How to trace LiteLLM with HoneyHive

LiteLLM provides a unified interface for calling 100+ LLMs using the OpenAI format. HoneyHive integrates with LiteLLM via the OpenInference instrumentor, automatically capturing all completion calls, token usage, and model metadata across providers.

Quick Start

Add HoneyHive tracing in just 4 lines of code. Add this to your existing LiteLLM app and all completion calls are automatically traced, regardless of the underlying provider.

To see where to initialize the tracer for your environment, including AWS Lambda and long-running servers, see Tracer Initialization.

Last tested with litellm 1.82.4 (March 2026).

pip install "honeyhive[openinference-litellm]"

# Or install separately
pip install honeyhive openinference-instrumentation-litellm litellm

import os
import litellm
from honeyhive import HoneyHiveTracer
from openinference.instrumentation.litellm import LiteLLMInstrumentor

tracer = HoneyHiveTracer.init(api_key=os.getenv("HH_API_KEY"))
LiteLLMInstrumentor().instrument(tracer_provider=tracer.provider)

# Your existing LiteLLM code works unchanged

What Gets Traced

The instrumentor automatically captures:

Completions - litellm.completion() and litellm.acompletion() with inputs, outputs, and token usage
Embeddings - litellm.embedding() and litellm.aembedding() requests
Image generation - litellm.image_generation() and litellm.aimage_generation() calls
Multi-provider routing - Model name and provider metadata for every call

No manual instrumentation required.

Use module-level calls. The instrumentor patches litellm.completion(), not directly imported functions. Always use litellm.completion() instead of from litellm import completion.

Example: Multi-Provider Completions

import os
import litellm
from honeyhive import HoneyHiveTracer
from openinference.instrumentation.litellm import LiteLLMInstrumentor

tracer = HoneyHiveTracer.init(api_key=os.getenv("HH_API_KEY"))
LiteLLMInstrumentor().instrument(tracer_provider=tracer.provider)

# OpenAI via LiteLLM
response = litellm.completion(
    model="openai/gpt-4o-mini",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "What is the capital of France?"},
    ],
    max_tokens=50,
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

# Anthropic via LiteLLM - same interface, automatically traced
response2 = litellm.completion(
    model="anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5-20251001",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Tell me a fun fact about Paris."},
    ],
    max_tokens=100,
)
print(response2.choices[0].message.content)

Avoiding Duplicate Spans

Avoid duplicate spans. If you also use provider-specific instrumentors (e.g., OpenAIInstrumentor), LiteLLM calls to that provider may produce duplicate spans. Use only the LiteLLM instrumentor when routing calls through LiteLLM.

Environment Configuration

# HoneyHive configuration
export HH_API_KEY="your-honeyhive-api-key"

# Provider API keys (set whichever providers you use)
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-openai-api-key"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-anthropic-api-key"

Troubleshooting

Traces not appearing

Check environment variables - Ensure HH_API_KEY is set
Pass the tracer provider - The instrumentor must receive tracer_provider=tracer.provider:

import os
from honeyhive import HoneyHiveTracer
from openinference.instrumentation.litellm import LiteLLMInstrumentor

tracer = HoneyHiveTracer.init(api_key=os.getenv("HH_API_KEY"))

# ✅ Correct - pass tracer_provider
LiteLLMInstrumentor().instrument(tracer_provider=tracer.provider)

# ❌ Wrong - missing tracer_provider
LiteLLMInstrumentor().instrument()

Use module-level calls - Call litellm.completion(), not a directly imported completion() function

Enrich Your Traces

Add user IDs and custom metadata to traces

Custom Spans

Create spans for business logic around API calls

Distributed Tracing

Trace calls across service boundaries

Agent Frameworks & Platforms

Model Providers

AI Gateways

Coding Agents

Evaluation

How to trace LiteLLM with HoneyHive

Quick Start

What Gets Traced

Example: Multi-Provider Completions

Avoiding Duplicate Spans

Environment Configuration

Troubleshooting

Traces not appearing

Enrich Your Traces

Custom Spans

Distributed Tracing

Resources

​Quick Start

​What Gets Traced

​Example: Multi-Provider Completions

​Avoiding Duplicate Spans

​Environment Configuration

​Troubleshooting

​Traces not appearing

​Related

Enrich Your Traces

Custom Spans

Distributed Tracing

​Resources

Quick Start

What Gets Traced

Example: Multi-Provider Completions

Avoiding Duplicate Spans

Environment Configuration

Troubleshooting

Traces not appearing

Related

Resources