Phoenix CLI
GitHubOfficialCreated by arize-aiDistributed by GitHub
- Skill
- Tool integration
- Software development
- Apache-2.0
- No issues found
AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
The Phoenix CLI is a command-line tool designed for inspecting and debugging LLM-powered applications. It allows developers to fetch and analyze traces, spans, and sessions, facilitating the identification of failure modes. The tool supports structured workflows like open coding and axial coding to help developers build failure taxonomies, prioritize fixes, and design evaluation targets based on real-world application traffic.
What it does
- Fetches and lists traces, spans, and sessions for LLM applications.
- Supports annotation of artifacts to track observations and failure modes.
- Enables structured qualitative analysis through open and axial coding workflows.
- Provides access to datasets, experiments, and annotation configurations.
- Allows custom data extraction and analysis via a GraphQL API.
- Manages multiple connection profiles for local, staging, and production environments.
When to use it
- When you need to investigate why an LLM agent or application is failing.
- When you want to analyze LLM traffic to identify patterns in errors or performance.
- When you are building a failure taxonomy to prioritize development fixes.
- When you need to determine which evaluation metrics to implement for your application.
- When you need to switch between different Phoenix project environments efficiently.
Advantages
- Provides a standardized way to perform qualitative analysis on LLM outputs.
- Supports complex filtering and data extraction using standard CLI tools like jq.
- Enables consistent tracking of failure modes across different development runs.
- Simplifies the transition from raw observation to structured evaluation targets.
Usage examples
- “List the last 20 traces that resulted in an error.”
- The CLI executes a trace list command filtered by status, outputting the results in a raw format suitable for further processing with jq.
- “Add a note to trace ID 12345 indicating that the context was lost.”
- The CLI records the note against the specified trace, optionally tagging it with a coding annotation identifier for later grouping.
- “Switch to the staging profile and check the connection status.”
- The CLI updates the active configuration to the staging profile and verifies connectivity to the configured endpoint.
- “Fetch all spans for a specific trace ID.”
- The CLI retrieves the span data for the given trace, allowing for granular inspection of individual operations within the call graph.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/github/phoenix-cli/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip phoenix-cli.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by arize-ai
Phoenix CLI
Invocation
px <resource> <action> # if installed globally
npx @arizeai/phoenix-cli <resource> <action> # no install requiredThe CLI uses singular resource commands with subcommands like list and get:
px trace list
px trace get <trace-id>
px trace annotate <trace-id>
px trace add-note <trace-id>
px trace-annotations delete
px span list
px span annotate <span-id>
px span add-note <span-id>
px span-annotations delete
px session list
px session get <session-id>
px session annotate <session-id>
px session add-note <session-id>
px session-annotations delete
px dataset list
px dataset get <name>
px project list
px project get <name>
px annotation-config list
px auth status
px profile list
px profile show [name]
px profile create <name>
px profile use <name>
px profile edit <name>
px profile delete <name>Setup
export PHOENIX_HOST=http://localhost:6006
export PHOENIX_PROJECT=my-project
export PHOENIX_API_KEY=your-api-key # if auth is enabledAlways use --format raw --no-progress when piping to jq.
Quick Reference
| Task | Files |
|---|---|
| Look at sampled traces, spans, or sessions and write specific notes about what went wrong (no taxonomy yet) | references/open-coding |
| Group those notes into a structured failure taxonomy and quantify what matters | references/axial-coding |
Both stages tag every artifact with one shared coding annotation identifier (descriptive shape, e.g. coding-run:chatbot-context-loss-2026-05-06) so the run is queryable, reversible, and viewable as a unit. Pass --identifier <value> explicitly on every px call — shell inheritance is unreliable across agent harnesses. Open coding writes notes via px ... add-note and records a small local JSONL sidecar at .px/coding/<sanitized-identifier>.jsonl; axial coding reads that sidecar as the deterministic handoff and records labels in .px/coding/<sanitized-identifier>-axial.jsonl. Pick the identifier once per run (see references/open-coding.md), then share the Phoenix UI link from the wrap-up section. Revert is opt-in and runs three identifier-bound DELETEs only after explicit user confirmation.
