Phoenix Cli

---
name: phoenix-cli
description: Phoenix CLI — fetch/export traces, analyze errors, open coding axial coding review
license: Apache-2.0
compatibility: Requires Node.js (for npx) or global install of @arizeai/phoenix-cli. Optionally requires jq for JSON processing.
metadata:
  author: arize-ai
  version: "3.3.0"
source: "https://github.com/Arize-ai/phoenix"
attribution: "Arize-ai/phoenix by Arize AI"
---

> **Attribution:** Sourced from [Arize-ai/phoenix](https://github.com/Arize-ai/phoenix) by [Arize AI](https://arize.com).

# Phoenix CLI

## Invocation

```bash
px <resource> <action>                          # if installed globally
npx @arizeai/phoenix-cli <resource> <action>    # no install required
```

The CLI uses singular resource commands with subcommands like `list` and `get`:

```bash
px trace list
px trace get <trace-id>
px trace annotate <trace-id>
px trace add-note <trace-id>
px span list
px span annotate <span-id>
px span add-note <span-id>
px session list
px session get <session-id>
px session annotate <session-id>
px session add-note <session-id>
px dataset list
px dataset get <name>
px project list
px annotation-config list
px auth status
```

## Setup

```bash
export PHOENIX_HOST=http://localhost:6006
export PHOENIX_PROJECT=my-project
export PHOENIX_API_KEY=your-api-key  # if auth is enabled
```

Always use `--format raw --no-progress` when piping to `jq`.

## Quick Reference

| Task | Files |
| ---- | ----- |
| Look at sampled traces and write specific notes about what went wrong (no taxonomy yet) | [references/open-coding](references/open-coding.md) |
| Group those notes into a structured failure taxonomy and quantify what matters | [references/axial-coding](references/axial-coding.md) |

## Workflows

**"What do I do after instrumenting?" / "Where do I focus?" / "What's going wrong?"**
[open-coding](references/open-coding.md) → [axial-coding](references/axial-coding.md) → build evals for the top categories.

## Reference Categories

| Prefix | Description |
| ------ | ----------- |
| `references/open-coding` | Free-form notes against sampled traces — reach for it whenever the user wants to make sense of traces but has no failure categories yet |
| `references/axial-coding` | Inductive grouping of notes into a MECE taxonomy with counts — reach for it whenever the user has observations and needs categories or eval targets |

## Auth

```bash
px auth status                                # check connection and authentication
px auth status --endpoint http://other:6006   # check a specific endpoint
```

## Projects

```bash
px project list                                            # list all projects (table view)
px project list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' # project names as JSON
```

## Traces

```bash
px trace list --limit 20 --format raw --no-progress | jq .
px trace list --last-n-minutes 60 --limit 20 --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | select(.status == "ERROR")'
px trace list --since 2025-01-15T00:00:00Z --limit 50 --format raw --no-progress | jq .
px trace list --format raw --no-progress | jq 'sort_by(-.duration) | .[0:5]'
px trace list --include-notes --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].notes'
px trace get <trace-id> --format raw | jq .
px trace get <trace-id> --format raw | jq '.spans[] | select(.status_code != "OK")'
px trace get <trace-id> --include-notes --format raw | jq '.notes'
px trace annotate <trace-id> --name reviewer --label pass
px trace annotate <trace-id> --name reviewer --score 0.9 --format raw --no-progress
px trace add-note <trace-id> --text "needs follow-up"
```

### Trace JSON shape

```
Trace
  traceId, status ("OK"|"ERROR"), duration (ms), startTime, endTime
  annotations[] (with --include-annotations, excludes note)
    name, result { score, label, explanation }
  notes[] (with --include-notes)
    name="note", result { explanation }
  rootSpan  — top-level span (parent_id: null)
  spans[]
    name, span_kind ("LLM"|"CHAIN"|"TOOL"|"RETRIEVER"|"EMBEDDING"|"AGENT"|"RERANKER"|"GUARDRAIL"|"EVALUATOR"|"UNKNOWN")
    status_code ("OK"|"ERROR"|"UNSET"), parent_id, context.span_id
    notes[] (with --include-notes)
      name="note", result { explanation }
    attributes
      input.value, output.value          — raw input/output
      llm.model_name, llm.provider
      llm.token_count.prompt/completion/total
      llm.token_count.prompt_details.cache_read
      llm.token_count.completion_details.reasoning
      llm.input_messages.{N}.message.role/content
      llm.output_messages.{N}.message.role/content
      llm.invocation_parameters          — JSON string (temperature, etc.)
      exception.message                  — set if span errored
```

