From 92c66d13ec81decb55fcbf6cd07c512d5a2361eb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Lauren Hirata Singh <lauren@langchain.dev>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:32:11 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] docs: add o11y overview (#5542)

* docs: add o11y overview

* add section for enabling tracing
---
 docs/docs/how-tos/observability.md | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 docs/mkdocs.yml                    |  5 +++--
 2 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 docs/docs/how-tos/observability.md

diff --git a/docs/docs/how-tos/observability.md b/docs/docs/how-tos/observability.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d21656eeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/docs/how-tos/observability.md
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Observability
+
+Use [LangSmith](https://smith.langchain.com/) to visualize the execution of a LangGraph application and do the following:
+
+- [Enable tracing for your application](#enable-tracing-for-your-application).
+- [Debug a locally running application](../cloud/how-tos/clone_traces_studio.md).
+- [Evaluate the application performance](../agents/evals.md).
+- [Monitor the application](https://docs.smith.langchain.com/observability/how_to_guides/dashboards).
+
+To get started, sign up for a free account at [LangSmith](https://smith.langchain.com/).
+
+## Enable tracing for your application
+
+To use LangSmith with your LangGraph application, enable tracing:
+
+```python
+export LANGSMITH_TRACING=true
+export LANGSMITH_API_KEY=<your-api-key>
+```
+
+For more information, see [Trace with LangGraph](https://docs.smith.langchain.com/observability/how_to_guides/trace_with_langgraph).
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/mkdocs.yml b/docs/mkdocs.yml
index 1a37f4c46..a3f6961d1 100644
--- a/docs/mkdocs.yml
+++ b/docs/mkdocs.yml
@@ -157,8 +157,9 @@ nav:
           - Overview: concepts/mcp.md
           - Use MCP: agents/mcp.md
           - Server API: concepts/server-mcp.md
-      - Evaluation:
-          - Basic implementation: agents/evals.md
+      - Observability:
+          - Overview: how-tos/observability.md
+          - Evaluate performance: agents/evals.md
     - Platform-only capabilities:
       - LangGraph Platform:
           - Overview: concepts/langgraph_platform.md