Semantic Conventions

Reserved span attributes that can show up on the platform in different ways

When sending traces, you may want to set your own custom attributes on each span. Semantic conventions are special attribute keys or values that may take on special meaning. In Arize, certain attribute keys are displayed in more prominent ways, in addition to showing up the in the attributes tab like keys.

Mapping of attributes to Arize platform

Types of Attributes

• Span

• Message

• Document

• Reranker

• Embedding

• Tool Call

Span

class SpanAttributes:
    OUTPUT_VALUE = "output.value"
    OUTPUT_MIME_TYPE = "output.mime_type"
    """
    The type of output.value. If unspecified, the type is plain text by default.
    If type is JSON, the value is a string representing a JSON object.
    """
    INPUT_VALUE = "input.value"
    INPUT_MIME_TYPE = "input.mime_type"
    """
    The type of input.value. If unspecified, the type is plain text by default.
    If type is JSON, the value is a string representing a JSON object.
    """

    EMBEDDING_EMBEDDINGS = "embedding.embeddings"
    """
    A list of objects containing embedding data, including the vector and represented piece of text.
    """
    EMBEDDING_MODEL_NAME = "embedding.model_name"
    """
    The name of the embedding model.
    """

    LLM_FUNCTION_CALL = "llm.function_call"
    """
    For models and APIs that support function calling. Records attributes such as the function
    name and arguments to the called function.
    """
    LLM_INVOCATION_PARAMETERS = "llm.invocation_parameters"
    """
    Invocation parameters passed to the LLM or API, such as the model name, temperature, etc.
    """
    LLM_INPUT_MESSAGES = "llm.input_messages"
    """
    Messages provided to a chat API.
    """
    LLM_OUTPUT_MESSAGES = "llm.output_messages"
    """
    Messages received from a chat API.
    """
    LLM_MODEL_NAME = "llm.model_name"
    """
    The name of the model being used.
    """
    LLM_PROMPTS = "llm.prompts"
    """
    Prompts provided to a completions API.
    """
    LLM_PROMPT_TEMPLATE = "llm.prompt_template.template"
    """
    The prompt template as a Python f-string.
    """
    LLM_PROMPT_TEMPLATE_VARIABLES = "llm.prompt_template.variables"
    """
    A list of input variables to the prompt template.
    """
    LLM_PROMPT_TEMPLATE_VERSION = "llm.prompt_template.version"
    """
    The version of the prompt template being used.
    """
    LLM_TOKEN_COUNT_PROMPT = "llm.token_count.prompt"
    """
    Number of tokens in the prompt.
    """
    LLM_TOKEN_COUNT_COMPLETION = "llm.token_count.completion"
    """
    Number of tokens in the completion.
    """
    LLM_TOKEN_COUNT_TOTAL = "llm.token_count.total"
    """
    Total number of tokens, including both prompt and completion.
    """

    TOOL_NAME = "tool.name"
    """
    Name of the tool being used.
    """
    TOOL_DESCRIPTION = "tool.description"
    """
    Description of the tool's purpose, typically used to select the tool.
    """
    TOOL_PARAMETERS = "tool.parameters"
    """
    Parameters of the tool represented a dictionary JSON string, e.g.
    see https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/gpt/function-calling
    """

    RETRIEVAL_DOCUMENTS = "retrieval.documents"

    METADATA = "metadata"
    """
    Metadata attributes are used to store user-defined key-value pairs.
    For example, LangChain uses metadata to store user-defined attributes for a chain.
    """

    TAG_TAGS = "tag.tags"
    """
    Custom categorical tags for the span.
    """

    OPENINFERENCE_SPAN_KIND = "openinference.span.kind"

    SESSION_ID = "session.id"
    """
    The id of the session
    """
    USER_ID = "user.id"
    """
    The id of the user
    """

Message

class MessageAttributes:
    """
    Attributes for a message generated by a LLM
    """

    MESSAGE_ROLE = "message.role"
    """
    The role of the message, such as "user", "agent", "function".
    """
    MESSAGE_CONTENT = "message.content"
    """
    The content of the message to the llm
    """
    MESSAGE_NAME = "message.name"
    """
    The name of the message, often used to identify the function
    that was used to generate the message.
    """
    MESSAGE_TOOL_CALLS = "message.tool_calls"
    """
    The tool calls generated by the model, such as function calls.
    """
    MESSAGE_FUNCTION_CALL_NAME = "message.function_call_name"
    """
    The function name that is a part of the message list.
    This is populated for role 'function' or 'agent' as a mechanism to identify
    the function that was called during the execution of a tool
    """
    MESSAGE_FUNCTION_CALL_ARGUMENTS_JSON = "message.function_call_arguments_json"
    """
    The JSON string representing the arguments passed to the function
    during a function call
    """

