Phoenix Evals

From the author

Build and run evaluators for AI/LLM applications using Phoenix.

— the description by jimbobbennett

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

Phoenix Evals provides a structured approach to building, running, and validating evaluators for AI and LLM applications. It supports both Python and TypeScript, offering tools for code-based and LLM-based evaluation, experiment management, and error analysis. The framework emphasizes a code-first approach, encouraging developers to define deterministic evaluations before moving to LLM-based judges, and provides mechanisms to validate evaluator accuracy against human-labeled data.

What it does

Builds custom code-based and LLM-based evaluators for AI applications.
Supports batch evaluation of datasets using structured dataframes.
Facilitates experiment management, including dataset creation and synthetic data generation.
Provides tools for error analysis, including axial coding and failure taxonomy creation.
Enables validation of evaluator accuracy against human-provided labels.
Integrates with tracing and observability to sample and review application traces.

When to use it

When you need to systematically evaluate the performance of LLM application outputs.
When building RAG systems that require specific retrieval and faithfulness metrics.
When you need to categorize and analyze failure patterns in AI agent workflows.
When transitioning from manual testing to automated, repeatable evaluation experiments.
When you need to validate that your automated judges align with human expectations.

Advantages

Supports a code-first approach to evaluation for deterministic results.
Provides a clear path for validating judge model accuracy.
Offers structured methods for building failure taxonomies.
Enables consistent evaluation across both Python and TypeScript environments.
Integrates directly with tracing data for context-aware evaluation.

Usage examples

“How do I build a custom LLM evaluator in Python?”: The skill provides guidance on using the LLM class and custom templates to define evaluators that assess specific model outputs.
“How can I categorize failures in my AI agent?”: The skill outlines an axial coding process to group failure notes into structured taxonomies like planning, tool selection, or execution errors.
“How do I run a batch evaluation on my dataset?”: The skill demonstrates using the evaluate_dataframe function to process a dataframe and return scores for defined metrics.

Install

Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/github/phoenix-evals/download

Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip phoenix-evals.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by jimbobbennett

Build evaluators for AI/LLM applications. Code first, LLM for nuance, validate against humans.

Quick Reference

Task	Files
Setup	setup-python, setup-typescript
Decide what to evaluate	evaluators-overview
Choose a judge model	fundamentals-model-selection
Use pre-built evaluators	evaluators-pre-built
Build code evaluator	evaluators-code-python, evaluators-code-typescript
Build LLM evaluator	evaluators-llm-python, evaluators-llm-typescript, evaluators-custom-templates
Batch evaluate DataFrame	evaluate-dataframe-python
Understand experiments	experiments-overview
Run experiment	experiments-running-python, experiments-running-typescript
Create dataset	experiments-datasets-python, experiments-datasets-typescript
Generate synthetic data	experiments-synthetic-python, experiments-synthetic-typescript
Validate evaluator accuracy	validation, validation-evaluators-python, validation-evaluators-typescript
Sample traces for review	observe-sampling-python, observe-sampling-typescript
Analyze errors	error-analysis, error-analysis-multi-turn, axial-coding
RAG evals	evaluators-rag
Avoid common mistakes	common-mistakes-python, fundamentals-anti-patterns
Production	production-overview, production-guardrails, production-continuous

Workflows

Starting Fresh: observe-tracing-setup → error-analysis → axial-coding → evaluators-overview

Building Evaluator: fundamentals → common-mistakes-python → evaluators-{code|llm}-{python|typescript} → validation-evaluators-{python|typescript}

RAG Systems: evaluators-rag → evaluators-code-* (retrieval) → evaluators-llm-* (faithfulness)

Production: production-overview → production-guardrails → production-continuous

Reference Categories

Prefix	Description
`fundamentals-*`	Types, scores, anti-patterns
`observe-*`	Tracing, sampling
`error-analysis-*`	Finding failures
`axial-coding-*`	Categorizing failures
`evaluators-*`	Code, LLM, RAG evaluators
`experiments-*`	Datasets, running experiments
`validation-*`	Validating evaluator accuracy against human labels
`production-*`	CI/CD, monitoring

Key Principles

Principle	Action
Error analysis first	Can't automate what you haven't observed
Custom > generic	Build from your failures
Code first	Deterministic before LLM
Validate judges	>80% TPR/TNR
Binary > Likert	Pass/fail, not 1-5

