🔍 Proxy-layer microscope for LLM traffic analysis
A cross-platform command-line tool that intercepts, analyzes, and logs communications between AI coding tools/agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, etc.) and their backend LLM APIs.
- Watch Mode - Interactive continuous capture with session management
- One-Shot Capture (
lli run) - Wrap any command (claude -p,codex exec, ...) with fully automated, non-interactive capture — ideal for scripted agent experiments - Transparent Inspection - See exactly what prompts are sent and what responses are received
- Streaming Support - Captures both streaming (SSE) and non-streaming API responses
- Multi-Provider - Works with Anthropic, OpenAI (Chat Completions and Responses API), Google, Groq, Together, Mistral, and more
- Automatic Masking - Protects API keys and sensitive data in logs
- Auto Processing - Automatically merges and splits session data
- Cross-Platform - Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
uv tool install llm-interceptorpip install llm-interceptorgit clone https://github.com/chouzz/llm-interceptor.git
cd llm-interceptor
uv sync --dev
uv run lli-dev-setupGit does not copy hooks from .git/hooks when you clone a repository, so each
new clone must install the project's pre-commit hook once:
uv sync --dev
uv run lli-dev-setupIf you prefer pip:
pip install -e .[dev]
lli-dev-setupScripting or agent experiments? You can skip this interactive workflow entirely — see Automated Capture:
lli runto captureclaude -p "..."-style commands with zero interaction.
If you're only capturing HTTP traffic, you can skip this step. Only install the certificate if you need to capture HTTPS requests.
# Generate certificate
lli watch &
sleep 2
kill %1Then install the certificate:
macOS:
open ~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.pem
# Double-click to add to Keychain
# In Keychain Access, find "mitmproxy" → Double-click → Trust → "Always Trust"Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):
sudo cp ~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.pem /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/mitmproxy.crt
sudo update-ca-certificatesWindows:
Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\.mitmproxy\. Double-click mitmproxy-ca-cert.p12 (or mitmproxy-ca-cert.cer) to open the certificate import wizard → Install Certificate → Local Machine → place in Trusted Root Certification Authorities → Finish.
lli watchIf you need to capture traffic to a custom or self-hosted API , use --include with a glob pattern, for example:
lli watch --include "*api.example.com*"In watch mode:
- Press Enter to start recording a session
- Press Enter again to stop recording and automatically process the session
- Press Esc while recording to cancel the current session (no output generated)
- Ctrl+C to exit watch mode
export HTTP_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:9090
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:9090
export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.pem
# Optional: bypass proxy for some hosts (e.g. localhost). Configure in lli.toml as no_proxy or run: lli config --proxy-help
# Run Claude and start your conversation
claude
# Now start your dialogue - all prompts and responses will be capturedIf you capture traffic behind a corporate proxy or on a network where upstream servers use a company-signed certificate, you may see TLS errors because the proxy only trusts the system CAs, not your company’s CA. Configure the upstream trust CA so LLI (mitmproxy) can verify connections to the corporate proxy or target hosts:
- Client → LLI: Your app must trust the mitmproxy CA (install
~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.pemas in step 1). - LLI → upstream (corporate proxy / target): LLI must trust the company CA. Set the path to your company’s root or intermediate CA (PEM file):
# Option A: CLI
lli watch --upstream-ca-cert /path/to/corporate-ca.pem
Use lli config --show to confirm the upstream CA path. If the file does not exist at startup, LLI will exit with an error.
The web interface should be launched in http://127.0.0.1:48080 to analyze captured conversations:
In the UI, you can:
- Browse captured sessions in the sidebar
- View conversation flow between requests and responses
- Inspect detailed API payloads and metadata
- Search and filter through captured data
- Copy formatted content for further analysis
Tip: prefer a permanent UI? Run
lli serveonce and keep it running — it shows sessions from bothlli watchandlli runand picks up new ones automatically (see Automated Capture).
