Agent skill

Langsmith Observability

by Orchestra-Research in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs

LLM observability platform for tracing, evaluation, and monitoring.

MITAuto-check passedAI & LLM Engineering

Install Langsmith Observability

skills CLI
$ npx skills add Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs --skill langsmith-observability -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs langsmith-observability --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/17-observability/langsmith .claude/skills/langsmith-observability && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
langsmith-observability
GitHub stars
13k
Used in
2 other repos
Token cost
~2.4k tokens
SKILL.md length
299 words
Files
3 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
96
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

LLM observability platform for tracing, evaluation, and monitoring.

  • Works in 6 steps: Structured naming - Use consistent… → Add metadata - Include version,… → Sample in production - Use sampling rate… → …
  • Debugging LLM applications
  • SKILL.md covers When to use LangSmith, Quick start, Core concepts and Client API, plus 8 more sections
  • Calls pip; needs LANGSMITH_API_KEY

What it does

Langsmith Observability is an agent skill from Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs. LLM observability platform for tracing, evaluation, and monitoring. Use when debugging LLM applications, evaluating model outputs against datasets, monitoring production systems, or building systematic testing pipelines for AI applications.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 3 other files, including reference files (for example `references/advanced-usage.md` and `references/troubleshooting.md`).

It sits in AI & LLM Engineering, covering LLM observability and Observability. It works with LangSmith. The repository describes itself as: Comprehensive open-source library of AI research and engineering skills for any AI model. Package the skills and your claude code/codex/gemini agent will be an AI research agent… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Debugging LLM applications
  • Evaluating model outputs against datasets
  • Monitoring production systems
  • Building systematic testing pipelines for AI applications

Example prompts

  • “/langsmith-observability”

Requirements

  • Python 3
  • A credential in LANGSMITH_API_KEY

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Structured naming - Use consistent project/run naming conventions
  2. Add metadata - Include version, environment, user info
  3. Sample in production - Use sampling rate to control volume
  4. Create datasets - Build test sets from interesting production cases
  5. Automate evaluation - Run evaluations in CI/CD pipelines
  6. Monitor costs - Track token usage and latency trends

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 773a529. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • pip

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

    • docs.smith.langchain.com
    • github.com
    • smith.langchain.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

    • LANGSMITH_API_KEY

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Langsmith Observability loads about 2.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~8.2k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 66 tokens; SKILL.md has 299 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~66
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.4k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~8.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs at commit 773a529, republished under its MIT licence (© Orchestra-Research). 299 words, ~2,424 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/langsmith-observability/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 2 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
langsmith-observability
description
LLM observability platform for tracing, evaluation, and monitoring. Use when debugging LLM applications, evaluating model outputs against datasets, monitoring production systems, or building systematic testing pipelines for AI applications.
version
1.0.0
author
Orchestra Research
license
MIT
tags
Observability, LangSmith, Tracing, Evaluation, Monitoring, Debugging, Testing, LLM Ops, Production
dependencies
langsmith>=0.2.0

LangSmith - LLM Observability Platform

Development platform for debugging, evaluating, and monitoring language models and AI applications.

When to use LangSmith

Use LangSmith when:

  • Debugging LLM application issues (prompts, chains, agents)
  • Evaluating model outputs systematically against datasets
  • Monitoring production LLM systems
  • Building regression testing for AI features
  • Analyzing latency, token usage, and costs
  • Collaborating on prompt engineering

Key features:

  • Tracing: Capture inputs, outputs, latency for all LLM calls
  • Evaluation: Systematic testing with built-in and custom evaluators
  • Datasets: Create test sets from production traces or manually
  • Monitoring: Track metrics, errors, and costs in production
  • Integrations: Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, LangChain, LlamaIndex

Use alternatives instead:

  • Weights & Biases: Deep learning experiment tracking, model training
  • MLflow: General ML lifecycle, model registry focus
  • Arize/WhyLabs: ML monitoring, data drift detection

Quick start

Installation
bash
pip install langsmith

# Set environment variables
export LANGSMITH_API_KEY="your-api-key"
export LANGSMITH_TRACING=true
Basic tracing with @traceable
python
from langsmith import traceable
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI()

@traceable
def generate_response(prompt: str) -> str:
    response = client.chat.completions.create(
        model="gpt-4o",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": prompt}]
    )
    return response.choices[0].message.content

