Distributed Tracing (Agent)

Distributed tracing for AI agents is the collection of trace data that follows a request or task as it moves across multiple agents, tools, services, and model calls.

Each operation is recorded as a span with timing, identity, and outcome metadata; spans are linked into a unified trace that shows the full execution path. Distributed tracing is essential for debugging multi-agent workflows and proving to auditors that every action in a complex task can be accounted for.

Closely related concepts include Trace Context, Agent Tracing, Trace (Agent), Audit Aggregation. Each is defined in the Prefactor glossary.