Using traces with ADK CLI - IBM watsonx Orchestrate ADK

Use the watsonx Orchestrate ADK CLI to get traces from your active environment and export their spans.

AWS Environment Limitation: June 11-25, 2026ADK trace commands do not return new incoming traces between June 11th and June 25th in AWS environments. Call the Trace endpoints directly during this period.For direct API access, see:

Searching traces

Use filters to search for traces. You identify trace IDs by setting criteria such as time range, service names, agent identifiers or names, user identifiers, session identifiers, or span count.

BASH

orchestrate observability traces search --start-time <start date and time for search> --end-time <end date and time for search>

Show command flags

--start-time

datetime

required

A start time for the results. This flag cannot be used with --last flag.

--end-time

datetime

required

An end time for the results. This flag cannot be used with --last flag.

--service-name / -s

string

A service name to filter results. Can be specified multiple times.

--agent-id / -i

string

An agent ID to filter results. Can be specified multiple times.

--agent-name / -a

string

An agent name to filter results. Can be specified multiple times.

--user-id / -u

string

A user ID to filter results. Can be specified multiple times.

--session-id

string

A session ID to filter results. Can be specified multiple times.

--min-spans

int

A minimum span count for a trace.

--max-spans

int

A maximum span count for a trace.

--sort-field

SortField

A field used for sorting results.

--sort-direction

SortDirection

A sort direction for the results.

--limit / -l

int

A limit on the number of traces returned. Configure a value from 1 to 1000.

--last

string

The shorthand for setting a relative time window that ends now. You can enter:

Minutes. For example: 30m / 30 minutes
Hours. For example: 3h / 3 hours
Days. For example: 10d / 10 days This flag cannot be used with --start-time or --end-time flags.

After you identify the trace IDs, run orchestrate observability traces export to export the full trace data.

Exporting traces spans

Export spans from the watsonx Orchestrate observability platform. This command fetches all spans for a specific trace ID and sends them to a file or standard output in JSON format. The JSON output follows the OpenTelemetry specification.

BASH

orchestrate observability traces export --trace-id <trace ID>

Show command flags

--trace-id / -t

string

required

A 32‑character hexadecimal trace ID to export.

--output / -o

string

A file path for the command output. When omitted, output is displayed in the CLI.

NoteThe output file must be in JSON format. When a different file type is provided, a warning is shown.

--pretty | --no-pretty

bool

Indented JSON output for easier readability. This flag is used only with the --output / -o flag. Default is --pretty.

​Searching traces

​Exporting traces spans

Searching traces

Exporting traces spans