---
title: "Tracing"
description: "With Tracing, Sentry tracks your software performance, measuring metrics like throughput and latency, and displays the impact of errors across multiple systems."
url: https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/
---

# Set Up Tracing | Sentry for Python

## [Prerequisites](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing.md#prerequisites)

* You have the [Python SDK installed](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python.md) (version 0.11.2 or higher)

## [Configure](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing.md#configure)

To enable tracing in your application, adjust the `traces_sample_rate` based on the number of trace samples you want to send to Sentry by adding the highlighted code snippet below. (Setting a value of `1.0` will send 100% of your traces.)

```python
import sentry_sdk

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn="https://<key>@o<orgId>.ingest.sentry.io/<projectId>",
    # Add data like request headers and IP for users, if applicable;
    # see https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/data-management/data-collected/ for more info
    send_default_pii=True,
    # Set traces_sample_rate to 1.0 to capture 100%
    # of transactions for tracing.
+   traces_sample_rate=1.0,
)
```

If you’re adopting Tracing in a high-throughput environment, we recommend testing prior to deployment to ensure that your service’s performance characteristics maintain expectations.

Learn more about tracing [options](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/configuration/options.md#tracing-options), how to use the [traces\_sampler](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/configuration/sampling.md#setting-a-sampling-function) function, or how to [sample transactions](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/configuration/sampling.md#sampling-transaction-events).

## [Agent Tracing](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing.md#agent-tracing)

If you're building with AI agents or LLMs, you can extend your tracing setup to capture agent workflows, model calls, tool executions, and token usage. With tracing already enabled, the Python SDK automatically instruments supported libraries like OpenAI, Anthropic, LangChain, and others.

[Set up Agent Tracing](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/instrumentation/custom-instrumentation/ai-agents-module.md) to get started.

## [Next Steps](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing.md#next-steps)

* #### [Span Lifecycle](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/span-lifecycle.md)

  Learn how to add attributes to spans in Sentry to monitor performance and debug applications.

* #### [Sending Span Metrics](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/span-metrics.md)

  Learn how to add attributes to spans in Sentry to monitor performance and debug applications

* #### [Set Up Distributed Tracing](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/distributed-tracing.md)

  Learn how to connect events across applications/services.

* #### [Configure Sampling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/configure-sampling.md)

  Learn how to configure sampling in your app.

* #### [Instrumentation](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/instrumentation.md)

  Learn what Sentry instruments automatically, and how to configure spans to capture tracing data on any action in your app.

* #### [Troubleshooting](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/troubleshooting.md)

  Learn how to troubleshoot your tracing setup.

## Pages in this section

- [Span Lifecycle](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/span-lifecycle.md)
- [Sending Span Metrics](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/span-metrics.md)
- [Set Up Distributed Tracing](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/distributed-tracing.md)
- [Configure Sampling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/configure-sampling.md)
- [Instrumentation](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/instrumentation.md)
- [Troubleshooting](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/tracing/troubleshooting.md)