Files

ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer931 B
LICENSEAdded by AutoGineer10.0 KiB
SKILL.md4.5 KiB
references/axial-coding.md2.3 KiB
references/common-mistakes-python.md7.0 KiB
references/error-analysis-multi-turn.md1.3 KiB
references/error-analysis.md4.2 KiB
references/evaluate-dataframe-python.md4.4 KiB
references/evaluators-code-python.md3.0 KiB
references/evaluators-code-typescript.md1.2 KiB
references/evaluators-custom-templates.md1.2 KiB
references/evaluators-llm-python.md2.6 KiB
references/evaluators-llm-typescript.md1.4 KiB
references/evaluators-overview.md1.1 KiB
references/evaluators-pre-built.md2.4 KiB
references/evaluators-rag.md3.1 KiB
references/experiments-datasets-python.md4.8 KiB
references/experiments-datasets-typescript.md2.7 KiB
references/experiments-overview.md1.7 KiB
references/experiments-running-python.md2.9 KiB
references/experiments-running-typescript.md3.1 KiB
references/experiments-synthetic-python.md1.8 KiB
references/experiments-synthetic-typescript.md2.2 KiB
references/fundamentals-anti-patterns.md1.6 KiB
references/fundamentals-model-selection.md1.4 KiB
references/fundamentals.md1.8 KiB
references/observe-sampling-python.md2.4 KiB
references/observe-sampling-typescript.md3.9 KiB
references/observe-tracing-setup.md3.3 KiB
references/production-continuous.md3.6 KiB
references/production-guardrails.md1.3 KiB
references/production-overview.md2.3 KiB
references/setup-python.md1.9 KiB
references/setup-typescript.md981 B
references/validation-evaluators-python.md1.0 KiB
references/validation-evaluators-typescript.md4.4 KiB
references/validation.md1.7 KiB

references/evaluators-llm-python.md

Evaluators: LLM Evaluators in Python

LLM evaluators use a language model to judge outputs. Use when criteria are subjective.

Quick Start

from phoenix.evals import ClassificationEvaluator, LLM

llm = LLM(provider="openai", model="gpt-4o")

HELPFULNESS_TEMPLATE = """Rate how helpful the response is.

<question>{{input}}</question>
<response>{{output}}</response>

"helpful" means directly addresses the question.
"not_helpful" means does not address the question.

Your answer (helpful/not_helpful):"""

helpfulness = ClassificationEvaluator(
    name="helpfulness",
    prompt_template=HELPFULNESS_TEMPLATE,
    llm=llm,
    choices={"not_helpful": 0, "helpful": 1}
)

Template Variables

Use XML tags to wrap variables for clarity:

Variable	XML Tag
`{{input}}`	`<question>{{input}}</question>`
`{{output}}`	`<response>{{output}}</response>`
`{{reference}}`	`<reference>{{reference}}</reference>`
`{{context}}`	`<context>{{context}}</context>`

create_classifier (Factory)

Shorthand factory that returns a ClassificationEvaluator. Prefer direct ClassificationEvaluator instantiation for more parameters/customization:

from phoenix.evals import create_classifier, LLM

relevance = create_classifier(
    name="relevance",
    prompt_template="""Is this response relevant to the question?
<question>{{input}}</question>
<response>{{output}}</response>
Answer (relevant/irrelevant):""",
    llm=LLM(provider="openai", model="gpt-4o"),
    choices={"relevant": 1.0, "irrelevant": 0.0},
)

Input Mapping

Column names must match template variables. Rename columns or use bind_evaluator:

# Option 1: Rename columns to match template variables
df = df.rename(columns={"user_query": "input", "ai_response": "output"})

# Option 2: Use bind_evaluator
from phoenix.evals import bind_evaluator

bound = bind_evaluator(
    evaluator=helpfulness,
    input_mapping={"input": "user_query", "output": "ai_response"},
)

Running

from phoenix.evals import evaluate_dataframe

results_df = evaluate_dataframe(dataframe=df, evaluators=[helpfulness])

Best Practices

Be specific - Define exactly what pass/fail means
Include examples - Show concrete cases for each label
Explanations by default - ClassificationEvaluator includes explanations automatically
Study built-in prompts - See phoenix.evals.__generated__.classification_evaluator_configs for examples of well-structured evaluation prompts (Faithfulness, Correctness, DocumentRelevance, etc.)

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 Python

The author says: Requires Phoenix server. Python skills need phoenix and openai packages; TypeScript skills need @arizeai/phoenix-client.

Security

What our scanner noticed· Low risk

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Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download phoenix-evals.zip