For scripting and agent experiments you can skip watch mode entirely. lli run
wraps a single command with a private ephemeral proxy and captures its LLM
traffic end-to-end — no keypresses, no env setup, no manual merge:
lli run -- claude -p "fix the failing test"
lli run --label codex -- codex exec "review src/"How it works:
- Starts a throwaway proxy on a random loopback port (nothing else on your machine is affected)
- Spawns the command with
HTTP(S)_PROXYand CA trust (NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS,SSL_CERT_FILE,REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE) already injected — Claude Code, Codex, and curl work out of the box - When the command exits, waits for in-flight streaming responses to drain,
then automatically processes the session (merge + split into per-exchange
request/response JSON) and writes
run_meta.json - Exits with the command's own exit code, so it composes with scripts and CI
Each run's session lands directly in the traces directory alongside watch-mode sessions (microsecond IDs keep concurrent runs collision-free), so it shows up in the web UI automatically:
traces/
├── all_captured_20260101_120000_123456.jsonl # raw records for this run (replayable)
└── session_20260101_120000_123456/ # this run's session
├── session_meta.json
├── run_meta.json # command, label, exit code, duration, ...
├── 001_request_2026-01-01_12-00-00.json
├── 001_response_2026-01-01_12-00-00.json
└── ...
--label is recorded in run_meta.json (not in directory names), so run
sessions are easy to find programmatically:
ls traces/session_*/run_meta.jsonThis makes it easy to batch-analyze how different agents (Claude Code, Codex, ...) solve the same tasks — every exchange, tool call, and token count lands in plain JSON files ready for scripting:
for task in "fix the login bug" "add dark mode" "write tests for api.py"; do
lli run --label "claude-$task" -- claude -p "$task"
done
# Then inspect traces/session_*/00N_{request,response}_*.json
# (run sessions are the ones containing run_meta.json)Note: the mitmproxy CA file (
~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.pem) must exist — it is generated the first time any LLI proxy starts. System-wide certificate installation (Quick Start step 1) is not required forlli run, since CA trust is injected into the child process directly.
See lli run CLI reference for all options (--label,
--output-dir, --include, --exclude, --drain-timeout).
This repo ships an agent skill at .agents/skills/lli-trace-analysis/
that teaches coding agents (OpenCode, and any tool that reads the
.agents/skills convention) to work with LLI captures:
- summarize sessions (models, normalized token usage incl. cache, latency, tool calls, failed/orphan requests) via the bundled zero-dependency
lli_report.py - look up exact JSON field paths per capture format (Anthropic Messages, OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses) with ready-made jq snippets
- set up lli and run capture experiments (
lli run) even when lli is not installed yet
OpenCode discovers it automatically when you work inside this repository; from
elsewhere you can copy the directory into your project's .agents/skills/ (or
install it with a skills CLI). See the skill's SKILL.md for details.
Watch mode uses a state machine with three states:
| State | Description |
|---|---|
| IDLE | Monitoring traffic, waiting for you to start a session |
| RECORDING | Capturing traffic with session ID injection |
| PROCESSING | Auto-extracting, merging, and splitting session data |
$ lli watch
╭─────────────────────────╮
│ LLI Watch Mode │
│ Continuous Capture │
╰─────────────────────────╯
Proxy Port: 9090
Output Dir: ./traces (or OS-specific logs directory)
Global Log: traces/all_captured_20251203_220000.jsonl
Configure your application:
export HTTP_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:9090
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:9090
export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.pem
● [IDLE] Monitoring on :9090... Logging to all_captured_20251203_220000.jsonl
Press [Enter] to START Session 1
<Enter>
◉ [REC] Session 01_session_20251203_223010 is recording...
Press [Enter] to STOP & PROCESS, [Esc] to CANCEL
<Enter>
⏳ [BUSY] Processing Session 01_session_20251203_223010...
✔ Saved to traces/01_session_20251203_223010/
● [IDLE] Monitoring on :9090... Logging to all_captured_20251203_220000.jsonl
Press [Enter] to START Session 2
./traces/ # Root output directory
├── all_captured_20251203_220000.jsonl # Global log (all traffic)
│
├── 01_session_20251203_223010/ # Session 01 folder
│ ├── raw.jsonl # Clean session data
│ ├── merged.jsonl # Merged conversations
│ └── split_output/ # Individual files
│ ├── 001_request_2025-12-03_22-30-10.json
│ └── 001_response_2025-12-03_22-30-10.json
│
├── 02_session_20251203_224500/ # Session 02 folder
└── ...
