Skip to main content
You have traces in HoneyHive, but they’re missing context about which user made each request or what feature was being used. Let’s fix that. What you’ll learn:
  • Add session-level context (environment, app version)
  • Add metadata directly to LLM spans
  • Add metadata to parent spans for complex pipelines
Time: 5 minutes

​
Setup with Session Context

First, initialize the tracer and set session-level context that applies to ALL traces: 
from honeyhive import HoneyHiveTracer
from openinference.instrumentation.openai import OpenAIInstrumentor
import openai

tracer = HoneyHiveTracer.init(api_key="your-key", project="my-app")
OpenAIInstrumentor().instrument(tracer_provider=tracer.provider)

# Session context - set once, applies to all traces
tracer.enrich_session({
    "tenant_id": "acme_corp",
    "user_tier": "enterprise",
    "app_version": "2.1.0"
})

client = openai.OpenAI()
Session metadata showing tenant_id, user_tier, app_version

​
Option 1: Enrich LLM Spans Directly

The simplest way to add per-call metadata - use using_attributes from OpenInference: 
from openinference.instrumentation import using_attributes

with using_attributes(
    session_id="session_123",
    user_id="user_oi_123",
    metadata={"feature": "chat_support", "custom_key": "custom_value"},
    tags=["tutorial", "test"]
):
    response = client.chat.completions.create(
        model="gpt-4o-mini",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
    )
    print(response.choices[0].message.content)
The metadata is attached directly to the ChatCompletion span:
ChatCompletion span with session_id, user_id, metadata

​
Option 2: Create a Parent Span

When you have multiple steps (retrieval, processing, LLM calls), use @trace to create a parent span that groups them: 
from honeyhive import enrich_span, trace

@trace
def answer_question(question: str, user_id: str) -> str:
    enrich_span({
        "user_id": user_id,
        "feature": "qa_pipeline"
    })
    
    # Step 1: Retrieve relevant context
    context = retrieve_documents(question)
    
    # Step 2: Generate answer with context
    response = client.chat.completions.create(
        model="gpt-4o-mini",
        messages=[
            {"role": "system", "content": f"Context: {context}"},
            {"role": "user", "content": question}
        ]
    )
    
    # Step 3: Log the answer
    answer = response.choices[0].message.content
    save_to_history(user_id, question, answer)
    
    return answer

result = answer_question("What's our refund policy?", user_id="user_123")
The parent span groups all steps together, so you can see the full pipeline duration and trace through each step:
Parent span showing question, user_id inputs and answer output

​
When to Use Which

Use CasePattern
Tenant, user tier, app versionenrich_session()
User ID, feature for LLM callsusing_attributes
Pipeline with multiple LLM calls@trace on the entry point

​
Best Practices

DO: Add user IDs, feature names, environment. Use descriptive keys (user_id not uid). DON’T: Include passwords, API keys, or PII. Keep fields under 1KB.

​
What’s Next?

Run Your First Experiment

Set up datasets and run evaluations

Enrichment Reference

Detailed guide for advanced enrichment patterns