# Show HN: OpenSmith – Trace LLM pipelines locally with trace, no cloud

> Source: <https://github.com/shivnathtathe/opensmith>
> Published: 2026-07-26 14:36:47+00:00

The open-source, local-first alternative to LangSmith.

opensmith is to LangSmith what Ollama is to OpenAI — the local-first, privacy-first alternative.

| LangSmith | opensmith | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Cloud account required | pip install opensmith |
| Data privacy | Sends traces to cloud | 100% local, SQLite only |
| Framework | Best with LangChain | Works with any Python code |
| Cost | Free tier then paid | Free forever, open source |
| Offline | No | Yes |
| Docker | No | No |
| Dashboard | Hosted | localhost:7823 |

LangSmith is powerful, but it is built around cloud-hosted tracing and is most natural inside the LangChain ecosystem. opensmith is a local-first alternative: install it with `pip`

, use it with any Python LLM pipeline, and inspect traces on your machine without accounts, hosted services, Docker, or configuration. No trace data leaves your machine.

```
pip install opensmith
```

Optional integrations:

```
pip install "opensmith[otel]"
pip install "opensmith[postgres]"
pip install "opensmith[all]"
```

Use `opensmith[all]`

to install both OpenTelemetry and Postgres support.

``` python
from opensmith import trace

@trace
def call_llm(prompt: str):
    return openai.chat.completions.create(
        model="gpt-4o-mini",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": prompt}],
    )

@trace
def my_pipeline(question: str):
    # search_docs is your own retrieval function
    docs = search_docs(question)
    return call_llm(docs + question)
```

Async functions are supported:

``` python
from opensmith import trace

@trace(tags=["production", "rag"])
async def call_llm(prompt: str):
    return await openai.chat.completions.create(
        model="gpt-4o-mini",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": prompt}],
    )
```

Warn when a trace exceeds a token budget:

``` python
from opensmith import trace

@trace(token_budget=1000)
def my_pipeline():
    return call_llm("summarize this document")
python
from opensmith import trace

with trace("my_pipeline", tags=["debug"]) as t:
    t.log("query", query)
    response = openai.chat.completions.create(
        model="gpt-4o-mini",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": query}],
    )
    t.log("response", response)
python
from opensmith import autopatch

autopatch()
```

Patch only selected backends:

``` python
from opensmith import autopatch

autopatch(only=["openai"])
```

Patch everything except selected backends:

``` python
from opensmith import autopatch

autopatch(exclude=["chromadb"])
```

Print trace results to the terminal as they complete:

``` python
from opensmith import set_console_mode, trace

set_console_mode(True)

@trace
def my_func():
    return "ok"
```

opensmith reads `opensmith.json`

from the current working directory on import:

Create a starter config:

```
opensmith init
{
  "db_path": "./my_traces.db",
  "console_mode": false,
  "autopatch": ["openai", "qdrant"]
}
opensmith ui
```

Open `http://localhost:7823`

. If the port is already in use, opensmith automatically tries the next available port. Use `--no-auto-port`

to disable this behavior.

| Command | Description |
|---|---|
`opensmith init` |
Create a starter `opensmith.json` config. |
`opensmith ui` |
Start the local dashboard with automatic port selection. |
`opensmith traces --q rag --status err --tags production` |
List and filter traces in the terminal. |
`opensmith stats` |
Show aggregate trace, step, token, and cost statistics. |
`opensmith export` |
Export traces to JSON or CSV. |
`opensmith clear` |
Delete all locally stored traces after confirmation. |

| Backend | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|
| openai | openai | ✅ |
| anthropic | anthropic | ✅ |
| litellm | litellm | ✅ |
| qdrant | qdrant-client | ✅ |
| chromadb | chromadb | ✅ |
| pinecone | pinecone-client | ✅ |

Traces are stored locally at `~/.opensmith/traces.db`

unless overridden with `opensmith.json`

or `set_default_db_path()`

.

Use Postgres instead by installing `opensmith[postgres]`

and setting `OPENSMITH_DB_URL`

:

```
export OPENSMITH_DB_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/opensmith"
```

Install both Postgres and OpenTelemetry support with `pip install "opensmith[all]"`

.

Export traces with nested steps as JSON:

```
opensmith export --format json --output traces.json
```

Export a flat trace list as CSV:

```
opensmith export --format csv --output traces.csv
```

OpenTelemetry export is disabled by default. Install the optional dependencies and set `OPENSMITH_OTEL_ENDPOINT`

to enable OTLP HTTP export:

```
pip install "opensmith[otel]"
export OPENSMITH_OTEL_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:4318"
```

opensmith sends traces to `/v1/traces`

and metrics to `/v1/metrics`

under that endpoint.

MIT