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Tracium — reference implementation of RFC-0001 AGENTOBS, the Observability Schema Standard for Agentic AI Systems

Project description

AgentOBS

The reference implementation of the AGENTOBS Standard.
A lightweight Python SDK that gives your AI applications a common, structured way to record, sign, redact, and export events — with zero mandatory dependencies.

AGENTOBS (RFC-0001) is the open event-schema standard for observability of agentic AI systems.

Python 3.9+ PyPI AGENTOBS RFC-0001 96% test coverage 1837 tests Zero dependencies Documentation MIT license


What is this?

AgentOBS (tracium) is the reference implementation of RFC-0001 AGENTOBS — the open event-schema standard for observability of agentic AI systems.

AGENTOBS defines a structured, typed event envelope that every LLM-adjacent instrumentation tool can emit and every observability backend can consume. It covers the full lifecycle: event envelopes, agent span hierarchies, token and cost models, HMAC audit chains, PII redaction, OTLP-compatible export, and schema governance.

Think of AgentOBS as a universal receipt format for your AI application. Every time your app calls a language model, makes a decision, redacts private data, or checks a guardrail — this library gives that action a consistent, structured record that any tool in your stack can read.


Why use it?

Without a shared schema, every team invents their own log format. With tracium (and the AGENTOBS standard it implements), your logs, dashboards, compliance reports, and monitoring tools all speak the same language — automatically.

Without AgentOBS With AgentOBS
Each service logs events differently Every event follows the same structure
Hard to audit who saw what data Built-in HMAC signing creates a tamper-proof audit trail
PII scattered across logs First-class PII redaction before data leaves your app
Vendor-specific observability OpenTelemetry-compatible — works with any monitoring stack
No way to check compatibility CLI + programmatic compliance checks in CI
Complex integration glue Zero required dependencies — just pip install

Install

pip install agentobs
import tracium  # distribution name is agentobs, import name is tracium

Requires Python 3.9 or later. No other packages are required for core usage.

Note: The PyPI distribution is named agentobs. The Python import name remains tracium.

Optional extras

pip install "agentobs[jsonschema]"   # strict JSON Schema validation
pip install "agentobs[http]"         # Webhook + OTLP export
pip install "agentobs[pydantic]"     # Pydantic v2 model layer
pip install "agentobs[otel]"         # OpenTelemetry SDK integration
pip install "agentobs[kafka]"        # EventStream.from_kafka() via kafka-python
pip install "agentobs[langchain]"    # LangChain callback handler
pip install "agentobs[llamaindex]"   # LlamaIndex event handler
pip install "agentobs[datadog]"      # Datadog APM + metrics exporter
pip install "agentobs[all]"          # everything above

Five-minute tour

1 — Trace an LLM call with the span API

import tracium

tracium.configure(exporter="console", service_name="my-agent")

with tracium.span("call-llm") as span:
    span.set_model(model="gpt-4o", system="openai")
    result = call_llm(prompt)                          # your LLM call here
    span.set_token_usage(input=512, output=128, total=640)
    span.set_status("ok")

The context manager automatically records start/end times, parent-child span relationships, and emits a structured event when it exits.


2 — Record a raw event

from tracium import Event, EventType, Tags

event = Event(
    event_type=EventType.TRACE_SPAN_COMPLETED,
    source="my-app@1.0.0",          # who emitted this
    org_id="org_acme",              # your organisation
    payload={
        "model": "gpt-4o",
        "prompt_tokens": 512,
        "completion_tokens": 128,
        "latency_ms": 340.5,
    },
    tags=Tags(env="production"),
)

event.validate()         # raises if structure is invalid
print(event.to_json())   # compact JSON string, ready to store or ship

Every event gets a ULID (a time-sortable unique ID) automatically — no need to generate one yourself.


3 — Redact private information before logging

from tracium import Event, EventType
from tracium.redact import Redactable, RedactionPolicy, Sensitivity

policy = RedactionPolicy(min_sensitivity=Sensitivity.PII, redacted_by="policy:gdpr-v1")

# Wrap any string that might contain PII
event = Event(
    event_type=EventType.TRACE_SPAN_COMPLETED,
    source="my-app@1.0.0",
    payload={"prompt": Redactable("Call me at 555-867-5309", Sensitivity.PII)},
)
result = policy.apply(event)
# result.event.payload["prompt"] -> "[REDACTED by policy:gdpr-v1]"

Redactable is a string wrapper. You mark fields as sensitive at the point where they are created; the policy decides what to remove before the event is written to any log.

Tip — auto-redact every span: pass redaction_policy=policy to tracium.configure() and the policy runs automatically inside _dispatch() before any exporter sees the event.


4 — Sign events for tamper-proof audit trails

from tracium.signing import sign, verify_chain, AuditStream

# Sign a single event
signed = sign(event, org_secret="my-org-secret")

# Or build a chain — every event references the one before it,
# so any gap or modification is immediately detectable.
stream = AuditStream(org_secret="my-org-secret")
for e in events:
    stream.append(e)

result = verify_chain(stream.events, org_secret="my-org-secret")

This is the same principle used in certificate chains and blockchain — each event's signature covers the previous event's signature, so you cannot alter history without breaking the chain.