Document

class DocumentAttributes:
    """
    Attributes for a document
    """

    DOCUMENT_ID = "document.id"
    """
    The id of the document
    """
    DOCUMENT_SCORE = "document.score"
    """
    The score of the document
    """
    DOCUMENT_CONTENT = "document.content"
    """
    The content of the document
    """
    DOCUMENT_METADATA = "document.metadata"
    """
    The metadata of the document represented as a dictionary
    JSON string, e.g. `"{ 'title': 'foo' }"`
    """

Reranker

class RerankerAttributes:
    """
    Attributes for a reranker
    """

    RERANKER_INPUT_DOCUMENTS = "reranker.input_documents"
    """
    List of documents as input to the reranker
    """
    RERANKER_OUTPUT_DOCUMENTS = "reranker.output_documents"
    """
    List of documents as output from the reranker
    """
    RERANKER_QUERY = "reranker.query"
    """
    Query string for the reranker
    """
    RERANKER_MODEL_NAME = "reranker.model_name"
    """
    Model name of the reranker
    """
    RERANKER_TOP_K = "reranker.top_k"
    """
    Top K parameter of the reranker
    """

Embedding

class EmbeddingAttributes:
    """
    Attributes for an embedding
    """

    EMBEDDING_TEXT = "embedding.text"
    """
    The text represented by the embedding.
    """
    EMBEDDING_VECTOR = "embedding.vector"
    """
    The embedding vector.
    """

Tool Call

class ToolCallAttributes:
    """
    Attributes for a tool call
    """

    TOOL_CALL_FUNCTION_NAME = "tool_call.function.name"
    """
    The name of function that is being called during a tool call.
    """
    TOOL_CALL_FUNCTION_ARGUMENTS_JSON = "tool_call.function.arguments"
    """
    The JSON string representing the arguments passed to the function
    during a tool call.
    """

For a complete guide to Python semantic conventions, refer to the following resource on GitHub: OpenInference Python Semantic Conventions.

You can also see example values for each attribute below. and our Readme for our semantic conventions.

Attribute	Type	Example	Description
document.content	String	"This is a sample document content."	The content of a retrieved document
document.id	String/Integer	"1234" or 1	Unique identifier for a document
document.metadata	JSON String	"{'author': 'John Doe', 'date': '2023-09-09'}"	Metadata associated with a document
document.score	Float	0.98	Score representing the relevance of a document
embedding.embeddings	List of objects†	[{"embedding.vector": [...], "embedding.text": "hello"}]	List of embedding objects including text and vector data
embedding.model_name	String	"BERT-base"	Name of the embedding model used
embedding.text	String	"hello world"	The text represented in the embedding
embedding.vector	List of floats	[0.123, 0.456, ...]	The embedding vector consisting of a list of floats
exception.escaped	Boolean	true	Indicator if the exception has escaped the span's scope
exception.message	String	"Null value encountered"	Detailed message describing the exception
exception.stacktrace	String	"at app.main(app.java:16)"	The stack trace of the exception
exception.type	String	"NullPointerException"	The type of exception that was thrown
input.mime_type	String	"text/plain" or "application/json"	MIME type representing the format of input.value
input.value	String	"{'query': 'What is the weather today?'}"	The input value to an operation
llm.function_call	JSON String	"{function_name: 'add', args: [1, 2]}"	Object recording details of a function call in models or APIs
llm.input_messages	List of objects†	[{"message.role": "user", "message.content": "hello"}]	List of messages sent to the LLM in a chat API request
llm.invocation_parameters	JSON string	"{model_name: 'gpt-3', temperature: 0.7}"	Parameters used during the invocation of an LLM or API
llm.model_name	String	"gpt-3.5-turbo"	The name of the language model being utilized
llm.output_messages	List of objects†	[{"message.role": "user", "message.content": "hello"}]	List of messages received from the LLM in a chat API request
llm.prompt_template.template	String	"Weather forecast for {city} on {date}"	Template used to generate prompts as Python f-strings
llm.prompt_template.variables	JSON String	{ context: "<context from retrieval>", subject: "math" }	JSON of key value pairs applied to the prompt template
llm.prompt_template.version	String	"v1.0"	The version of the prompt template
llm.token_count.completion	Integer	15	The number of tokens in the completion
llm.token_count.prompt	Integer	5	The number of tokens in the prompt
llm.token_count.total	Integer	20	Total number of tokens, including prompt and completion
message.content	String	"What's the weather today?"	The content of a message in a chat
message.function_call_arguments_json	JSON String	"{ 'x': 2 }"	The arguments to the function call in JSON
message.function_call_name	String	"multiply" or "subtract"	Function call function name
message.role	String	"user" or "system"	Role of the entity in a message (e.g., user, system)
message.tool_calls	List of objects†	[{"tool_call.function.name": "get_current_weather"}]	List of tool calls (e.g. function calls) generated by the LLM
metadata	JSON String	"{'author': 'John Doe', 'date': '2023-09-09'}"	Metadata associated with a span
openinference.span.kind	String	"CHAIN"	The kind of span (e.g., CHAIN, LLM, RETRIEVER, RERANKER)
output.mime_type	String	"text/plain" or "application/json"	MIME type representing the format of output.value
output.value	String	"Hello, World!"	The output value of an operation
reranker.input_documents	List of objects†	[{"document.id": "1", "document.score": 0.9, "document.content": "..."}]	List of documents as input to the reranker
reranker.model_name	String	"cross-encoder/ms-marco-MiniLM-L-12-v2"	Model name of the reranker
reranker.output_documents	List of objects†	[{"document.id": "1", "document.score": 0.9, "document.content": "..."}]	List of documents outputted by the reranker
reranker.query	String	"How to format timestamp?"	Query parameter of the reranker
reranker.top_k	Integer	3	Top K parameter of the reranker
retrieval.documents	List of objects†	[{"document.id": "1", "document.score": 0.9, "document.content": "..."}]	List of retrieved documents
session.id	String	"26bcd3d2-cad2-443d-a23c-625e47f3324a"	Unique identifier for a session
tag.tags	List of strings	["shopping", "travel"]	List of tags to give the span a category
tool.description	String	"An API to get weather data."	Description of the tool's purpose and functionality
tool.name	String	"WeatherAPI"	The name of the tool being utilized
tool.parameters	JSON string	"{ 'a': 'int' }"	The parameters definition for invoking the tool
tool_call.function.arguments	JSON string	"{'city': 'London'}"	The arguments for the function being invoked by a tool call
tool_call.function.name	String	get_current_weather	The name of the function being invoked by a tool call
user.id	String	"9328ae73-7141-4f45-a044-8e06192aa465"	Unique identifier for a user

