Helicone AI

Helicone AI is an open-source observability platform designed specifically for developers working with Large Language Models. Think of it as your AI application's dashboard that shows you everything happening under the hood.

The platform works as a smart proxy between your application and AI providers, capturing detailed logs, metrics, and performance data without requiring complex setup or code changes. What makes Helicone special is its simplicity - you just change one line in your code to start monitoring everything.

The platform tracks costs, latency, user interactions, and model performance in real-time. It also includes advanced features like prompt management, caching to reduce expenses, and intelligent retry mechanisms. Built by developers for developers, Helicone supports both cloud-hosted and self-hosted deployments, ensuring you maintain control over your data while getting powerful insights into your AI applications.

Getting started with Helicone is incredibly simple and takes just minutes. First, sign up for a free account at helicone.ai and generate your API key from the dashboard. The basic integration requires changing just one line of code in your existing application.

For OpenAI integration:

• Replace your base URL from https://api.openai.com/v1 to https://oai.helicone.ai/v1

• Add your Helicone API key to the headers

• Your existing code continues working normally

Key steps to maximize results:

• Set up custom properties to track users and sessions

• Use prompt management features to version your prompts

• Enable caching to reduce costs on repeated requests

• Configure alerts for unusual patterns or errors

• Explore the dashboard to understand usage patterns

The platform automatically starts logging all requests, providing instant visibility into costs, latency, and performance. You can track which users drive the most API usage, identify slow prompts, and spot errors before they impact users.

• Real-time monitoring and cost tracking across 100+ AI models

• One-line integration with OpenAI, Anthropic, and other providers

• Prompt management with version control and experimentation

• Smart caching to reduce API costs and improve speed

• Session tracking and user analytics

• Enterprise-grade security (SOC-2, GDPR compliant)

• Self-hosted and cloud deployment options

• Open-source with active community support