Start watch mode for continuous session capture (recommended).
lli watch [OPTIONS]
Options:
-p, --port INTEGER Proxy server port (default: 9090)
-o, --output-dir, --log-dir PATH Root output directory (default: ./traces or OS log dir)
-i, --include TEXT Additional URL patterns to include (glob pattern)
--upstream-ca-cert PATH Path to PEM or CA bundle for trusting upstream (e.g. corporate proxy) certificates
--debug Enable debug mode with verbose loggingExamples:
# Basic watch mode
lli watch
# Custom port and output directory
lli watch --port 8888 --output-dir ./my_traces
# Include custom API endpoint (glob pattern)
lli watch --include "*my-custom-api.com*"
# Corporate network: trust company CA so upstream TLS (proxy/target) is verified
lli watch --upstream-ca-cert /path/to/corporate-ca.pem
# Match all subdomains of a domain
lli watch --include "*api.example.com*"Glob Pattern Syntax:
| Pattern | Description |
|---|---|
* |
Matches any characters |
? |
Matches a single character |
[seq] |
Matches any character in seq |
[!seq] |
Matches any character not in seq |
Display configuration and setup help.
lli config --cert-help # Certificate installation instructions
lli config --proxy-help # Proxy configuration instructions
lli config --show # Show current configurationRun a command with automatic, fully non-interactive LLM traffic capture —
ideal for scripted agent experiments (claude -p, codex exec, ...).
lli run starts a private ephemeral proxy, spawns the command with
HTTP(S)_PROXY / CA environment variables injected, and when the command
exits it drains in-flight responses, processes the session (merge + split
into per-exchange request/response JSON files), and writes run metadata.
lli exits with the command's exit code, so it can be composed in scripts
and CI.
lli run -- claude -p "fix the failing test"
lli run --label codex -- codex exec "review src/"
# Custom provider + output location
lli run --include "*my-llm.example.com*" --output-dir ./experiments -- curl -s https://api.example.com/healthEach run's session is created directly in the traces directory alongside
watch-mode sessions (microsecond IDs keep concurrent runs collision-free),
and run_meta.json inside it records the command, label, exit code, and
duration:
traces/session_20260101_120000_123456/
├── session_meta.json
├── run_meta.json # command, label, exit code, duration, ...
├── all_captured_*.jsonl # raw captured records (replayable, at traces root)
├── 001_request_2026-01-01_12-00-00.json
├── 001_response_2026-01-01_12-00-00.json
└── ...
Notes:
- The mitmproxy CA certificate (
~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.pem) is exported to the child viaNODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS/SSL_CERT_FILE/REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE, so Node- and OpenSSL-based agents work out of the box. - After the command exits, LLI waits up to
--drain-timeout(default 15s) for in-flight streaming responses to complete before finalizing.
Start the web UI as a standalone, long-running server. Serves all captured
sessions (from lli watch and lli run) and picks up new ones
automatically — keep it running in one terminal and capture from any other:
lli serve # http://127.0.0.1:48080, default traces dir
lli serve --port 48080 --output-dir ./traceslli watch still embeds its own UI; when its port is already taken by a
standalone lli serve instance, it reuses that server.
Display statistics for a captured trace file.
lli stats traces/01_session_xxx/raw.jsonlLLI is pre-configured to capture traffic from:
| Provider | API Domain |
|---|---|
| Anthropic | api.anthropic.com |
| OpenAI (Chat Completions & Responses API) | api.openai.com |
generativelanguage.googleapis.com |
|
| Together | api.together.xyz |
| Groq | api.groq.com |
| Mistral | api.mistral.ai |
| Cohere | api.cohere.ai |
| DeepSeek | api.deepseek.com |
Add custom providers with --include (using glob patterns):
lli watch --include "*my-custom-api.com*"Problem: SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED
Solution: Install the mitmproxy CA certificate. Run lli config --cert-help for instructions.
Problem: Requests hang or timeout when using Claude Code, Cursor, etc.
Solution: Set the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS environment variable:
export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.pemProblem: Upstream TLS handshake failures when capturing company URLs (e.g. traffic goes through a corporate proxy that uses a company CA).
Solution: Configure the upstream trust CA so LLI can verify the corporate proxy or target server certificate. Use --upstream-ca-cert, or set proxy.upstream_ca_cert in lli.toml, or LLI_UPSTREAM_CA_CERT. See the "Corporate network: upstream CA certificate" section above.
Problem: Watch mode is running but no requests are logged
Solution:
- Verify proxy environment variables are set correctly
- Make sure the URL matches the default patterns (or add
--include) - Check
lli config --showto see current filter patterns
MIT License
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
Before committing from a fresh clone, run lli-dev-setup once to install the
repository's pre-commit hook locally.
- GitHub Issues: Report a bug
- Documentation: Read the docs