Tip — auto-sign every span: pass signing_key="your-secret" to tracium.configure() and every emitted span is signed and chained automatically, with no per-event boilerplate.


5 — Export to anywhere

from tracium.stream import EventStream
from tracium.export.jsonl import JSONLExporter
from tracium.export.webhook import WebhookExporter
from tracium.export.otlp import OTLPExporter
from tracium.export.datadog import DatadogExporter
from tracium.export.grafana import GrafanaLokiExporter

stream = EventStream(events)

# Write everything to a local file
await stream.drain(JSONLExporter("events.jsonl"))

# Ship to your OpenTelemetry collector
await stream.drain(OTLPExporter("http://otel-collector:4318/v1/traces"))

# Send to Datadog APM (traces + metrics)
await stream.drain(DatadogExporter(
    service="my-app",
    env="production",
    agent_url="http://dd-agent:8126",
    api_key="your-dd-api-key",
))

# Push to Grafana Loki
await stream.drain(GrafanaLokiExporter(
    url="http://loki:3100",
    labels={"app": "my-app", "env": "production"},
))

# Fan-out: guard-blocked events -> Slack webhook
await stream.route(
    WebhookExporter("https://hooks.slack.com/your-webhook"),
    predicate=lambda e: e.event_type == "llm.guard.blocked",
)

Kafka source

from tracium.stream import EventStream

# Drain a Kafka topic directly into an EventStream
stream = EventStream.from_kafka(
    topic="llm-events",
    bootstrap_servers="kafka:9092",
    group_id="analytics",
    max_messages=5000,
)
await stream.drain(exporter)

6 — Sync exporters for non-async workflows

from tracium.exporters.jsonl import SyncJSONLExporter
from tracium.exporters.console import SyncConsoleExporter

# Log all events to a JSONL file synchronously
exporter = SyncJSONLExporter("events.jsonl")
exporter.export(event)
exporter.close()

# Pretty-print events to the terminal during development
console = SyncConsoleExporter()
console.export(event)

7 — Check compliance and inspect events from the command line

tracium check-compat events.json        # v1.0 compatibility checklist
tracium validate events.jsonl           # JSON Schema validation per event
tracium audit-chain events.jsonl        # verify HMAC signing chain integrity
tracium inspect <EVENT_ID> events.jsonl # pretty-print a single event
tracium stats events.jsonl              # summary: counts, tokens, cost, timestamps
tracium list-deprecated                 # list all deprecated event types
tracium migration-roadmap [--json]      # v2 migration roadmap
tracium check-consumers                 # consumer registry compatibility check
CHK-1  All required fields present          (500 / 500 events)
CHK-2  Event types valid                    (500 / 500 events)
CHK-3  Source identifiers well-formed       (500 / 500 events)
CHK-5  Event IDs are valid ULIDs            (500 / 500 events)
All checks passed.

Drop any of these into your CI pipeline to catch schema drift, signing failures, or schema-breaking migrations before they reach production.


What is inside the box

ModuleWhat it doesFor whom
tracium.event The core Event envelope — the one structure all tools share Everyone
tracium.types All built-in event type strings (trace, cost, cache, eval, guard…) Everyone
tracium.config configure() and get_config() — global SDK configuration Everyone
tracium._span Span, AgentRun, AgentStep context managers — the runtime tracing API App developers
tracium._cli 8 CLI sub-commands: check-compat, validate, audit-chain, inspect, stats, list-deprecated, migration-roadmap, check-consumers DevOps / CI teams
tracium.redact PII detection, sensitivity levels, redaction policies Data privacy / GDPR teams
tracium.signing HMAC-SHA256 event signing and tamper-evident audit chains Security / compliance teams
tracium.compliance Programmatic v2.0 compatibility checks — no pytest required Platform / DevOps teams
tracium.export Ship events to files (JSONL), HTTP webhooks, OTLP collectors, Datadog APM, or Grafana Loki Infra / observability teams
tracium.exporters Sync exporters — SyncJSONLExporter and SyncConsoleExporter for non-async code App developers
tracium.stream Fan-out router — one drain() call reaches multiple backends; Kafka source via from_kafka() Platform engineers
tracium.validate JSON Schema validation against the published v2.0 schema All teams
tracium.consumer Declare schema-namespace dependencies; fail fast at startup if version requirements are not met Platform / integration teams
tracium.governance Policy-based event gating — block prohibited types, warn on deprecated usage, enforce custom rules Platform / compliance teams
tracium.deprecations Register and surface per-event-type deprecation notices at runtime Library maintainers
tracium.integrations Plug-in adapters for OpenAI, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Anthropic, Groq, Ollama, and Together App developers
tracium.namespaces Typed payload dataclasses for all 10 built-in event namespaces Tool authors
tracium.models Optional Pydantic v2 models for teams that prefer validated schemas API / backend teams

Event namespaces

Every event carries a payload — a dictionary whose shape is defined by the event's namespace. The ten built-in namespaces cover everything from raw model traces to safety guardrails:

