# Trace evaluations

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A trace evaluation runs a scoring config (scorers + judges) over a trace set. Use trace evaluations for:

* **Pre- and post-deployment agentic evaluation** — score a curated trace set before shipping
* **Continuous evaluation** — score live production traces on a recurring schedule
* **Ad-hoc inspection** — grade a recent batch you just ingested

URL: [`stratix.layerlens.ai/dashboard/agent-evaluation/trace-evaluations`](https://stratix.layerlens.ai/dashboard/agent-evaluation/trace-evaluations)

## What you can do

* Create a trace evaluation against a trace set
* Apply scorers and judges (any number, any combination)
* Run on demand or on a recurring schedule
* Browse past runs
* Compare runs to a baseline
* Get notified when scores cross thresholds

## Creating a trace evaluation

1. **Pick the trace set** — a saved set, a filter, or a single trace
2. **Pick the scoring config** — scorers + judges
3. **Pick the schedule** — one-off, daily, hourly
4. **Configure thresholds** (optional) — alert when a dimension drops below X
5. **Run / save**

## Reading the results

Each trace evaluation result page shows:

* Top-line score per dimension
* Per-trace verdicts
* Failed traces with span-level root-cause links
* Score-over-time chart (for recurring runs)
* Comparison to baseline (most recent prior successful run)

## Pre-deploy vs continuous patterns

**Pre-deploy:** trace set is a curated test set. Run on a candidate change. Compare to last successful run.

**Continuous:** trace set is your production stream. Run on a schedule. Watch the trend.

## Agentic evaluation

For pre- and post-deployment agentic evaluations, the trace evaluation is the runtime. The criteria mix natural-language assertions, deterministic rules, and judges into one config — see [Concept: Agentic evaluation](/8.-evaluate-score-the-outputs/agentic-evaluation.md).

## Where to next

* [Concept: Continuous evaluation](/7.-observe-see-whats-happening/continuous-evaluation.md)
* [Tutorial: Score live traces](/8.-evaluate-score-the-outputs/04-score-traces.md)
* [Traces](/7.-observe-see-whats-happening/traces.md)
* [Judges](/8.-evaluate-score-the-outputs/judges.md)


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