Using semantic conventions

Here is an example implementation of a semantic convention. Simply treat them as a string when setting an attribute on a span:

Python

% pip install openinference-semantic-conventions

from openinference.semconv.trace import (
    SpanAttributes,
    OpenInferenceSpanKindValues,
)

def chat(message: str): 
    with tracer.start_as_current_span("an_llm_span") as span:
        span.set_attribute(
            SpanAttributes.OPENINFERENCE_SPAN_KIND,
            OpenInferenceSpanKindValues.LLM.value
        )
        
        # Same as:
        # span.set_attribute(
        #     "openinference.span.kind",
        #     "LLM",
        # )
        
        span.set_attribute(
            SpanAttributes.INPUT_VALUE,
            message,
        )
        

Typescript

The reference for Typescript semantic conventions can be found here:

https://github.com/Arize-ai/openinference/blob/main/js/packages/openinference-semantic-conventions/src/trace/SemanticConventions.ts

npm install @arizeai/openinference-semantic-conventions

import { Span } from "@opentelemetry/api";
import {
    SemanticConventions,
    OpenInferenceSpanKind,
} from "@arizeai/openinference-semantic-conventions";

export function chat(message: string) {
    // Create a span. A span must be closed.
    tracer.startActiveSpan(
        "an_llm_span",
        (span: Span) => {
            // Set the type of span:
            span.setAttributes({
                [SemanticConventions.OPENINFERENCE_SPAN_KIND]: OpenInferenceSpanKind.llm,
            });
    
            // Same as: 
            // span.setAttributes({
            //     ["openinference.span.kind"]: "llm",
            // });             
            
            // Set the input
            span.setAttributes({
                [SemanticConventions.INPUT_VALUE]: message,
            });
            do_work(message)         
            
            span.end();
        }
    }
}

Transforming messages into OpenTelemetry span attributes

To get a list of objects exported as OpenTelemetry span attributes, flattening of the list is necessary.

If the objects are further nested, flattening should continue until the attribute values are either simple values, i.e. bool, str, bytes, int, float or simple lists, i.e. List[bool], List[str], List[bytes], List[int], List[float].

You can use the example code below to do so.

Python

# List of messages from OpenAI or another LLM provider
messages = [{"message.role": "user", "message.content": "hello"},
            {"message.role": "assistant", "message.content": "hi"}]

# Assumed you have a span object already created
for i, obj in enumerate(messages):
    for key, value in obj.items():
        span.set_attribute(f"input.messages.{i}.{key}", value)

Javascript

const messages = [{ "message.role": "user", "message.content": "hello", }, {
  "message.role": "assistant",
  "message.content": "hi",
}];

for (const [i, obj] of messages.entries()) {
  for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(obj)) {
    span.setAttribute(`input.messages.${i}.${key}`, value);
  }
}

Examples

Adding Span Kind Attributes

Adding Input Attributes

Adding Output Attributes

Adding Tool Call Attributes