Python SDK Configuration

This page covers all configuration options for the SideSeat Python SDK.

Constructor Parameters

SideSeat(
    # Connection
    endpoint: str | None = None,
    project_id: str | None = None,
    api_key: str | None = None,

    # Framework
    framework: str | None = None,
    auto_instrument: bool = True,

    # Service identity
    service_name: str | None = None,
    service_version: str | None = None,

    # Telemetry signals
    enable_traces: bool = True,
    enable_metrics: bool = True,
    enable_logs: bool = False,

    # Content capture
    capture_content: bool = True,
    encode_binary: bool = True,

    # Control
    disabled: bool = False,
    debug: bool = False,
)

Connection Parameters

endpoint

SideSeat server URL.

# Default
client = SideSeat()  # Uses http://127.0.0.1:5388

# Custom endpoint
client = SideSeat(endpoint="http://sideseat.example.com:5388")

project_id

Project identifier for organizing traces.

client = SideSeat(project_id="my-project")

api_key

Authentication key for the SideSeat server.

client = SideSeat(api_key="pk-your-api-key")

Framework Parameters

framework

Explicitly select a framework to instrument.

from sideseat import SideSeat, Frameworks

client = SideSeat(framework=Frameworks.LangGraph)

Available frameworks:

• Frameworks.Strands
• Frameworks.LangGraph
• Frameworks.LangChain
• Frameworks.CrewAI
• Frameworks.AutoGen
• Frameworks.OpenAIAgents
• Frameworks.GoogleADK
• Frameworks.PydanticAI

If not specified, the SDK auto-detects in this order:

1. Strands (strands-agents)
2. LangChain / LangGraph (langchain-core)
3. CrewAI (crewai)
4. AutoGen (autogen-agentchat)
5. OpenAI Agents (agents)
6. Google ADK (google-adk)
7. PydanticAI (pydantic-ai)

Note

LangGraph is detected via langchain-core (its dependency). Use framework=Frameworks.LangGraph to explicitly select LangGraph instrumentation.

auto_instrument

Enable automatic framework instrumentation.

# Auto-instrument (default)
client = SideSeat(auto_instrument=True)

# Skip instrumentation
client = SideSeat(auto_instrument=False)

Tip

Set auto_instrument=False if your framework isn’t supported or you want to use native instrumentation.

Service Identity

service_name

Override the auto-detected service name.

# Auto-detect (default)
client = SideSeat()

# Explicit name
client = SideSeat(service_name="my-agent")

service_version

Set the service version for resource attributes.

client = SideSeat(
    service_name="my-agent",
    service_version="1.2.3"
)

Telemetry Signals

enable_traces

Enable trace span export.

client = SideSeat(enable_traces=True)  # Default

enable_metrics

Enable metrics export.

client = SideSeat(enable_metrics=True)  # Default

enable_logs

Enable log export.

client = SideSeat(enable_logs=False)  # Default

Content Capture

capture_content

Capture LLM prompts and responses.

# Capture content (default)
client = SideSeat(capture_content=True)

# Disable for privacy
client = SideSeat(capture_content=False)

encode_binary

Base64 encode binary data in spans.

# Encode binary (default)
client = SideSeat(encode_binary=True)

# Leave as-is (may cause export errors)
client = SideSeat(encode_binary=False)

Tip

Keep encode_binary=True unless you’re sure your spans don’t contain binary data. Base64 encoding ensures compatibility with JSON-based exporters.

Control Parameters

disabled

Disable all telemetry.

# Disabled mode
client = SideSeat(disabled=True)

Useful for testing or CI environments.

debug

Enable verbose logging.

client = SideSeat(debug=True)

Environment Variables

The SDK respects these environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
SIDESEAT_ENDPOINT	http://127.0.0.1:5388	Server URL
SIDESEAT_PROJECT	default	Project identifier
SIDESEAT_API_KEY	—	Authentication key
SIDESEAT_DISABLED	false	Disable all telemetry
SIDESEAT_DEBUG	false	Enable verbose logging

Standard OpenTelemetry variables are also supported:

Variable	Description
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME	Override service name
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	Default OTLP endpoint
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS	Default headers (comma-separated)
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TIMEOUT	Request timeout

Configuration Priority

Settings are resolved in this order (highest to lowest):

1. Constructor parameters
2. SIDESEAT_* environment variables
3. OTEL_* environment variables
4. Defaults

Complete Example

from sideseat import SideSeat, Frameworks

# Full configuration
client = SideSeat(
    # Connection
    endpoint="http://localhost:5388",
    project_id="my-project",
    api_key="pk-xxx",

    # Framework
    framework=Frameworks.LangGraph,
    auto_instrument=True,

    # Service identity
    service_name="my-agent",
    service_version="1.0.0",

    # Telemetry signals
    enable_traces=True,
    enable_metrics=True,
    enable_logs=False,

    # Content capture
    capture_content=True,
    encode_binary=True,

    # Control
    disabled=False,
    debug=False,
)

# Add debug exporters
client.telemetry.setup_file_exporter("traces.jsonl")

# Your agent code here...

# Explicit shutdown (or let atexit handle it)
client.shutdown()

Next Steps

• SideSeat Class — API reference
• Exporters — debug exporters