Traces Troubleshooting

Use this checklist when traces do not appear in the Inference platform or when spans are missing expected attributes.

No Spans Appear

Confirm Export Configuration

echo "$INFERENCE_OTLP_ENDPOINT"
echo "$INFERENCE_API_KEY"
echo "$INFERENCE_SERVICE_NAME"

Enable Debug Logging

export INFERENCE_DEBUG=true

Initialize Before Clients

Call setup() before constructing provider or framework clients. Many integrations patch shared prototypes or callback configuration paths.

TypeScript

const tracing = await setup({ modules: { openai: OpenAI } });
const client = new OpenAI({ apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY });

Spans Disappear In Short-Lived Processes

Batch exporters flush on an interval. CLIs, scripts, workers, and tests should call shutdown() before the process exits.

Framework Spans Are Missing

Integration	Check
LangChain / LangGraph JS	Pass `@langchain/core/callbacks/manager` as a namespace to `setup()`
LangSmith	Set `LANGSMITH_TRACING=true` and use `otel` or `hybrid` mode
Claude Agent SDK TS	Use `wrapClaudeAgentSdkQuery(query)`
OpenAI Agents	Pair `openaiAgents` with `openai` in `setup()`
Vercel Eve	Export `defineCatalystEveInstrumentation()` from `agent/instrumentation.ts`

Some attributes only appear when the upstream provider returns the data. For example, token counts depend on provider usage fields, and Anthropic prompt-cache details appear only when prompt caching actually engages for the request.

Next Steps

If setup order, export configuration, and shutdown are correct, reduce the issue to the smallest provider call and compare it with Traces Quickstart.