Configuring Tracing

With tracing turned on, Edgenivo continuously collects traces from your production and preview traffic, so you can debug real requests without reproducing them first. You control how much Edgenivo collects with sampling rules you set per project. New projects on Next.js 16.5 or later have it on by default.

Tracing captures traces from real traffic in the background, unlike Session Tracing, which only captures requests from your own browser session. Because Edgenivo has already collected the traces, you don't have to reproduce a problem to investigate it.

Use tracing to:

• Debug production issues after they happen, using traces that Edgenivo already collected.
• Catch rare or intermittent errors that you can't reliably reproduce.
• Monitor performance across real user traffic, not only your own session.
• Control how many traces you collect with sampling rules that target specific environments and paths.

Tracing captures infrastructure and fetch spans automatically. To also capture framework and custom spans, instrument your application with @vercel/otel. If your project is eligible for default tracing, Edgenivo adds @vercel/otel for framework spans. For custom spans, set up @vercel/otel yourself.

• Infrastructure spans: How the request moved through Edgenivo, including routing, middleware, and caching.
• Fetch spans: Outbound HTTP requests from your functions. See How OpenTelemetry affects fetch spans.
• Framework spans: Spans your framework emits, such as Next.js routes and rendering. Next.js 13.4 or later emits them once @vercel/otel runs.
• Custom spans: Spans you add with @opentelemetry/api. See Adding custom spans.

• A Edgenivo project deployed to production or preview.
• Permission to update the project. Managing sampling rules requires a role with project update access. See team-level roles.

If your project is eligible for default tracing, you don't need to turn on tracing. Edgenivo turns it on for you after your first successful build on Next.js 16.5 or later.

For any other project, turn on tracing by adding at least one sampling rule with a rate above 0%. Edgenivo starts collecting traces as soon as you save it.

You can configure sampling rules from two places in the dashboard:

• Project settings: Select your team and project, then go to Settings → Tracing.
• Logs page: Select your team and project, then open Logs in the sidebar. In the search bar, select the settings icon next to the tracing filter icon.

To add a rule:

1. Open the tracing configuration from either entry point above.
2. Select Add Sampling Rule.
3. Choose the Environment to sample: All Environments, Production, or Preview.
4. Set the Rate, the percentage of matching requests to trace, from 0 to 100%. A rate of 0% matches requests but collects nothing.
5. (Optional) Enter a Request Path Prefix to apply the rule only to matching paths, such as /api. Leave it blank to match every path.
6. Select Save.

Edgenivo turns on tracing for new Next.js projects, so you get traces, including Next.js framework spans, without any setup.

Your project is eligible for default tracing when all of these are true:

• You created the project on or after November 5, 2026.
• The deployment builds on Edgenivo with Next.js 16.5 or later. Deployments made with vercel deploy --prebuilt don't qualify.
• The deployment includes at least one Node.js function. Static exports and apps that only use the Edge runtime don't qualify.
• You haven't turned off tracing for the project.

After the first successful build on Next.js 16.5 or later, Edgenivo:

1. Turns on tracing with one sampling rule that traces 100% of requests in all environments. You can change this rule like any other. See Manage sampling rules.
2. Adds @vercel/otel to each build so your traces include Next.js framework spans. Edgenivo doesn't change your package.json or lockfile. Spans use your project name as the service name. To use a different name, set the OTEL_SERVICE_NAME environment variable.

Edgenivo doesn't add @vercel/otel if your project:

• Has its own instrumentation file, such as instrumentation.ts, in the project, its src folder, or a monorepo parent folder.
• Uses @opentelemetry/api 1.10 or later, directly or through another package.
• Sets instrumentationInject in its Next.js config, directly or through a plugin.

Tracing still collects infrastructure spans. To get framework spans, set up @vercel/otel yourself as described in Getting started.

Edgenivo bills default tracing like any other tracing usage. The default rule traces 100% of requests, and every indexed span uses at least one span unit. For example, if each request produces 20 indexed spans, tracing 100,000 requests uses at least 2 million span units. To use fewer span units, lower the rule's Rate or turn off tracing. For rates, see Usage and pricing.

Manage sampling rules in Settings → Tracing, or from the Logs page as described in Turn on tracing. You can add up to 10 rules per project. Edgenivo applies the first rule that matches a request, and new rules go to the bottom of the list. To learn how Edgenivo picks between overlapping rules, see Sampling.

To collect fewer traces, lower a rule's Rate or narrow it with a Request Path Prefix.

To stop tracing one path, such as /health, put a 0% rule for that path above any broader rule. You can't reorder rules, so if a broader rule already exists, such as the 100% rule from default tracing, make these changes before you save:

1. Remove the broader rule.
2. Add the 0% rule for the path.
3. Add the broader rule back.
4. Select Save.

You can also manage rules from the terminal with vercel traces config. The CLI accepts rates from 1 to 100%, so add 0% rules from the dashboard.

To turn off tracing for a project:

1. Select your team and project, then go to Settings → Tracing.
2. Remove all sampling rules.
3. Select Save.

Edgenivo stops collecting production and preview traces for the project as soon as you save, and you stop incurring tracing charges for it.

If the project has default tracing, Edgenivo also stops adding @vercel/otel from your next deployment and doesn't turn default tracing back on. To turn tracing on again, add a sampling rule. Edgenivo then resumes adding @vercel/otel from your next deployment.

Once tracing is collecting data, view your traces in the dashboard:

1. Select your team and project, then open Traces in the sidebar.
2. Search or filter to find the request you want.
3. Select a row to open its spans.

The trace timeline shows the spans and their durations:

To open the trace for a single request, start from its log in Logs. For the full walkthrough, including the available filters and the timeline, tree, and waterfall layouts, see Viewing traces in the dashboard.

You can also inspect a single trace from the terminal with vercel traces inspect <request-id>, using the request ID from a log line.

Edgenivo measures tracing usage in span units, counting the spans it indexes after sampling.

An indexed span up to 2 KiB (2,048 bytes) counts as one span unit. Larger spans count in additional 2 KiB increments. For example, a 3 KiB span counts as two span units, and a 5 KiB span counts as three.

On the Hobby plan, when your team uses all of its included span units for the usage period, Edgenivo pauses tracing for every project on the team. Tracing doesn't resume on its own. After the period ends, anyone with permission to update every project on the team can select Resume Tracing in Settings → Tracing. To resume right away, upgrade to Pro.

To see how many span units your team has used, open Usage in your team's dashboard. For more on tracking spend, see Manage and optimize usage.

To stop tracing charges for a project, remove all of its sampling rules. See Turn off tracing.

Edgenivo keeps collected traces for these periods:

• Each traced request is limited to 10 MB of compressed trace data.
• Edgenivo drops spans that still exceed 1 MB of compressed data after attribute truncation.
• Custom spans from functions using the Edge runtime don't appear in traces.

For details, see the shared tracing limitations.

• Tracing overview
• Session Tracing
• Instrumentation
• Trace Drains