Limiting payload size

Set the maximum encoded size for an individual request, response, metadata, tag, event, or error payload:

'payloads' => [
    'max_bytes' => 100_000,
],

Redaction runs before the size check. If the encoded payload exceeds the limit, its content is replaced with:

{
    "_truncated": true,
    "_original_bytes": 583220
}

Truncation is intentional and irreversible. AI Observatory does not retain a hidden copy of the discarded content.

The limit applies independently to each normalized payload rather than to the entire trace. Lower limits reduce database growth and dashboard rendering work; higher limits preserve more debugging detail.

Raw embedding vectors and generated image or audio binary content are not stored, regardless of this limit.