Vercel Tracing is now generally available

Vercel Tracing is now available on all plans, allowing users to search and inspect traces either through the dashboard or the Vercel CLI. New Next.js projects created on Vercel will have tracing enabled by default starting with version 16.5, provided they include at least one Node.js function. The feature was previously limited to viewing individual traces per request from the Logs page during beta. The new Traces page consolidates all traces and spans for a project or team, offering a unified interface for monitoring and analysis.

The Traces page provides multiple views, including a Spans list and a Traces list, with filtering and search capabilities powered by Kibana Query Language (KQL). Users can stream live traces as they arrive and apply complex queries, such as filtering for slow database spans by name and duration. The interface supports switching between team-wide and project-specific views, with search queries compatible between the dashboard and CLI for consistency.

Sampling rules can now be managed directly via the CLI using commands like vercel traces config, and individual traces can be inspected with vercel traces inspect. Previously, tracing only collected data after a sampling rule was added, but new Next.js projects now automatically include a sampling rule that tracks 100% of requests across all environments. This rule also injects instrumentation at build time, capturing Next.js framework spans without additional setup.

Trace retention periods have been extended across all plans: Hobby now retains traces for 3 days instead of 1 hour, Pro for 14 days instead of 1 day, and Enterprise for 14 days instead of 3 days. Users can opt out of tracing by removing all sampling rules in the Settings → Tracing section. The feature remains priced the same as during beta, with no additional costs introduced.