# Automatically traced to LangSmith
result = generate_response("What is machine learning?")
OpenAI wrapper (automatic tracing)
python
from langsmith.wrappers import wrap_openai
from openai import OpenAI

# Wrap client for automatic tracing
client = wrap_openai(OpenAI())

# All calls automatically traced
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

Core concepts

Runs and traces

A run is a single execution unit (LLM call, chain, tool). Runs form hierarchical traces showing the full execution flow.

python
from langsmith import traceable

@traceable(run_type="chain")
def process_query(query: str) -> str:
    # Parent run
    context = retrieve_context(query)  # Child run
    response = generate_answer(query, context)  # Child run
    return response

@traceable(run_type="retriever")
def retrieve_context(query: str) -> list:
    return vector_store.search(query)

@traceable(run_type="llm")
def generate_answer(query: str, context: list) -> str:
    return llm.invoke(f"Context: {context}\n\nQuestion: {query}")
Projects

Projects organize related runs. Set via environment or code:

python
import os
os.environ["LANGSMITH_PROJECT"] = "my-project"

# Or per-function
@traceable(project_name="my-project")
def my_function():
    pass

Client API

python
from langsmith import Client

client = Client()

# List runs
runs = list(client.list_runs(
    project_name="my-project",
    filter='eq(status, "success")',
    limit=100
))

# Get run details
run = client.read_run(run_id="...")

# Create feedback
client.create_feedback(
    run_id="...",
    key="correctness",
    score=0.9,
    comment="Good answer"
)

Datasets and evaluation

Create dataset
python
from langsmith import Client

client = Client()

# Create dataset
dataset = client.create_dataset("qa-test-set", description="QA evaluation")

# Add examples
client.create_examples(
    inputs=[
        {"question": "What is Python?"},
        {"question": "What is ML?"}
    ],
    outputs=[
        {"answer": "A programming language"},
        {"answer": "Machine learning"}
    ],
    dataset_id=dataset.id
)
Run evaluation
python
from langsmith import evaluate

def my_model(inputs: dict) -> dict:
    # Your model logic
    return {"answer": generate_answer(inputs["question"])}

def correctness_evaluator(run, example):
    prediction = run.outputs["answer"]
    reference = example.outputs["answer"]
    score = 1.0 if reference.lower() in prediction.lower() else 0.0
    return {"key": "correctness", "score": score}

results = evaluate(
    my_model,
    data="qa-test-set",
    evaluators=[correctness_evaluator],
    experiment_prefix="v1"
)

print(f"Average score: {results.aggregate_metrics['correctness']}")
Built-in evaluators
python
from langsmith.evaluation import LangChainStringEvaluator

# Use LangChain evaluators
results = evaluate(
    my_model,
    data="qa-test-set",
    evaluators=[
        LangChainStringEvaluator("qa"),
        LangChainStringEvaluator("cot_qa")
    ]
)

Advanced tracing

Tracing context
python
from langsmith import tracing_context

with tracing_context(
    project_name="experiment-1",
    tags=["production", "v2"],
    metadata={"version": "2.0"}
):
    # All traceable calls inherit context
    result = my_function()
Manual runs
python
from langsmith import trace

with trace(
    name="custom_operation",
    run_type="tool",
    inputs={"query": "test"}
) as run:
    result = do_something()
    run.end(outputs={"result": result})
Process inputs/outputs
python
def sanitize_inputs(inputs: dict) -> dict:
    if "password" in inputs:
        inputs["password"] = "***"
    return inputs

@traceable(process_inputs=sanitize_inputs)
def login(username: str, password: str):
    return authenticate(username, password)
Sampling
python
import os
os.environ["LANGSMITH_TRACING_SAMPLING_RATE"] = "0.1"  # 10% sampling

LangChain integration

python
from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI
from langchain_core.prompts import ChatPromptTemplate

# Tracing enabled automatically with LANGSMITH_TRACING=true
llm = ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o")
prompt = ChatPromptTemplate.from_messages([
    ("system", "You are a helpful assistant."),
    ("user", "{input}")
])

chain = prompt | llm

# All chain runs traced automatically
response = chain.invoke({"input": "Hello!"})

Production monitoring

Hub prompts
python
from langsmith import Client

client = Client()

# Pull prompt from hub
prompt = client.pull_prompt("my-org/qa-prompt")

# Use in application
result = prompt.invoke({"question": "What is AI?"})
Async client
python
from langsmith import AsyncClient

async def main():
    client = AsyncClient()

    runs = []
    async for run in client.list_runs(project_name="my-project"):
        runs.append(run)

    return runs
Feedback collection
python
from langsmith import Client

client = Client()

