Observability for Vercel AI SDK with Opik
Setup
The AI SDK supports tracing via OpenTelemetry. With the OpikExporter you can collect these traces in Opik.
While telemetry is experimental (docs), you can enable it by setting experimental_telemetry on each request that you want to trace.
To collect the traces in Opik, you need to add the OpikExporter to your application, first you have to set your environment variables
Intent:
Use OpikExporter as the OTEL trace exporter for AI SDK telemetry.
Applies when:
You are using generateText/streamText with experimental_telemetry.
Required fields:
OPIK_API_KEY
Optional fields:
OPIK_WORKSPACE(defaults todefaultfor Cloud/Enterprise; set to override)OPIK_PROJECT_NAME(defaults to “Default Project”; set to override)OPIK_URL_OVERRIDE(required for non-default deployment URLs)OPIK_LOG_LEVEL
Deployment endpoint examples:
- Opik Cloud:
OPIK_URL_OVERRIDE=https://www.comet.com/opik/api - Enterprise:
OPIK_URL_OVERRIDE=https://<comet-deployment-url>/opik/api - Self-hosted:
OPIK_URL_OVERRIDE=http://localhost:5173/api
Now you need to register this exporter via the OpenTelemetry SDK.
Next.js
Next.js has support for OpenTelemetry instrumentation on the framework level. Learn more about it in the Next.js OpenTelemetry guide.
Install dependencies:
Add OpikExporter to your instrumentation file:
Node.js
Install dependencies:
Done! All traces that contain AI SDK spans are automatically captured in Opik.
AI SDK versions and Vercel eve
OpikExporter works with all current AI SDK versions — v4, v5, v6, and v7 —
with no extra setup. It also supports Vercel eve, the agent framework built
on AI SDK v7, capturing each run as nested LLM and tool spans. The setup shown
above is all you need, and your code keeps working as you upgrade.
Multi-turn eve conversations
When you run Vercel eve, a multi-turn conversation is grouped into a single Opik
thread automatically, so every turn shows up together — you don’t need to set
threadId yourself.
Cached token usage
If your model reports prompt caching, cached tokens are tracked alongside the usual input and output tokens, so your token and cost metrics stay accurate.
Configuration
Custom Tags and Metadata
You can add custom tags and metadata to all traces generated by the OpikExporter:
Tags are useful for filtering and grouping traces, while metadata adds additional context that can be valuable for debugging and analysis. The threadId parameter is useful for tracking multi-turn conversations or grouping related AI interactions.
Pass Custom Trace name
Thread ID Support
You can associate traces with conversation threads by setting the threadId parameter. This is useful for tracking multi-turn conversations or grouping related AI interactions.
Set threadId per request via telemetry metadata (this overrides any exporter-level threadId):
Debugging
Use the logger level to see the more verbose logs of the exporter.
Validation
- Run one AI SDK request with
experimental_telemetryenabled. - Confirm
OpikExporterinitializes without auth errors. - Verify traces in the target Opik workspace/project.