phoenix-cli

What this skill does

# 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 trace-annotations delete
px span list
px span annotate <span-id>
px span add-note <span-id>
px span-annotations delete
px session list
px session get <session-id>
px session annotate <session-id>
px session add-note <session-id>
px session-annotations delete
px dataset list
px dataset get <name>
px project list
px project get <name>
px annotation-config list
px auth status
px profile list
px profile show [name]
px profile create <name>
px profile use <name>
px profile edit <name>
px profile delete <name>
```

## 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, spans, or sessions 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) |

Both stages tag every artifact with one shared **coding annotation identifier** (descriptive shape, e.g. `coding-run:chatbot-context-loss-2026-05-06`) so the run is queryable, reversible, and viewable as a unit. Pass `--identifier <value>` explicitly on every `px` call — shell inheritance is unreliable across agent harnesses. Open coding writes notes via `px ... add-note` and records a small local JSONL sidecar at `.px/coding/<sanitized-identifier>.jsonl`; axial coding reads that sidecar as the deterministic handoff and records labels in `.px/coding/<sanitized-identifier>-axial.jsonl`. Pick the identifier once per run (see [references/open-coding.md](references/open-coding.md#coding-annotation-identifier-pick-this-first)), then share the Phoenix UI link from the wrap-up section. Revert is opt-in and runs three identifier-bound DELETEs only after explicit user confirmation.

> **Workflow term vs. server annotation name.** The skill prose calls this value the **coding annotation identifier** (shell-variable hint: `CODING_ANNOTATION_IDENTIFIER`). The server-side annotation NAME used for the UI filter is unchanged — `coding_session_id` — for data compatibility with rows already written by previous runs. Don't try to rename the server-side annotation; treat the asymmetry as load-bearing.

## 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, spans, or sessions — reach for it whenever the user wants to make sense of LLM traffic but has no failure categories yet. Includes a unit-of-analysis diagnostic so the workflow runs at the level the failure modes actually live at (trace for stateless single-shot calls, session for multi-turn agents, span for mechanical/in-isolation failures). |
| `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
px auth status --profile staging              # check a named profile's connection
```

## Profiles

Named profiles let you switch between multiple Phoenix instances (local, staging, cloud) without juggling environment variables. Profiles are stored in `~/.px/settings.json` (or `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/px/settings.json`).

Configuration priority (highest to lowest): CLI flags > env vars > active profile > built-in defaults.

```bash
px profile list                              # list all profiles (shows active profile)
px profile show                              # show the active profile's settings
px profile show staging                      # show a named profile's settings
px profile create prod --endpoint https://app.phoenix.arize.com --api-key <key> --activate
px profile create local --endpoint http://localhost:6006 --project my-app
px profile use prod                          # switch the active profile
px profile edit prod                         # open profile JSON in $EDITOR (validates on save)
px profile delete prod --yes                 # delete a profile (--yes skips confirmation)
```

Use `--profile <name>` on any command to target a specific profile without changing the active one:

```bash
px trace list --profile staging --limit 10 --format raw --no-progress | jq .
px auth status --profile prod
```

`px profile create` options: `--endpoint <url>`, `--project <name>`, `--api-key <key>`, `--header <key=value>` (repeatable), `--activate`.

## Projects

```bash
px project list                                            # list all projects (table view)
px project list --format raw --no-progress | jq '.[].name' # project names as JSON
px project get my-project --format raw --no-progress       # single record by exact name
px project get my-project --format raw --no-progress | jq -r '.id'  # extract project id
```

`project get` exits with `ExitCode.FAILURE` (1) on a name miss and writes a `StructuredError` `{error, code: "FAILURE", hint}` to stderr in `--format json|raw`.

## 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 annotate <trace-id> --name reviewer --label pass --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>"  # tag with a coding annotation identifier
px trace add-note <trace-id> --text "needs follow-up"
px trace add-note <trace-id> --text "needs follow-up" --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>"  # tag + upsert on identifier
px trace-annotations delete --identifier "<coding-annotation-id>" --all -y            # nuke every annotation tied to this coding annotation identifier
```

`px <entity>-annotations delete` requires `--all` or both `--start-time` and `--end-time` and emits `{deleted: true, target, filter}` on success.

### 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