--- name: phoenix-cli description: Debug LLM applications using the Phoenix CLI. Fetch traces, analyze errors, structure trace review with open coding and axial coding, inspect datasets, review experiments, query annotation configs, and use the GraphQL API. Use whenever the user is analyzing traces or spans, investigating LLM/agent failures, deciding what to do after instrumenting an app, building failure taxonomies, choosing what evals to write, or asking "what's going wrong", "what kinds of mistakes", or "where do I focus" — even without naming a technique. license: Apache-2.0 compatibility: Requires Node.js (for npx) or global install of @arizeai/phoenix-cli. Optionally requires jq for JSON processing. metadata: author: arize-ai version: "3.3.0" --- # Phoenix CLI ## Invocation ```bash px # if installed globally npx @arizeai/phoenix-cli # no install required ``` The CLI uses singular resource commands with subcommands like `list` and `get`: ```bash px trace list px trace get px trace annotate px trace add-note px span list px span annotate px span add-note px session list px session get px session annotate px session add-note px dataset list px dataset get px project list px annotation-config list px auth status ``` ## Setup ```bash export PHOENIX_HOST=http://localhost:6006 export PHOENIX_PROJECT=my-project export PHOENIX_API_KEY=your-api-key # if auth is enabled ``` Always use `--format raw --no-progress` when piping to `jq`. ## Quick Reference | Task | Files | | ---- | ----- | | Look at sampled traces and write specific notes about what went wrong (no taxonomy yet) | [references/open-coding](references/open-coding.md) | | Group those notes into a structured failure taxonomy and quantify what matters | [references/axial-coding](references/axial-coding.md) | ## Workflows **"What do I do after instrumenting?" / "Where do I focus?" / "What's going wrong?"** [open-coding](references/open-coding.md) → [axial-coding](references/axial-coding.md) → build evals for the top categories. ## Reference Categories | Prefix | Description | | ------ | ----------- | | `references/open-coding` | Free-form notes against sampled traces — reach for it whenever the user wants to make sense of traces but has no failure categories yet | | `references/axial-coding` | Inductive grouping of notes into a MECE taxonomy with counts — reach for it whenever the user has observations and needs categories or eval targets | ## Auth ```bash px auth status # check connection and authentication px auth status --endpoint http://other:6006 # check a specific endpoint ``` ## Projects ```bash px project list # list all projects (table view) px project list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' # project names as JSON ``` ## Traces ```bash px trace list --limit 20 --format raw --no-progress | jq . px trace list --last-n-minutes 60 --limit 20 --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | select(.status == "ERROR")' px trace list --since 2025-01-15T00:00:00Z --limit 50 --format raw --no-progress | jq . px trace list --format raw --no-progress | jq 'sort_by(-.duration) | .[0:5]' px trace list --include-notes --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].notes' px trace get --format raw | jq . px trace get --format raw | jq '.spans[] | select(.status_code != "OK")' px trace get --include-notes --format raw | jq '.notes' px trace annotate --name reviewer --label pass px trace annotate --name reviewer --score 0.9 --format raw --no-progress px trace add-note --text "needs follow-up" ``` ### Trace JSON shape ``` Trace traceId, status ("OK"|"ERROR"), duration (ms), startTime, endTime annotations[] (with --include-annotations, excludes note) name, result { score, label, explanation } notes[] (with --include-notes) name="note", result { explanation } rootSpan — top-level span (parent_id: null) spans[] name, span_kind ("LLM"|"CHAIN"|"TOOL"|"RETRIEVER"|"EMBEDDING"|"AGENT"|"RERANKER"|"GUARDRAIL"|"EVALUATOR"|"UNKNOWN") status_code ("OK"|"ERROR"|"UNSET"), parent_id, context.span_id notes[] (with --include-notes) name="note", result { explanation } attributes input.value, output.value — raw input/output llm.model_name, llm.provider llm.token_count.prompt/completion/total llm.token_count.prompt_details.cache_read llm.token_count.completion_details.reasoning llm.input_messages.{N}.message.role/content llm.output_messages.