Namespace prefix Dataclass What it records
llm.trace.* SpanPayload, AgentRunPayload, AgentStepPayload Model call — tokens, latency, finish reason (frozen v2)
llm.cost.* CostPayload Per-call cost in USD
llm.cache.* CachePayload Cache hit/miss, backend, TTL
llm.eval.* EvalScenarioPayload Scores, labels, evaluator identity
llm.guard.* GuardPayload Safety classifier output, block decisions
llm.fence.* FencePayload Topic constraints, allow/block lists
llm.prompt.* PromptPayload Prompt template version, rendered text
llm.redact.* RedactPayload PII audit record — what was found and removed
llm.diff.* DiffPayload Prompt/response delta between two events
llm.template.* TemplatePayload Template registry metadata
from tracium.namespaces.trace import SpanPayload
from tracium import Event

payload = SpanPayload(
    span_name="call-llm",
    span_id="abc123",
    trace_id="def456",
    start_time_ns=1_000_000_000,
    end_time_ns=1_340_000_000,
    status="ok",
)

event = Event(
    event_type="llm.trace.span.completed",
    source="my-app@1.0.0",
    payload=payload.to_dict(),
)

Quality standards

  • 1 837 tests — unit, integration, property-based (Hypothesis), and performance benchmarks
  • 96 % line and branch coverage — measured with pytest-cov
  • Zero required dependencies — the entire core runs on Python's standard library alone
  • Typed — full py.typed marker; works with mypy and pyright out of the box
  • Frozen v2 trace schemallm.trace.* payload fields will never break between minor releases

Project structure

tracium/
├── __init__.py       <- Public API surface (start here)
├── event.py          <- The Event envelope
├── types.py          <- EventType enum
├── config.py         <- configure() / get_config() / TraciumConfig
├── _span.py          <- Span, AgentRun, AgentStep context managers
├── _tracer.py        <- Tracer — top-level tracing entry point
├── _stream.py        <- Internal dispatch: redact → sign → export
├── _cli.py           <- CLI entry-point (8 sub-commands)
├── signing.py        <- HMAC signing & audit chains
├── redact.py         <- PII redaction
├── validate.py       <- JSON Schema validation
├── consumer.py       <- Consumer registry & schema-version compatibility
├── governance.py     <- Event governance policies
├── deprecations.py   <- Per-event-type deprecation tracking
├── compliance/       <- Compatibility checklist suite
├── export/
│   ├── jsonl.py      <- Local file export (async)
│   ├── webhook.py    <- HTTP POST export
│   ├── otlp.py       <- OpenTelemetry export
│   ├── datadog.py    <- Datadog APM traces + metrics
│   └── grafana.py    <- Grafana Loki export
├── exporters/
│   ├── jsonl.py      <- SyncJSONLExporter
│   └── console.py    <- SyncConsoleExporter
├── stream.py         <- EventStream fan-out router (+ Kafka source)
├── integrations/
│   ├── langchain.py  <- LangChain callback handler
│   ├── llamaindex.py <- LlamaIndex event handler
│   ├── openai.py     <- OpenAI tracing wrapper
│   └── ...           (anthropic, groq, ollama, together)
├── namespaces/       <- Typed payload dataclasses
│   ├── trace.py        (SpanPayload, AgentRunPayload, AgentStepPayload — frozen v2)
│   ├── cost.py
│   ├── cache.py
│   └── ...
├── models.py         <- Optional Pydantic v2 models
└── migrate.py        <- Schema migration helpers
examples/             <- Runnable sample scripts
├── openai_chat.py    <- OpenAI + JSONL export
├── agent_workflow.py <- Multi-step agent + console exporter
├── langchain_chain.py<- LangChain callback handler
└── secure_pipeline.py<- HMAC signing + PII redaction together

Development setup

git clone https://github.com/veerarag1973/agentobs.git
cd agentobs

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate          # Windows
# source .venv/bin/activate     # macOS / Linux

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest                          # run all 1 837 tests
Code quality commands
ruff check .                  # linting
ruff format .                 # auto-format
mypy tracium                  # type checking
pytest --cov                  # tests + coverage report (>=90% required)
Build the docs locally
pip install -e ".[docs]"
cd docs
sphinx-build -b html . _build/html   # open _build/html/index.html

Compatibility and versioning

tracium implements RFC-0001 AGENTOBS (Observability Schema Standard for Agentic AI Systems). The current schema version is 2.0.

This project follows Semantic Versioning:

  • Patch releases (1.0.x) — bug fixes only, fully backwards-compatible
  • Minor releases (1.x.0) — new features, backwards-compatible
  • Major releases (x.0.0) — breaking changes, announced in advance

The llm.trace.* namespace payload schema is additionally frozen at v2: even a major release will not remove or rename fields from SpanPayload, AgentRunPayload, or AgentStepPayload.


Changelog

See docs/changelog.md for the full version history.


Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the Contributing Guide first, then open an issue or pull request.

Key rules:

  • All new code must maintain >= 90 % test coverage
  • Follow the existing Google-style docstrings
  • Run ruff and mypy before submitting

License

MIT — free for personal and commercial use.


Made with care for the AI observability community.
Docs · Quickstart · API Reference · Report a bug

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