## Spans

```bash
px span list --limit 20                                    # recent spans (table view)
px span list --last-n-minutes 60 --limit 50                # spans from last hour
px span list --since 2025-01-15T00:00:00Z --limit 50       # spans since a timestamp
px span list --span-kind LLM --limit 10                    # only LLM spans
px span list --status-code ERROR --limit 20                # only errored spans
px span list --name chat_completion --limit 10             # filter by span name
px span list --trace-id <id> --format raw --no-progress | jq .   # all spans for a trace
px span list --parent-id null --limit 10                   # only root spans
px span list --parent-id <span-id> --limit 10              # only children of a span
px span list --include-annotations --limit 10              # include annotation scores
px span list --include-notes --limit 10                    # include span notes
px span list --attribute llm.model_name:gpt-4 --limit 10  # filter by string attribute
px span list --attribute llm.token_count.total:500 --limit 10  # filter by numeric attribute
px span list --attribute 'user.id:"12345"' --limit 10     # force string match for numeric-looking value
px span list --attribute session.id:sess:abc:123 --limit 20  # colon in value OK (split on first colon only)
px span list --attribute llm.model_name:gpt-4 --attribute session.id:abc --limit 10  # AND multiple filters
px span list output.json --limit 100                       # save to JSON file
px span list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | select(.status_code == "ERROR")'
px span annotate <span-id> --name reviewer --label pass
px span annotate <span-id> --name checker --score 1 --annotator-kind CODE
px span add-note <span-id> --text "verified by agent"
```

### Span JSON shape

```
Span
  name, span_kind ("LLM"|"CHAIN"|"TOOL"|"RETRIEVER"|"EMBEDDING"|"AGENT"|"RERANKER"|"GUARDRAIL"|"EVALUATOR"|"UNKNOWN")
  status_code ("OK"|"ERROR"|"UNSET"), status_message
  context.span_id, context.trace_id, parent_id
  start_time, end_time
  attributes
    input.value, output.value          — raw input/output
    llm.model_name, llm.provider
    llm.token_count.prompt/completion/total
    llm.input_messages.{N}.message.role/content
    llm.output_messages.{N}.message.role/content
    llm.invocation_parameters          — JSON string (temperature, etc.)
    exception.message                  — set if span errored
  annotations[] (with --include-annotations, excludes note)
    name, result { score, label, explanation }
  notes[] (with --include-notes)
    name="note", result { explanation }
```

## Sessions

```bash
px session list --limit 10 --format raw --no-progress | jq .
px session list --order asc --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].session_id'
px session list --include-annotations --include-notes --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].notes'
px session get <session-id> --format raw | jq .
px session get <session-id> --include-annotations --format raw | jq '.session.annotations'
px session get <session-id> --include-notes --format raw | jq '.session.notes'
px session annotate <session-id> --name reviewer --label pass
px session annotate <session-id> --name reviewer --score 0.9 --format raw --no-progress
px session add-note <session-id> --text "verified by agent"
```

### Session JSON shape

```
SessionData
  id, session_id, project_id
  start_time, end_time
  annotations[] (with --include-annotations, excludes note)
    name, result { score, label, explanation }
  notes[] (with --include-notes)
    name="note", result { explanation }
  traces[]
    id, trace_id, start_time, end_time
```

## Datasets / Experiments / Prompts

```bash
px dataset list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name'
px dataset get <name> --format raw | jq '.examples[] | {input, output: .expected_output}'
px dataset get <name> --split train --format raw | jq .    # filter by split
px dataset get <name> --version <version-id> --format raw | jq .
px experiment list --dataset <name> --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | {id, name, failed_run_count}'
px experiment get <id> --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[] | select(.error != null) | {input, error}'
px prompt list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name'
px prompt get <name> --format text --no-progress   # plain text, ideal for piping to AI
```

## Annotation Configs

```bash
px annotation-config list                                           # list all configs (table view)
px annotation-config list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' # config names as JSON
```

## GraphQL

For ad-hoc queries not covered by the commands above. Output is `{"data": {...}}`.

```bash
px api graphql '{ projectCount datasetCount promptCount evaluatorCount }'
px api graphql '{ projects { edges { node { name traceCount tokenCountTotal } } } }' | jq '.data.projects.edges[].node'
px api graphql '{ datasets { edges { node { name exampleCount experimentCount } } } }' | jq '.data.datasets.edges[].node'
px api graphql '{ evaluators { edges { node { name kind } } } }' | jq '.data.evaluators.edges[].node'

# Introspect any type
px api graphql '{ __type(name: "Project") { fields { name type { name } } } }' | jq '.data.__type.fields[]'
```

Key root fields: `projects`, `datasets`, `prompts`, `evaluators`, `projectCount`, `datasetCount`, `promptCount`, `evaluatorCount`, `viewer`.

## Docs

Download Phoenix documentation markdown for local use by coding agents.

```bash
px docs fetch                                # fetch default workflow docs to .px/docs
px docs fetch --workflow tracing             # fetch only tracing docs
px docs fetch --workflow tracing --workflow evaluation
px docs fetch --dry-run                      # preview what would be downloaded
px docs fetch --refresh                      # clear .px/docs and re-download
px docs fetch --output-dir ./my-docs         # custom output directory
```

Key options: `--workflow` (repeatable, values: `tracing`, `evaluation`, `datasets`, `prompts`, `integrations`, `sdk`, `self-hosting`, `all`), `--dry-run`, `--refresh`, `--output-dir` (default `.px/docs`), `--workers` (default 10).