Getting Started
Introduction
Helicone is the open-source LLM observability platform for developers to monitor, debug, and improve production-ready applications.
Quick Start
Welcome to Helicone! Integrate your preferred provider with Helicone in seconds.1
Create an account
Once you have an account, proceed to the next step.
2
Generate an API key
Go to Settings
Go to Settings
Click on your organization on the top left, then select 
Settings from the dropdown.Select the API Keys tab
Select the API Keys tab
Generate new key
Generate new key
Click on 
Generate new key.When creating a new Helicone API key, you have the ability to enable read and write permissions.
Write keys can be used through Helicone via our proxy, feedback or any other Helicone service when calling a POST or using our gateway.Keys with read permissions will start with
sk- and keys with write
permissions will start with pk-. For our EU customers, keys are generated
with the prefix eu- this allows our edge workers to know which region to
route the request to.3
Pick your preferred integration method
Select the provider you are using below as the next instruction varies.
4
Send your first request 🎉
Once we receive your requests, you will see them in the
Requests tab.You will also see that your Dashboard has been updated with your new request.What’s next?
We curated a list to help you make the most of Helicone, but you’re welcome to explore the product on your own!Add a custom property
Label your requests to segment, analyze, and visualize them.
Create your first prompt
Version your prompt and inputs as they evolve.
Track a session
Group and visualize multi-step LLM interactions (i.e. AI agents).
Cache responses
Cache and watch how much time and cost you saved.
Recommendations
The following guides are optional, but we think you’ll find them useful.Explore Features
Discover all the features for monitoring and experimenting with your prompts.Prompts
Manage and version prompts from code or UI.
Sessions
Trace agentic workflows and visualize them.
Webhooks
Instantly react to events, trigger actions, and integrate with external tools.
Custom Properties
Label and segment your requests.
Caching
Save cost and improve latency.
Scores
Evaluate prompt performance and quantify model outputs.
Omit Logs
Remove request and responses.
User Metrics
Get insights into your user’s usage.
Datasets & Fine-tuning
Curate datasets and fine-tune your LLMs.
Feedback
Provide user feedback on output.
Gateway Fallback (Beta)
Utilize any provider through a single endpoint.
Retries
Smartly retry requests.
Rate Limiting
Easily rate-limit power users.
Key Vault
Manage and distribute your provider API keys securely.
Moderation Integration
Integrate OpenAI moderation to safeguard your chat completions.
LLM Security
Secure OpenAI chat completions against prompt injections.
Webhooks
Set up integrations tp subscribe Helicone events.
Customer Portal
Easily manage your customers and their usage.
Further Reading
Proxy or Async?
Determine when you should use a proxy or async function in Helicone.
How we calculate costs
A detailed breakdown of our process to calculate cost per request.
Understanding Helicone Headers
Every header you need to know to access Helicone features.