# Collect user feedback
def record_feedback(run_id: str, user_rating: int, comment: str = None):
    client.create_feedback(
        run_id=run_id,
        key="user_rating",
        score=user_rating / 5.0,  # Normalize to 0-1
        comment=comment
    )

# In your application
record_feedback(run_id="...", user_rating=4, comment="Helpful response")

Testing integration

Pytest integration
python
from langsmith import test

@test
def test_qa_accuracy():
    result = my_qa_function("What is Python?")
    assert "programming" in result.lower()
Evaluation in CI/CD
python
from langsmith import evaluate

def run_evaluation():
    results = evaluate(
        my_model,
        data="regression-test-set",
        evaluators=[accuracy_evaluator]
    )

    # Fail CI if accuracy drops
    assert results.aggregate_metrics["accuracy"] >= 0.9, \
        f"Accuracy {results.aggregate_metrics['accuracy']} below threshold"

Best practices

  1. Structured naming - Use consistent project/run naming conventions
  2. Add metadata - Include version, environment, user info
  3. Sample in production - Use sampling rate to control volume
  4. Create datasets - Build test sets from interesting production cases
  5. Automate evaluation - Run evaluations in CI/CD pipelines
  6. Monitor costs - Track token usage and latency trends

Common issues

Traces not appearing:

python
import os
# Ensure tracing is enabled
os.environ["LANGSMITH_TRACING"] = "true"
os.environ["LANGSMITH_API_KEY"] = "your-key"

# Verify connection
from langsmith import Client
client = Client()
print(client.list_projects())  # Should work

High latency from tracing:

python
# Enable background batching (default)
from langsmith import Client
client = Client(auto_batch_tracing=True)

# Or use sampling
os.environ["LANGSMITH_TRACING_SAMPLING_RATE"] = "0.1"

Large payloads:

python
# Hide sensitive/large fields
@traceable(
    process_inputs=lambda x: {k: v for k, v in x.items() if k != "large_field"}
)
def my_function(data):
    pass

References

Resources

© Orchestra-Research, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in 17-observability/langsmith of Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/advanced-usage.md
  • references/troubleshooting.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 773a529

Used in 2 other repositories

We found 2 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 2 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

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Arize Instrumentationboshi-xixixi/TraeSkill275—~5.1kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT

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Works with

Questions about Langsmith Observability

What does Langsmith Observability do?

LLM observability platform for tracing, evaluation, and monitoring. Langsmith Observability is an agent skill from Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs. LLM observability platform for tracing, evaluation, and monitoring.

When should I use Langsmith Observability?

Langsmith Observability fits situations like: debugging LLM applications; evaluating model outputs against datasets; monitoring production systems; building systematic testing pipelines for AI applications.

How do I install Langsmith Observability in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs --skill langsmith-observability -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (17-observability/langsmith in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs) into .claude/skills/langsmith-observability in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Langsmith Observability in Codex?

Run `npx skills add Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs --skill langsmith-observability -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (17-observability/langsmith in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs) into .agents/skills/langsmith-observability in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Langsmith Observability in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs --skill langsmith-observability -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/langsmith-observability, .gemini/skills/langsmith-observability, .github/skills/langsmith-observability and .opencode/skills/langsmith-observability in your project.

What does Langsmith Observability need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Langsmith Observability needs the command-line tools its instructions call (pip) and credentials named LANGSMITH_API_KEY. Our summary lists: Python 3; A credential in LANGSMITH_API_KEY.

Does Langsmith Observability access the network?

SKILL.md names 3 domains. As links in the text: docs.smith.langchain.com, github.com and smith.langchain.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Langsmith Observability safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Langsmith Observability use?

Langsmith Observability is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Langsmith Observability use?

About 2.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 9.7k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 5.7k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Langsmith Observability?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Langsmith Observability: Agentsop Observability Setup (agentsope/SkillAlchemy, 466 stars), Langsmith (langchain-ai/docs, 426 stars), Langchain Observability (jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace, 2.8k stars) and AI Observability (omer-metin/skills-for-antigravity, 162 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Langsmith Observability?

Orchestra-Research (a GitHub organization) maintains it in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, which has 13,374 GitHub stars. The repository holds 96 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on June 16, 2026.

Source: Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.