📡 Tracify

⚡ What is Tracify?

Tracify is a zero-config request tracing SDK for Express.js.

It helps you instantly understand:

• How long each request takes
• How much time is spent in DB operations
• What happens inside your request lifecycle
• Where bottlenecks are occurring

No setup. No external services. No dashboards to configure.

Just install and use.

🚀 Features

• 📡 Automatic request tracing
• ⏱ Total, DB, and processing time breakdown
• 🧠 Step-by-step request timeline
• 🖥 Built-in /trace UI dashboard
• 💾 Persistent storage (.tracify/traces.json)
• 🔍 Route-level performance insights
• 🧼 Safe logging with fallback protection
• ⚡ Works with any Express app

📦 Installation

npm install @alikhan-devs/tracify

🧠 Quick Start

const express = require("express");
const tracify = require("@alikhan-devs/tracify");

const app = express();

app.use(express.json());

// Enable tracing (1 line)
app.use(tracify());

app.get("/users", async (req, res) => {
  req.tracer.addStep("fetching users");

  const users = await getUsersFromDB();

  req.tracer.addStep("users fetched");

  res.json(users);
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log("Server running on http://localhost:3000");
  console.log("Trace UI: http://localhost:3000/trace");
});

🖥 Trace UI

Once enabled, open:

http://localhost:3000/trace

You will see:

• All API requests
• Execution timeline
• DB vs processing breakdown
• Slow request highlighting
• Request-by-request inspection

📊 Example Trace Output

{
  "traceId": "7e556d045ed72e58",
  "method": "GET",
  "path": "/users",
  "status": 200,
  "totalTime": 18,
  "dbTime": 12,
  "processingTime": 6,
  "steps": [
    { "label": "fetching users" },
    { "label": "users fetched" }
  ],
  "timestamp": "2026-05-02T10:26:02.071Z"
}

🧪 Tracer API

Inside routes:

Add step

req.tracer.addStep("validation started");

DB timing

req.tracer.startTimer("db");

await User.find();

req.tracer.endTimer("db");

⚙️ Configuration

app.use(tracify({
  slowThreshold: 500, // ms threshold for slow request detection
}));

📁 Persistent Storage

Traces are automatically saved to:

.tracify/traces.json

This means:

• Restart server → data still exists
• Debug history persists
• No external DB required

🔒 Security

Tracify is designed to be safe by default:

• No external network calls
• No data leaves your server
• Sensitive logs are automatically sanitized
• Can be disabled in production

🚫 Ignored Routes

Internal UI routes are automatically ignored:

• /trace
• /trace/api.json

🧠 Why Tracify?

Most observability tools require:

• External dashboards
• API keys
• Setup complexity
• Paid plans

Tracify is different:

You install it, and it just works inside your app.

Perfect for:

• Developers
• Startups
• MVPs
• Internal tools
• Learning backend performance

🛣 Roadmap

• [ ] Real-time WebSocket streaming UI
• [ ] Route grouping (/users/:id)
• [ ] Performance percentiles (p50, p95)
• [ ] Distributed tracing support
• [ ] OpenTelemetry export
• [ ] Cloud dashboard (optional SaaS layer)

📄 License

MIT © Ali Khan

⭐ Support

If Tracify helped you:

• Star the repo
• Share it with developers
• Use it in your projects