Merge pull request #7197 from ms-johnalex/tracing-092225

Update tracing how-to articles with AI Toolkit tracing flow

Author: prmerger-automator[bot]

articles/ai-foundry/how-to/develop/trace-agents-sdk.md

@@ -172,6 +172,14 @@ with tracer.start_as_current_span("example-tracing"):
     run = project_client.agents.runs.create_and_process(thread_id=thread.id, agent_id=agent.id)
 ```
 
+### Alternative: AI Toolkit for VS Code
+
+AI Toolkit gives you a simple way to trace locally in VS Code. It uses a local OTLP-compatible collector, making it great for development and debugging. 
+
+The toolkit supports AI frameworks like Azure AI Foundry Agents Service, OpenAI, Anthropic, and LangChain through OpenTelemetry. You can see traces instantly in VS Code without needing cloud access.
+
+For detailed setup instructions and SDK-specific code examples, see [Tracing in AI Toolkit](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/intelligentapps/tracing).
+
 ## Trace custom functions
 
 To trace your custom functions, use the OpenTelemetry SDK to instrument your code.

articles/ai-foundry/how-to/develop/trace-application.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ description: View trace results for AI applications using OpenAI SDK with OpenTe
 author: lgayhardt
 ms.author: lagayhar
 ms.reviewer: ychen
-ms.date: 09/15/2025
+ms.date: 09/22/2025
 ms.service: azure-ai-foundry
 ms.topic: how-to
 ai-usage: ai-assisted
@@ -291,6 +291,15 @@ Configure tracing as follows:
     }
     ```
 
+## Trace locally with AI Toolkit
+
+AI Toolkit offers a simple way to trace locally in VS Code. It uses a local OTLP-compatible collector, making it perfect for development and debugging without needing cloud access.
+
+The toolkit supports the OpenAI SDK and other AI frameworks through OpenTelemetry. You can see traces instantly in your development environment.
+
+For detailed setup instructions and SDK-specific code examples, see [Tracing in AI Toolkit](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/intelligentapps/tracing).
+
+
 ## Related content
 
 * [Trace agents using Azure AI Foundry SDK](trace-agents-sdk.md)