feat(openai-agents): per-run identity via RunConfig trace_metadata

[marco-g-pm]

Problem

The tracing processor registers once per process, so distinct_id / properties passed to instrument() are process-global. For any server handling multiple users, that stamps every user's traces with the same identity. The only per-run escape hatch was passing a callable distinct_id and threading values through trace metadata by hand — awkward, and the docs don't mention it.

Surfaced while testing wizard ai-observability against the wizard-workbench test apps: the wizard follows the docs, and on the openai-agents app produced events with no person attribution.

Change

The processor now reads two well-known keys directly from RunConfig(trace_metadata=...):

instrument()  # process-constant config only

result = Runner.run_sync(
    agent,
    prompt,
    run_config=RunConfig(
        group_id=conversation_id,  # already maps to $ai_session_id
        trace_metadata={
            "posthog_distinct_id": user_id,
            "posthog_properties": {"plan": "scale"},
        },
    ),
)

• Key names match the per-call kwargs the OpenAI/Anthropic wrappers already use (posthog_distinct_id, posthog_properties) — one convention across paths, carried by whatever per-call surface each path has.
• Per-run values win over instrument() defaults.
• Applied to the $ai_trace event and every span/generation in the trace.
• Control keys are stripped from $ai_trace_metadata.
• No behavior change when the keys are absent; static/callable distinct_id still works as the default.

Tests

7 new tests in TestPerRunMetadata (override precedence, span inheritance, property merge order, control-key stripping, fallback paths). Full openai_agents suite: 60 passed. Ruff clean.

Docs follow-up: posthog.com openai-agents page will be updated to show this pattern once this lands.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[greptile-apps]

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "feat(openai-agents): per-run identity vi..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

[github-actions]

posthog-python Compliance Report

Date: 2026-08-05 17:55:08 UTC
Duration: 256429ms

✅ All Tests Passed!