Workflow term vs. server annotation name. The skill prose calls this value the coding annotation identifier (shell-variable hint:
CODING_ANNOTATION_IDENTIFIER). The server-side annotation NAME used for the UI filter is unchanged —coding_session_id— for data compatibility with rows already written by previous runs. Don't try to rename the server-side annotation; treat the asymmetry as load-bearing.
Workflows
"What do I do after instrumenting?" / "Where do I focus?" / "What's going wrong?" open-coding → axial-coding → build evals for the top categories.
Reference Categories
| Prefix | Description |
|---|---|
references/open-coding | Free-form notes against sampled traces, spans, or sessions — reach for it whenever the user wants to make sense of LLM traffic but has no failure categories yet. Includes a unit-of-analysis diagnostic so the workflow runs at the level the failure modes actually live at (trace for stateless single-shot calls, session for multi-turn agents, span for mechanical/in-isolation failures). |
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
px auth status # check connection and authentication
px auth status --endpoint http://other:6006 # check a specific endpoint
px auth status --profile staging # check a named profile's connectionProfiles
Named profiles let you switch between multiple Phoenix instances (local, staging, cloud) without juggling environment variables. Profiles are stored in ~/.px/settings.json (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/px/settings.json).
Configuration priority (highest to lowest): CLI flags > env vars > active profile > built-in defaults.
px profile list # list all profiles (shows active profile)
px profile show # show the active profile's settings
px profile show staging # show a named profile's settings
px profile create prod --endpoint https://app.phoenix.arize.com --api-key <key> --activate
px profile create local --endpoint http://localhost:6006 --project my-app
px profile use prod # switch the active profile
px profile edit prod # open profile JSON in $EDITOR (validates on save)
px profile delete prod --yes # delete a profile (--yes skips confirmation)Use --profile <name> on any command to target a specific profile without changing the active one:
px trace list --profile staging --limit 10 --format raw --no-progress | jq .
px auth status --profile prodpx profile create options: --endpoint <url>, --project <name>, --api-key <key>, --header <key=value> (repeatable), --activate.
Projects
px project list # list all projects (table view)
px project list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' # project names as JSON
px project get my-project --format raw --no-progress # single record by exact name
px project get my-project --format raw --no-progress | jq -r '.id' # extract project idproject get exits with ExitCode.FAILURE (1) on a name miss and writes a StructuredError {error, code: "FAILURE", hint} to stderr in --format json|raw.
Traces
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 <trace-id> --format raw | jq .
px trace get <trace-id> --format raw | jq '.spans[] | select(.status_code != "OK")'
px trace get <trace-id> --include-notes --format raw | jq '.notes'
px trace annotate <trace-id> --name reviewer --label pass
px trace annotate <trace-id> --name reviewer --score 0.9 --format raw --no-progress
px trace annotate <trace-id> --name reviewer --label pass --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" # tag with a coding annotation identifier
px trace add-note <trace-id> --text "needs follow-up"
px trace add-note <trace-id> --text "needs follow-up" --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" # tag + upsert on identifier
px trace-annotations delete --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" --all -y # nuke every annotation tied to this coding annotation identifierpx <entity>-annotations delete requires --all or both --start-time and --end-time and emits {deleted: true, target, filter} on success.
