Documentationbreadcrumb arrow Grafana Cloudbreadcrumb arrow Observe and actbreadcrumb arrow Agent Observabilitybreadcrumb arrow Get startedbreadcrumb arrow Instrument Java
Grafana Cloud

Instrument Java agents

This guide shows you how to install the Agent Observability Java SDK, instrument an LLM call, and verify that generation data reaches Agent Observability.

Before you begin

  • A Grafana Cloud stack with Agent Observability enabled.
  • Java 17 or later.
  • Your Agent Observability generation export endpoint URL.
  • A Cloud Access Policy Token. Refer to Collect credentials from Grafana Cloud for step-by-step instructions.

Install the SDK

Add the Agent Observability SDK dependency to your project. For Maven:

xml 
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.grafana.agento11y</groupId>
    <artifactId>agento11y-core</artifactId>
</dependency>

Provider helpers and framework integrations are available as separate artifacts.

Capture a generation

java 
Agento11yClient client = new Agento11yClient(new Agento11yClientConfig()
    .setGenerationExport(new GenerationExportConfig()
        .setProtocol(GenerationExportProtocol.HTTP)
        .setEndpoint("<AGENTO11Y_ENDPOINT>")
        .setAuth(new AuthConfig()
            .setMode(AuthMode.TENANT)
            .setTenantId("<TENANT_ID>"))));

try {
    client.withGeneration(
        new GenerationStart()
            .setConversationId("conv-1")
            .setModel(new ModelRef()
                .setProvider("openai")
                .setName("gpt-4o")),
        recorder -> {
            recorder.setResult(new GenerationResult()
                .setOutput(List.of(
                    new Message()
                        .setRole(MessageRole.ASSISTANT)
                        .setParts(List.of(MessagePart.text("Hello"))))));
            return null;
        }
    );
} finally {
    client.shutdown();
}

Replace AGENTO11Y_ENDPOINT and TENANT_ID with your values.

Use environment variables instead

If you set AGENTO11Y_ENDPOINT, AGENTO11Y_PROTOCOL, AGENTO11Y_AUTH_MODE, AGENTO11Y_AUTH_TENANT_ID, and AGENTO11Y_AUTH_TOKEN, the SDK reads them at client construction. Refer to Configure your SDK.

java 
Agento11yClient client = new Agento11yClient();

Use a provider helper

Provider helpers are available for OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini. They capture generations automatically from your LLM client calls.

Use a framework integration

A Google ADK framework integration is available for Java.

Configure authentication in code

For Grafana Cloud, use basic auth with your Cloud Access Policy Token:

java 
new AuthConfig()
    .setMode(AuthMode.BASIC)
    .setTenantId("<INSTANCE_ID>")
    .setBasicPassword("<API_KEY>")

Set up traces and metrics

The SDK emits OpenTelemetry spans and metrics alongside generation data. To export them, configure OpenTelemetry in your application before creating the client. Without this, traces and metrics are silently lost.

Refer to Set up traces and metrics for Grafana Cloud OTLP options and SDK configuration for setup snippets.

Verify data

Open Agent Observability in Grafana Cloud and navigate to Conversations. Your generation should appear within a few seconds. Check your Traces and Metrics data sources for SDK-emitted spans and metrics.

Next steps