111/111 tests passed

---

Capture_V1 Tests

✅ 94/94 tests passed

View Details

Test	Status	Duration
Endpoint And Method.Targets V1 Endpoint	✅	518ms
Endpoint And Method.Does Not Use Legacy Endpoints	✅	511ms
Required Headers.Has Authorization Bearer Header	✅	511ms
Required Headers.Has Content Type Json	✅	511ms
Required Headers.Has Posthog Sdk Info Format	✅	511ms
Required Headers.Has Posthog Attempt Header	✅	510ms
Required Headers.Has Posthog Request Id	✅	511ms
Required Headers.Has Posthog Request Timestamp	✅	511ms
Required Headers.Has User Agent	✅	511ms
Body Format.Body Has Created At And Batch	✅	510ms
Body Format.No Api Key In Body	✅	511ms
Body Format.No Sent At In Body	✅	510ms
Event Format.Event Has Required Root Fields	✅	511ms
Event Format.Event Uuid Is Valid	✅	511ms
Event Format.Event Timestamp Is Rfc3339	✅	511ms
Event Format.Distinct Id Is String	✅	510ms
Event Format.Distinct Id At Root Not Properties	✅	511ms
Event Format.Custom Properties Preserved	✅	511ms
Event Format.Set Properties Preserved	✅	511ms
Event Format.Set Once Properties Preserved	✅	510ms
Event Format.Groups Properties Preserved	✅	512ms
Event Format.Sdk Generates Uuid If Not Provided	✅	511ms
Event Format.Event Has Required Root Fields Batch	✅	514ms
Event Format.Event Uuid Is Valid Batch	✅	513ms
Event Format.Event Timestamp Is Rfc3339 Batch	✅	514ms
Event Format.Distinct Id Is String Batch	✅	514ms
Event Format.Distinct Id At Root Not Properties Batch	✅	514ms
Event Format.Custom Properties Preserved Batch	✅	513ms
Event Format.Set Properties Preserved Batch	✅	514ms
Event Format.Set Once Properties Preserved Batch	✅	515ms
Event Format.Groups Properties Preserved Batch	✅	514ms
Event Format.Sdk Generates Uuid If Not Provided Batch	✅	514ms
Batch Behavior.Multiple Events In Single Batch	✅	518ms
Batch Behavior.Batch Envelope Smoke	✅	516ms
Batch Behavior.Flush With No Events Sends Nothing	✅	507ms
Batch Behavior.Flush At Triggers Batch	✅	1011ms
Batch Behavior.Created At Reflects Batch Creation Time	✅	512ms
Deduplication.Generates Unique Uuids	✅	518ms
Deduplication.Different Events Same Content Different Uuids	✅	513ms
Deduplication.Preserves Uuid On Retry	✅	6517ms
Deduplication.Preserves Timestamp On Retry	✅	6520ms
Deduplication.Preserves Uuid And Timestamp On Batch Retry	✅	6525ms
Deduplication.No Duplicate Events In Batch	✅	518ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Attempt Header Starts At One	✅	511ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Attempt Header Increments On Retry	✅	13523ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Request Id Preserved On Retry	✅	6521ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Different Requests Have Different Request Ids	✅	3020ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Request Timestamp Changes On Retry	✅	6518ms
Response Format Validation.Success Response Has Uuid Keyed Results	✅	512ms
Response Format Validation.Success Response Has Ok For Each Event	✅	515ms
Response Format Validation.Success No Retry After When All Ok	✅	513ms
Response Format Validation.Success Retry After Present When Retry Events	✅	1516ms
Response Format Validation.Success No Retry After When Drop Only	✅	513ms
Response Format Validation.Response Echoes Request Id	✅	511ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 408	✅	6518ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 500	✅	6516ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 503	✅	8523ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 504	✅	6520ms
Retry Behavior.Retryable Errors Have Retry After	✅	3516ms
Retry Behavior.Respects Retry After On Retryable Error	✅	11524ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 400	✅	2514ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 401	✅	2513ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 402	✅	2513ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 413	✅	2514ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 415	✅	2514ms
Retry Behavior.Non Retryable Errors Have No Retry After	✅	2515ms
Retry Behavior.Implements Backoff	✅	22525ms
Retry Behavior.Max Retries Respected	✅	22527ms
Partial Batch Handling.Handles 200 Full Success	✅	2513ms
Partial Batch Handling.Handles 200 With All Ok	✅	3519ms
Partial Batch Handling.Does Not Retry Dropped Events	✅	3514ms
Partial Batch Handling.Does Not Retry Limited Events	✅	3516ms
Partial Batch Handling.Prunes Ok Events On Partial Retry	✅	6518ms
Partial Batch Handling.Prunes Dropped Events On Partial Retry	✅	6521ms
Partial Batch Handling.Retries Only Retry Events From Partial	✅	6523ms
Partial Batch Handling.Partial Retry Preserves Uuids	✅	6519ms
Partial Batch Handling.Partial Retry Attempt Header Increments	✅	6521ms
Partial Batch Handling.Partial Retry Request Id Preserved	✅	6518ms
Partial Batch Handling.Respects Retry After On Partial	✅	8522ms
Partial Batch Handling.Unknown Result Treated As Terminal	✅	3516ms
Partial Batch Handling.Mixed Ok Drop Limited No Retry	✅	3519ms
Compression.Sends Gzip Content Encoding	✅	511ms
Compression.No Content Encoding When Disabled	✅	511ms
Compression.Compressed Body Is Decompressible	✅	510ms
Error Handling.Does Not Retry On Unknown 4Xx	✅	2514ms
Event Options.Cookieless Mode Override	✅	511ms
Event Options.Disable Skew Correction Override	✅	510ms
Event Options.Process Person Profile Override	✅	512ms
Event Options.Product Tour Id Override	✅	510ms
Event Options.Unset Options Omitted	✅	511ms
Event Options.Options Override In Batch	✅	514ms
Geoip And Historical Migration.Geoip Disable Injected Into Properties	✅	510ms
Geoip And Historical Migration.Historical Migration Set In Body	✅	510ms
Geoip And Historical Migration.Historical Migration Absent By Default	✅	511ms

Feature_Flags Tests

✅ 17/17 tests passed

View Details

Test	Status	Duration
Request Payload.Request With Person Properties Device Id	✅	12ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Uses V2 Query Param	✅	10ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Hits Flags Path Not Decide	✅	10ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Omits Authorization Header	✅	11ms
Request Payload.Token In Flags Body Matches Init	✅	10ms
Request Payload.Groups Round Trip	✅	11ms
Request Payload.Groups Default To Empty Object	✅	10ms
Request Payload.Disable Geoip False Propagates As Geoip Disable False	✅	10ms
Request Payload.Disable Geoip Omitted Defaults To False	✅	11ms
Request Payload.Flag Keys To Evaluate Contains Only Requested Key	✅	10ms
Request Lifecycle.No Flags Request On Init Alone	✅	4ms
Request Lifecycle.No Flags Request On Normal Capture	✅	510ms
Request Lifecycle.Two Flag Calls Produce Two Remote Requests	✅	16ms
Request Lifecycle.Mock Response Value Is Returned To Caller	✅	12ms
Retry Behavior.Retries Flags On 502	✅	315ms
Retry Behavior.Retries Flags On 504	✅	314ms
Side Effect Events.Get Feature Flag Captures Feature Flag Called Event	✅	513ms

[marco-g-pm]

claude got ahead of himself