{N}.message.role/content llm.invocation_parameters — JSON string (temperature, etc.) exception.message — set if span errored ``` ## Spans ```bash px span list --limit 20 # recent spans (table view) px span list --last-n-minutes 60 --limit 50 # spans from last hour px span list --since 2025-01-15T00:00:00Z --limit 50 # spans since a timestamp px span list --span-kind LLM --limit 10 # only LLM spans px span list --status-code ERROR --limit 20 # only errored spans px span list --name chat_completion --limit 10 # filter by span name px span list --trace-id --format raw --no-progress | jq . # all spans for a trace px span list --parent-id null --limit 10 # only root spans px span list --parent-id --limit 10 # only children of a span px span list --include-annotations --limit 10 # include annotation scores px span list --include-notes --limit 10 # include span notes px span list --attribute llm.model_name:gpt-4 --limit 10 # filter by string attribute px span list --attribute llm.token_count.total:500 --limit 10 # filter by numeric attribute px span list --attribute 'user.id:"12345"' --limit 10 # force string match for numeric-looking value px span list --attribute session.id:sess:abc:123 --limit 20 # colon in value OK (split on first colon only) px span list --attribute llm.model_name:gpt-4 --attribute session.id:abc --limit 10 # AND multiple filters px span list output.json --limit 100 # save to JSON file px span list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | select(.status_code == "ERROR")' px span annotate --name reviewer --label pass px span annotate --name checker --score 1 --annotator-kind CODE px span add-note --text "verified by agent" ``` ### Span JSON shape ``` Span name, span_kind ("LLM"|"CHAIN"|"TOOL"|"RETRIEVER"|"EMBEDDING"|"AGENT"|"RERANKER"|"GUARDRAIL"|"EVALUATOR"|"UNKNOWN") status_code ("OK"|"ERROR"|"UNSET"), status_message context.span_id, context.trace_id, parent_id start_time, end_time attributes input.value, output.value — raw input/output llm.model_name, llm.provider llm.token_count.prompt/completion/total llm.input_messages.{N}.message.role/content llm.output_messages.{N}.message.role/content llm.invocation_parameters — JSON string (temperature, etc.) exception.message — set if span errored annotations[] (with --include-annotations, excludes note) name, result { score, label, explanation } notes[] (with --include-notes) name="note", result { explanation } ``` ## Sessions ```bash px session list --limit 10 --format raw --no-progress | jq . px session list --order asc --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].session_id' px session list --include-annotations --include-notes --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].notes' px session get --format raw | jq . px session get --include-annotations --format raw | jq '.session.annotations' px session get --include-notes --format raw | jq '.session.notes' px session annotate --name reviewer --label pass px session annotate --name reviewer --score 0.9 --format raw --no-progress px session add-note --text "verified by agent" ``` ### Session JSON shape ``` SessionData id, session_id, project_id start_time, end_time annotations[] (with --include-annotations, excludes note) name, result { score, label, explanation } notes[] (with --include-notes) name="note", result { explanation } traces[] id, trace_id, start_time, end_time ``` ## Datasets / Experiments / Prompts ```bash px dataset list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' px dataset get --format raw | jq '.examples[] | {input, output: .expected_output}' px dataset get --split train --format raw | jq . # filter by split px dataset get --version --format raw | jq . px experiment list --dataset --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | {id, name, failed_run_count}' px experiment get --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | select(.error != null) | {input, error}' px prompt list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' px prompt get --format text --no-progress # plain text, ideal for piping to AI ``` ## Annotation Configs ```bash px annotation-config list # list all configs (table view) px annotation-config list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' # config names as JSON ``` ## GraphQL For ad-hoc queries not covered by the commands above. Output is `{"data": {...}}`. ```bash px api graphql '{ projectCount datasetCount promptCount evaluatorCount }' px api graphql '{ projects { edges { node { name traceCount tokenCountTotal } } } }' | jq '.data.projects.edges[].node' px api graphql '{ datasets { edges { node { name exampleCount experimentCount } } } }' | jq '.data.datasets.edges[].node' px api graphql '{ evaluators { edges { node { name kind } } } }' | jq '.data.evaluators.edges[].node' # Introspect any type px api graphql '{ __type(name: "Project") { fields { name type { name } } } }' | jq '.data.__type.fields[]' ``` Key root fields: `projects`, `datasets`, `prompts`, `evaluators`, `projectCount`, `datasetCount`, `promptCount`, `evaluatorCount`, `viewer`. ## Docs Download Phoenix documentation markdown for local use by coding agents. ```bash px docs fetch # fetch default workflow docs to .px/docs px docs fetch --workflow tracing # fetch only tracing docs px docs fetch --workflow tracing --workflow evaluation px docs fetch --dry-run # preview what would be downloaded px docs fetch --refresh # clear .px/docs and re-download px docs fetch --output-dir ./my-docs # custom output directory ``` Key options: `--workflow` (repeatable, values: `tracing`, `evaluation`, `datasets`, `prompts`, `integrations`, `sdk`, `self-hosting`, `all`), `--dry-run`, `--refresh`, `--output-dir` (default `.px/docs`), `--workers` (default 10).