> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://braintrust.dev/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# bt view

> Browse logs, traces, and spans in an interactive terminal UI

`bt view` is an interactive terminal UI for browsing logs, traces, and spans. Use it to inspect individual requests, drill into LLM conversation threads, and navigate span hierarchies. The `thread` and `waterfall` subcommands render a single trace non-interactively, which is useful for scripting and coding agents.

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark-dimmed"}}
bt view logs                                    # Browse project logs
bt view logs --window 30m                       # Last 30 minutes
bt view logs --list-mode spans                  # One row per span instead of per trace
bt view logs --search "error"                   # Full-text search
bt view logs --url <braintrust-url>             # Jump to a specific view
bt view trace --url <braintrust-url>            # Open a specific trace
bt view span --url <braintrust-url>             # Open a specific span
bt view thread --url <braintrust-url>           # Print a trace's LLM conversation transcript
bt view waterfall --url <braintrust-url>        # Render a trace waterfall (timing, tokens, cost, cache)
```

## Keyboard shortcuts

| Key                 | Action                       |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| `↑` / `↓`           | Navigate rows                |
| `Enter`             | Open trace                   |
| `/`                 | Edit search                  |
| `r`                 | Refresh                      |
| `t`                 | Toggle span / thread view    |
| `←` / `→`           | Switch detail panes          |
| `Ctrl+k`, `Enter`   | Open current item in browser |
| `Backspace` / `Esc` | Go back                      |
| `q`                 | Quit                         |

## Flags

| Flag                  | Description                                                                       |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--window <DURATION>` | Relative time window (e.g. `30m`, `3d`; default: `1h`)                            |
| `--since <TIMESTAMP>` | Absolute lower bound (overrides `--window`)                                       |
| `--search <TEXT>`     | Free-text search                                                                  |
| `--filter <EXPR>`     | SQL filter expression                                                             |
| `--list-mode <MODE>`  | `summary` (default) or `spans` — one row per span                                 |
| `--limit <N>`         | Rows to fetch (default: 50)                                                       |
| `--url <URL>`         | Open a specific Braintrust URL directly                                           |
| `--non-interactive`   | Print results without the interactive interface                                   |
| `--json`              | Output as JSON (available on `bt view logs`, `bt view trace`, and `bt view span`) |
| `--object-ref <REF>`  | Target a specific object (`project_logs:<id>`, `experiment:<id>`, `dataset:<id>`) |

## bt view thread

Print a trace's LLM conversation as a single ordered transcript. Braintrust's trace preprocessor collapses repeated messages across LLM spans into one thread, so you can inspect a conversation without opening each span individually.

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark-dimmed"}}
bt view thread --trace-id <ROOT_SPAN_ID>
bt view thread --url <braintrust-url>
```

Select the trace with the same options as `bt view trace`: `--trace-id <ID>` (alias `--root-span-id`), `--url <URL>` (or a positional URL), or `--object-ref <REF>` with `--project-id`.

## bt view waterfall

Render a trace waterfall showing each span's offset and duration within the trace, along with model, token, cost, and cache details such as prompt cache hit percentage when available. Use the `timeline` alias for parity with the Braintrust app's **Timeline** tab.

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark-dimmed"}}
bt view waterfall --trace-id <ROOT_SPAN_ID>
bt view timeline --url <braintrust-url>
```

Select the trace with the same options as `bt view trace`.