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Agent skill

Observe Trace

by ruvnet in ruvnet/ruflo

Trace agent execution by collecting spans and building a trace tree for a task

MITAuto-check: notes

Install Observe Trace

skills CLI
$ npx skills add ruvnet/ruflo --skill observe-trace -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install ruvnet/ruflo observe-trace --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/ruvnet/ruflo.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/ruflo-observability/skills/observe-trace .claude/skills/observe-trace && 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
observe-trace
GitHub stars
74k
Token cost
~522 tokens
SKILL.md length
196 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
264
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Trace agent execution by collecting spans and building a trace tree for a task

  • Works in 6 steps: Collect spans -- call… → Build trace tree -- organize spans into… → Calculate timing -- for each span,… → …
  • SKILL.md covers When to use, Steps and CLI alternative
  • Calls npx

What it does

Observe Trace is an agent skill from ruvnet/ruflo. Trace agent execution by collecting spans and building a trace tree for a task

Its SKILL.md is about 520 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

The repository describes itself as: 🌊 The original agent harness. Deploy intelligent multi-player swarms, coordinate autonomous workflows, and build conversational AI systems. Features adaptive memory…. The licence is MIT.

Example prompts

  • “/observe-trace”

Requirements

  • Node.js
  • Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_search, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_list, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_semantic-route, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_context-synthesize, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_pattern-search, Bash

Workflow steps

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

  1. Collect spans -- call mcpplugin_ruflo-core_ruflomemory_search --namespace observability (or memory_list) to retrieve all spans matching…
  2. Build trace tree -- organize spans into a parent-child hierarchy using parentSpanId references, with the root span at the top
  3. Calculate timing -- for each span, compute duration (endTime - startTime), and identify the critical path (longest chain of sequential…
  4. Identify bottlenecks -- flag spans where duration exceeds the p95 for that operation type, or where gaps between spans suggest idle time
  5. Synthesize -- call mcpplugin_ruflo-core_rufloagentdb_context-synthesize to combine span metadata into a narrative summary of the execution…
  6. Report -- display the trace tree with: span name, agent, duration, status (OK/ERROR), and bottleneck flag; include total trace duration…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 6051f67. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

    • mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_search
    • mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_list
    • mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_semantic-route
    • mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_context-synthesize
    • mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_pattern-search
    • Bash

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • npx

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npx, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

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

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

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

Context cost

Observe Trace loads about 522 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 23 tokens; SKILL.md has 196 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~23
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~522

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: notes

The automated check noted patterns worth knowing about, such as sudo or a known installer.

  • NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md
    allowed-tools: mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_search, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_list, mcp__plugin_

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 ruvnet/ruflo at commit 6051f67, republished under its MIT licence (© ruvnet). 196 words, ~522 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/observe-trace/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
observe-trace
description
Trace agent execution by collecting spans and building a trace tree for a task
allowed-tools
mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_search, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_list, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_semantic-route, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_context-synthesize, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_pattern-search, Bash
argument-hint
<task-id>

Observe Trace

Collect distributed trace spans for a task and build a visual trace tree showing the execution flow, timing, and bottlenecks.

When to use

When you need to understand how a task was executed across agents -- which spans ran, how long each took, where bottlenecks occurred, and how agents coordinated.

Steps

  1. Collect spans -- call mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_search --namespace observability (or memory_list) to retrieve all spans matching the <task-id>. The memory_* tool family routes by namespace; agentdb_hierarchical-* does NOT (it routes by tier working|episodic|semantic), so use memory_* here. See ruflo-agentdb ADR-0001 §"Namespace convention".
  2. Build trace tree -- organize spans into a parent-child hierarchy using parentSpanId references, with the root span at the top
  3. Calculate timing -- for each span, compute duration (endTime - startTime), and identify the critical path (longest chain of sequential spans)
  4. Identify bottlenecks -- flag spans where duration exceeds the p95 for that operation type, or where gaps between spans suggest idle time
  5. Synthesize -- call mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_context-synthesize to combine span metadata into a narrative summary of the execution flow
  6. Report -- display the trace tree with: span name, agent, duration, status (OK/ERROR), and bottleneck flag; include total trace duration and critical path duration

CLI alternative

bash
npx @claude-flow/cli@latest memory search --query "trace spans for task TASK_ID" --namespace observability

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

Files

Just SKILL.md in plugins/ruflo-observability/skills/observe-trace of ruvnet/ruflo.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 6051f67

Compare with similar skills

Observe Trace next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Observe Trace compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Observe Trace this skillruvnet/ruflo74k—~522Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Phoenix Tracinggithub/awesome-copilot40k3 repos~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Langsmith ObservabilityOrchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs13k3 repos~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Ebpf Observabilitysickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k2 repos~3.3kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Python Observabilitywshobson/agents40k—~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Observability Designeralirezarezvani/claude-skills28k—~3.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Observe Trace

What does Observe Trace do?

Trace agent execution by collecting spans and building a trace tree for a task. Observe Trace is an agent skill from ruvnet/ruflo.

How do I install Observe Trace in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add ruvnet/ruflo --skill observe-trace -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/ruflo-observability/skills/observe-trace in ruvnet/ruflo) into .claude/skills/observe-trace in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Observe Trace in Codex?

Run `npx skills add ruvnet/ruflo --skill observe-trace -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/ruflo-observability/skills/observe-trace in ruvnet/ruflo) into .agents/skills/observe-trace in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Observe Trace 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 ruvnet/ruflo --skill observe-trace -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/observe-trace, .gemini/skills/observe-trace, .github/skills/observe-trace and .opencode/skills/observe-trace in your project.

What does Observe Trace need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Observe Trace needs the command-line tools its instructions call (npx). Our summary lists: Node.js. Its frontmatter pre-approves these tools: mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_search, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__memory_list, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_semantic-route, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_context-synthesize, mcp__plugin_ruflo-core_ruflo__agentdb_pattern-search, Bash.

Does Observe Trace access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use npx, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Observe Trace safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found notes only (pre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: bash)), nothing it rates as a warning. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Observe Trace use?

Observe Trace is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Observe Trace use?

About 522 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.1k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Observe Trace?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Observe Trace: Phoenix Tracing (github/awesome-copilot, 40k stars), Langsmith Observability (Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, 13k stars), Ebpf Observability (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars) and Python Observability (wshobson/agents, 40k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Observe Trace?

ruvnet (a GitHub user) maintains it in ruvnet/ruflo, which has 74,089 GitHub stars. The repository holds 264 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: ruvnet/ruflo on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.