> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs-old.evidentlyai.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs-old.evidentlyai.com/user-guide/tracing/set_up_tracing.md).
# Set up tracing
{% hint style="info" %}
**You are looking at the old Evidently documentation**: this API is available with versions 0.6.7 or lower. Check the newer version [here](https://docs.evidentlyai.com/introduction).
{% endhint %}
For an end-to-end example, check the [Tracing Quickstart](/get-started/quickstart-cloud/cloud_quickstart_tracing.md).
## Installation and Imports
Install the `tracely` package from PyPi.
```python
!pip install tracely
```
Imports:
```python
from tracely import init_tracing
from tracely import trace_event
```
## Initialize tracing
Use `init_tracing` to enable tracely tracing. Example:
```python
init_tracing(
address="https://app.evidently.cloud/",
api_key=”YOUR_EVIDENTLY_TOKEN”,
project_id="YOUR_PROJECT_ID",
export_name="YOUR_TRACING_DATASET_NAME",
)
```
### Tracing parameters
| **Parameter** | **Description** |
| ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `address: Optional[str]` | The URL of the collector service where tracing data will be sent. For Evidently Cloud, set
Required: No, Default: None
|
| `exporter_type: Optional[str]` | Specifies the type of exporter to use for tracing. Options are grpc for gRPC protocol or http for HTTP protocol.
Required: No, Default: None
|
| `api_key: Optional[str]` | The authorization API key for Evidently Cloud tracing. This key authenticates your requests and is necessary for sending data to Evidently Cloud.
Required: No, Default: None
|
| `project_id: str` | The ID of your Project in Evidently Cloud.
Required: Yes, Default: None
|
| `export_name: Optional[str]` | A string name assigned to the exported tracing data. All data with the same export\_name will be grouped into a single dataset.
Required: No, Default: None
|
| `as_global: bool = True` | Indicates whether to register the tracing provider globally for OpenTelemetry (`opentelemetry.trace.TracerProvider`) or use it locally within a scope. **Default:** `True` |
## Tracing a function
To trace a function call use `trace_event()` decorator.
**Example 1.** To log all arguments of the function:
```
@trace_event()
```
**Example 2.** To log only input arguments of the function:
```
@trace_event(track_args=[])
```
**Example 3.** To log only "arg1" and "arg2":
```
@trace_event(track_args=["arg1", "arg2"])
```
See the [Tracing Quickstart](/get-started/quickstart-cloud/cloud_quickstart_tracing.md) for an end-to-end example.
| **Parameter** | **Description** |
| ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `span_name: Optional[str]` | The name of the span to track. This is how the event will be labeled in the trace. By giving it a name, you can identify and analyze this particular step within your tracing data.
Required: No, Default: None
|
| `track_args: Optional[List[str]]` | A list of arguments to capture during tracing. If set to None, it captures all arguments by default. If set to \[], it captures no arguments.
Required: No, Default: None
|
| `ignore_args: Optional[List[str]]` | A list of arguments to ignore from tracking. For instance, if a function has sensitive information that you don’t want to log, you can list those arguments here. If set to None, no arguments are ignored.
Required: No, Default: None
|
| `track_output: Optional[bool]` | Indicates whether to track the output of the function call. If set to True, the trace will include the function’s output, allowing you to see not just what was passed in but also what was returned.
Required: No, Default: True
|