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MLflow Tracing is a feature that enhances LLM observability in your Generative AI (GenAI) applications by capturing detailed information about the execution of your application’s services. Tracing provides a way to record the inputs, outputs, and metadata associated with each intermediate step of a request, enabling you to easily pinpoint the source of bugs and unexpected behaviors.
MLflow offers automatic, no-code-added integrations with over 20 popular GenAI libraries, providing immediate observability with just a single line of code. Combined with Portkey’s intelligent gateway, you get comprehensive tracing enriched with routing decisions and performance optimizations.

Why MLflow + Portkey?

No-Code Integrations

Automatic instrumentation for 20+ GenAI libraries with one line of code

Detailed Execution Traces

Capture inputs, outputs, and metadata for every step

Gateway Intelligence

Portkey adds routing context, fallback decisions, and cache performance

Debug with Confidence

Easily pinpoint issues with comprehensive trace data

Quick Start

Prerequisites

  • Python
  • Portkey account with API key
  • OpenAI API key (or add it to Model Catalog)

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Install the required packages for MLflow and Portkey integration:

Step 2: Configure OpenTelemetry Export

Set up the environment variables to send traces to Portkey’s OpenTelemetry endpoint:

Step 3: Enable MLflow Instrumentation

Enable automatic tracing for OpenAI with just one line:

Step 4: Configure Portkey Gateway

Set up the OpenAI client to use Portkey’s intelligent gateway:

Step 5: Make Instrumented LLM Calls

Now your LLM calls are automatically traced by MLflow and enhanced by Portkey:

Complete Example

Here’s a full example bringing everything together:

Supported Integrations

MLflow automatically instruments many popular GenAI libraries:

LLM Providers

  • OpenAI
  • Anthropic
  • Cohere
  • Google Generative AI
  • Azure OpenAI

Vector Databases

  • Pinecone
  • ChromaDB
  • Weaviate
  • Qdrant

Frameworks

  • LangChain
  • LlamaIndex
  • Haystack
  • And 10+ more!

Next Steps

Configure Gateway

Set up intelligent routing, fallbacks, and caching

Model Catalog

Manage AI providers, credentials, and model access centrally

View Analytics

Analyze costs, performance, and usage patterns

Set Up Budget & Rate Limits

Control costs with budget and rate limiting

See Your Traces in Action

Once configured, navigate to the Portkey dashboard to see your MLflow instrumentation combined with gateway intelligence:
OpenTelemetry traces in Portkey
Last modified on February 27, 2026