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".
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Create your first Langfuse trace with real SDK calls. Demonstrates the trace/span/generation hierarchy, the observe wrapper, and the OpenAI drop-in integration.
langfuse-install-auth setup// 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);observe WrapperThe 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();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();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: 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 | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Import error | SDK not installed | npm install @langfuse/tracing @langfuse/otel @opentelemetry/sdk-node |
| Auth error (401) | Invalid credentials | Verify LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY and LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY |
| Trace not appearing | Data not flushed | Call sdk.shutdown() (v4+) or langfuse.flushAsync() (v3) |
| Network error | Host unreachable | Check LANGFUSE_BASE_URL value |
| No auto-nesting | Missing OTel setup | Register LangfuseSpanProcessor with NodeSDK |
Proceed to langfuse-core-workflow-a for real OpenAI/Anthropic tracing, or langfuse-local-dev-loop for development workflow setup.
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