No traces appear

Symptom

You instrumented your app with traceAI and ran it, but no trace shows up in the trace explorer. Typically:

• A request ran with no error, but no new row appears in the trace list.
• A short script (a one-off python app.py) never produces a trace.
• Traces appeared before but stopped after a code change.

The most common cause is a short-lived process that exited before its spans flushed; the next most common are the wrong project_type, missing keys, or a date window that hides the trace. Work the checks below in order — the first one fixes the large majority of cases.

Quick checks

• The process stays alive long enough to export, or calls force_flush() before exiting.
• FI_API_KEY and FI_SECRET_KEY are set to this workspace’s keys.
• register() is called with the correct project_type and project_name, before the framework client is created.
• The date picker is widened to Today (not the default 7-day window) and Auto refresh is on.

Causes and fixes

Cause	What you see	Fix
Short-lived process not flushed (most common)	A one-off script runs clean but no trace appears; long-running services are fine	Call trace_provider.force_flush() before the process ends, or pass batch=False to register().
Wrong project_type	App runs, keys are valid, but traces never land in the project you expect	Set project_type=ProjectType.OBSERVE (and the matching project_name) in register().
Missing FI_API_KEY / FI_SECRET_KEY	Export fails or is silently dropped; nothing reaches Observe	Set both env vars to this workspace’s keys before the app starts.
Instrumented after the client was created	Some or all spans never emit because the client wasn’t wrapped	Call register() and the instrumentor before constructing the framework client.
Date-picker window too narrow	The trace exists but is filtered out of the view	Widen the date range to Today and enable Auto refresh.

Diagnostic commands

Confirm the keys are present in the environment the app actually runs in:

env | grep -E "FI_API_KEY|FI_SECRET_KEY"

Force a flush in a short script so spans are exported before the process exits:

from fi_instrumentation import register
from fi_instrumentation.fi_types import ProjectType

trace_provider = register(
    project_type=ProjectType.OBSERVE,
    project_name="my-project",
)

# ... run one request ...

trace_provider.force_flush()

Minimal smoke test

Send one request, then open Observe → your project → Tracing with Auto refresh on and the date range widened to Today. A new trace should appear within seconds, Status OK, with input, output, latency, and model populated. If it doesn’t, recheck the causes above in order.

Prevent recurrence

• Add trace_provider.force_flush() to short scripts and job runners.
• Call register() + instrument() once at startup, before any client is built — see Set up tracing.
• Keep FI_API_KEY, FI_SECRET_KEY, and project_type in your startup config so they can’t drift per environment.

If you’re still stuck, collect your project_name, a request timestamp, your installed fi-instrumentation-otel and instrumentor versions, and any stderr, and contact support@futureagi.com.

Next steps