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 erroredSpans
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 <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 <span-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 <span-id> --name reviewer --label pass
px span annotate <span-id> --name checker --score 1 --annotator-kind CODE
px span annotate <span-id> --name reviewer --label pass --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" # tag with a coding annotation identifier
px span add-note <span-id> --text "verified by agent"
px span add-note <span-id> --text "verified by agent" --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" # tag + upsert on identifier
px span-annotations delete --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" --all -y # nuke every annotation tied to this coding annotation identifierSpan 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
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 <session-id> --format raw | jq .
px session get <session-id> --include-annotations --format raw | jq '.session.annotations'
px session get <session-id> --include-notes --format raw | jq '.session.notes'
px session annotate <session-id> --name reviewer --label pass
px session annotate <session-id> --name reviewer --score 0.9 --format raw --no-progress
px session annotate <session-id> --name reviewer --label pass --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" # tag with a coding annotation identifier
px session add-note <session-id> --text "verified by agent"
px session add-note <session-id> --text "verified by agent" --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" # tag + upsert on identifier
px session-annotations delete --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" --all -y # nuke every annotation tied to this coding annotation identifierSession JSON shape
SessionData
id, session_id, project_id
start_time, end_time
token_count_prompt, token_count_completion, token_count_total — cumulative across all LLM spans in the session (int, default 0)
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_timeDatasets / Experiments / Prompts
px dataset list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name'
px dataset get <name> --format raw | jq '.examples[] | {input, output: .expected_output}'
px dataset get <name> --split train --format raw | jq . # filter by split
px dataset get <name> --version <version-id> --format raw | jq .
px experiment list --dataset <name> --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | {id, name, failed_run_count}'
px experiment get <id> --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | select(.error != null) | {input, error}'
px prompt list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name'
px prompt get <name> --format text --no-progress # plain text, ideal for piping to AIAnnotation Configs
px annotation-config list # list all configs (table view)
px annotation-config list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' # config names as JSONGraphQL
For ad-hoc queries not covered by the commands above. Output is {"data": {...}}.
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.
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 directoryKey options: --workflow (repeatable, values: tracing, evaluation, datasets, prompts, integrations, sdk, self-hosting, all), --dry-run, --refresh, --output-dir (default .px/docs), --workers (default 10).
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer988 B
- LICENSEAdded by AutoGineer10.0 KiB
- SKILL.md15.9 KiB
- references/axial-coding.md14.7 KiB
- references/open-coding.md20.0 KiB
LICENSE
Apache License
Version 2.0, January 2004
http://www.apache.org/licenses/
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
1. Definitions.
"License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction, and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.
"Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by the copyright owner that is granting the License.
"Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition, "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
"You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity exercising permissions granted by this License.
"Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications, including but not limited to software source code, documentation source, and configuration files.
"Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical transformation or translation of a Source form, including but not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation, and conversions to other media types.
"Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work (an example is provided in the Appendix below).
"Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of, the Work and Derivative Works thereof.
"Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted" means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems, and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."
"Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and subsequently incorporated within the Work.
2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work, where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s) with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You institute patent litigation against any entity (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed.
4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You meet the following conditions:
(a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works a copy of this License; and
(b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices stating that You changed the files; and
(c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices from the Source form of the Work, excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works; and
(d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or, within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed as modifying the License.
You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and may provide additional or different license terms and conditions for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use, reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with the conditions stated in this License.
5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise, any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of this License, without any additional terms or conditions. Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed with Licensor regarding such Contributions.
6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor, except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.
8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory, whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise, unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer, and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity, or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.
To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying information. (Don't include the brackets!) The text should be enclosed in the appropriate comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a file or class name and description of purpose be included on the same "printed page" as the copyright notice for easier identification within third-party archives.
Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
Requirements and compatibility
Written for: GitHub Copilot
Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta
“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.
Needs: Needs an API key, Needs Node.js
The author says: Requires Node.js (for npx) or global install of @arizeai/phoenix-cli. Optionally requires jq for JSON processing.
Security
No issues found by our static scan· No issues found
A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.
Attribution and licence
- Created by
- arize-ai
- Publisher
- GitHub (Official)
- Distributed by
- GitHub
- Source
- github/awesome-copilot · skills/phoenix-cli · commit 797337f
- Licence
- Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (written by AutoGineer)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by arize-ai or GitHub.
Download ZIP
The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download phoenix-cli.zip