> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://oxy.tech/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Exploring traces

<RewriteBanner />

The **Traces** page (`/ide/observability/traces`) is where you browse everything
Oxygen has recorded — every agent run, workflow execution, and analytics run.
Beyond scrolling the list, it gives you a set of controls to find the exact run
you care about, watch runs land in real time, and compare two runs side by side.

<Note>
  The Traces page is enterprise-only. Start the server with `--enterprise` and set
  a storage backend (`OXY_OBSERVABILITY_BACKEND`) — see
  [Observability](/docs/manage/observability) for the full setup.
</Note>

## Searching

Type in the search box to filter traces by:

* **Span name** — e.g. `agent.run_agent`, `analytics.run`
* **Agent reference** — the agent that produced the run
* **Prompt / question** — the text the run was asked to handle
* **Trace ID** — paste a full trace id to jump straight to it

Search is case-insensitive and matches substrings, so `revenue` finds any run
whose prompt mentions revenue. It updates as you type (after a brief pause) and
combines with every other filter below.

## Filtering by status

The **status** dropdown narrows the list to:

* **All statuses** — everything (default)
* **Success** — runs that completed cleanly
* **Errors** — only runs that ended in an error

Pick **Errors** to triage failures without the noise of successful runs.

## Choosing a time range

By default the list shows the last 30 days. Use the range control at the top
right to change the window:

* **Presets** — `1h`, `24h`, `7d`, `30d`, `90d` rolling windows.
* **Custom** — click **Custom** and pick an absolute **From** and **To** date and
  time. This is the one to use when you're chasing an incident that happened at a
  known time. An absolute range overrides the preset until you pick a preset
  again.

<Note>
  Traces are retained for **90 days**, so `90d` is the widest window available.
</Note>

## Live-tail

Toggle **Live** on to auto-refresh the list every few seconds. New traces appear
at the top as runs complete — useful while you're actively reproducing an issue
or watching a deploy. A small pulsing dot indicates live mode is on. Toggle it
off to freeze the view.

## Card vs. table view

Use the view toggle to switch between:

* **Cards** — a roomy view with the prompt, status, type, agent, duration, and
  token count for each run. Best for reading.
* **Table** — a dense, scannable grid of the same runs. Best for eyeballing many
  traces at once, sorting through a spike, or comparing durations down a column.

Your choice applies to the current filters and either view links straight into
the [Trace Detail](/docs/manage/observability) page when you click a row.

## Comparing two traces

To understand why one run was slower — or cost more — than another, compare them:

1. Check the box on **two** traces (in either card or table view).
2. Click **Compare** in the selection bar that appears.
3. A dialog shows both runs side by side — status, total duration, span count,
   LLM/tool calls, and token totals — with a **B − A difference** row that
   highlights exactly how the second run diverged from the first.

From the compare dialog you can click **Open** on either side to jump into its
full trace detail.

<Tip>
  Compare a fast run against a slow one for the same question to spot where the
  extra time or tokens went — often an extra LLM round-trip or a heavier SQL step.
</Tip>