Basic Agent Tracing

Enable tracing and observability for agents.

This example shows how to enable tracing for an agent. Once tracing is enabled, all agent runs, model calls, and tool executions are automatically captured and stored in your database.

1. Create a Python file

   basic_agent_tracing.py

   from agno.agent import Agent
   from agno.db.sqlite import SqliteDb
   from agno.models.openai import OpenAIResponses
   from agno.tools.hackernews import HackerNewsTools
   from agno.tracing import setup_tracing
   
   # Set up database for traces
   db = SqliteDb(db_file="tmp/traces.db")
   
   # Enable tracing (call once at startup)
   setup_tracing(db=db)
   
   # Create agent - automatically traced!
   agent = Agent(
       name="HackerNews Agent",
       model=OpenAIResponses(id="gpt-5.2"),
       tools=[HackerNewsTools()],
       instructions="You are a hacker news agent. Answer questions concisely.",
       markdown=True,
       db=db,
   )
   
   # Run the agent - traces are captured automatically
   agent.print_response("What's trending on HackerNews?")
   
   # Query traces from the database
   traces, count = db.get_traces(agent_id=agent.id, limit=10)
   print(f"\nFound {count} traces for agent '{agent.name}'")
   for trace in traces:
       print(f"  - {trace.name}: {trace.duration_ms}ms ({trace.status})")
   
2. Set up your virtual environment

   Mac

   uv venv --python 3.12
   source .venv/bin/activate
   
3. Install dependencies

   uv pip install -U openai agno opentelemetry-api opentelemetry-sdk openinference-instrumentation-agno
   
4. Export your OpenAI API key

   Mac/Linux

   export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_api_key_here"
   
5. Run the agent

   python basic_agent_tracing.py
   

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