Coval tracing skills are promptable instructions for your AI coding agent. They help your agent inspect your repository, add OpenTelemetry export to Coval, verify one real trace, improve span quality, create trace-based metrics, and debug missing or sparse traces. Use tracing skills when you want a reviewable workflow instead of a one-command code modification. The skills do not change your code by themselves. Your coding agent reads the skill instructions, proposes a plan, edits your repo only when you approve that workflow, and leaves you with a diff you can review.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.coval.dev/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Copy this for your coding agent
Open your agent repository in your coding agent of choice, then copy and paste this prompt.Install the skills
From any directory where your coding agent can access installed skills:npx, clone and review the repository directly:
coval-external-skills/skills/traces/ and ask it to use the skill you need.
Tracing skill inventory
| Skill | Use it when |
|---|---|
setup-tracing | Your agent is connected to Coval but does not send traces yet. |
optimize-trace-observability | Traces exist, but they are sparse or missing useful spans and attributes. |
configure-trace-metrics | You have traces and want metrics for latency, tool behavior, errors, or business events. |
debug-traces | Traces are missing, attached to the wrong result, duplicated, too large, or not useful in production. |
Before you start
Have these ready:- Your agent repository
- A Coval API key with access to the organization that owns the agent
- The Coval agent ID or the exact agent name
- The Coval connection type for the agent
- A command or runbook for one test simulation or monitoring conversation
- A deployment path for the changed agent
Choose the right correlation path
Coval traces must be tied to one simulation output or one submitted conversation. Tell your coding agent which path your agent uses.| Agent path | What the skill should wire |
|---|---|
| SIP inbound voice | Read X-Coval-Simulation-Id from SIP headers or framework participant attributes, then export spans with X-Simulation-Id. |
| Inbound phone over PSTN | Do not expect SIP headers. Use a pre-call or registration webhook correlation path, or provision a SIP-capable address. |
| Outbound voice | Carry simulation_output_id through the outbound trigger payload, then export spans with X-Simulation-Id. |
| WebSocket voice or chat | Carry the simulation output ID through the initial setup payload, then export spans with X-Simulation-Id. |
| Conversation monitoring | Buffer spans during the conversation, submit the conversation, then export spans with X-Conversation-Id. |
Detailed setup prompt
Use this longer prompt when you only want the first setup step.After validation starts
Once the initial validation run has started, use the follow-up skills while it is pending. They should still verify against the finished Coval trace before declaring success.Improve trace quality
Create trace metrics
Debug missing or sparse traces
What success looks like
A completed setup should leave you with:- A reviewed diff in your agent repository
- No hard-coded secrets
- One clear correlation path:
X-Simulation-IdorX-Conversation-Id - A successful local check
- A deployed agent that still handles calls or messages normally
- A completed Coval simulation or conversation with a trace visible in the OTel Traces card or Trace Search
- At least one useful span such as
conversation,turn,stt,llm,tts, orllm_tool_call
optimize-trace-observability and configure-trace-metrics so traces answer the questions your team actually investigates.

