcessor()],
});
sdk.start();

async function main() {
  // Create a top-level trace with startActiveObservation
  await startActiveObservation("hello-world", async (span) => {
    span.update({
      input: { message: "Hello, Langfuse!" },
      metadata: { source: "hello-world-example" },
    });

    // Nested span -- automatically linked to parent
    await startActiveObservation("process-input", async (child) => {
      child.update({ input: { text: "processing..." } });
      await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 100));
      child.update({ output: { result: "done" } });
    });

    // Nested generation (LLM call tracking)
    await startActiveObservation(
      { name: "llm-response", asType: "generation" },
      async (gen) => {
        gen.update({
          model: "gpt-4o",
          input: [{ role: "user", content: "Say hello" }],
          output: { content: "Hello! How can I help you today?" },
          usage: { promptTokens: 5, completionTokens: 10, totalTokens: 15 },
        });
      }
    );

    span.update({ output: { status: "completed" } });
  });

  // Allow time for the span processor to flush
  await sdk.shutdown();
  console.log("Trace created! Check your Langfuse dashboard.");
}

main().catch(console.error);

Step 2: Hello World with observe Wrapper

The observe wrapper traces existing functions without modifying internals:

import { observe, updateActiveObservation } from "@langfuse/tracing";

// Wrap any async function -- it becomes a traced span
const processQuery = observe(async (query: string) => {
  updateActiveObservation({ input: { query } });

  // Simulate processing
  const result = `Processed: ${query}`;

  updateActiveObservation({ output: { result } });
  return result;
});

// Wrap an LLM call as a generation
const generateAnswer = observe(
  { name: "generate-answer", asType: "generation" },
  async (prompt: string) => {
    updateActiveObservation({
      model: "gpt-4o",
      input: [{ role: "user", content: prompt }],
    });

    const answer = "Langfuse is an open-source LLM observability platform.";

    updateActiveObservation({
      output: answer,
      usage: { promptTokens: 10, completionTokens: 20 },
    });
    return answer;
  }
);

// Both functions auto-nest when called within an observed context
const pipeline = observe(async () => {
  await processQuery("What is Langfuse?");
  await generateAnswer("Explain Langfuse in one sentence.");
});

await pipeline();

Step 3: Hello World with Legacy v3 SDK

import { Langfuse } from "langfuse";

const langfuse = new Langfuse();

async function helloLangfuse() {
  const trace = langfuse.trace({
    name: "hello-world",
    userId: "demo-user",
    metadata: { source: "hello-world-example" },
    tags: ["demo", "getting-started"],
  });

  // Span: child operation
  const span = trace.span({
    name: "process-input",
    input: { message: "Hello, Langfuse!" },
  });
  await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 100));
  span.end({ output: { result: "Processed successfully!" } });

  // Generation: LLM call tracking
  trace.generation({
    name: "llm-response",
    model: "gpt-4o",
    input: [{ role: "user", content: "Say hello" }],
    output: { content: "Hello! How can I help you today?" },
    usage: { promptTokens: 5, completionTokens: 10, totalTokens: 15 },
  });

  await langfuse.flushAsync();
  console.log("Trace URL:", trace.getTraceUrl());
}

helloLangfuse();

Step 4: Python Hello World

from langfuse.decorators import observe, langfuse_context

@observe()
def process_query(query: str) -> str:
    return f"Processed: {query}"

@observe(as_type="generation")
def generate_response(prompt: str) -> str:
    langfuse_context.update_current_observation(
        model="gpt-4o",
        usage={"prompt_tokens": 10, "completion_tokens": 20},
    )
    return "Hello from Langfuse!"

@observe()
def main():
    result = process_query("Hello!")
    response = generate_response("Say hello")
    return response

main()

Trace Hierarchy

Trace: hello-world
  ├── Span: process-input
  │     input: { message: "Hello, Langfuse!" }
  │     output: { result: "Processed successfully!" }
  └── Generation: llm-response
        model: gpt-4o
        input: [{ role: "user", content: "Say hello" }]
        output: "Hello! How can I help you today?"
        usage: { promptTokens: 5, completionTokens: 10 }

Error Handling

ErrorCauseSolution
Import errorSDK not installednpm install @langfuse/tracing @langfuse/otel @opentelemetry/sdk-node
Auth error (401)Invalid credentialsVerify LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY and LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY
Trace not appearingData not flushedCall sdk.shutdown() (v4+) or langfuse.flushAsync() (v3)
Network errorHost unreachableCheck LANGFUSE_BASE_URL value
No auto-nestingMissing OTel setupRegister LangfuseSpanProcessor with NodeSDK

Resources

  • Langfuse JS/TS SDK Cookbook
  • TypeScript SDK Instrumentation
  • Python Decorators Guide
  • Observation Types

Next Steps

Proceed to langfuse-core-workflow-a for real OpenAI/Anthropic tracing, or langfuse-local-dev-loop for development workflow setup.

Repository
jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills
Last updated
Created

Is this your skill?

If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.