Documentation missing for enabling OpenAI telemetry in .NET Aspire dashboard

[Varorbc]

Is there an existing issue for this?

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Describe the bug

I was trying to view OpenAI telemetry data in the Aspire dashboard tracing view, but no relevant data was appearing. The dashboard provided a link to the documentation, but this section didn't provide sufficient guidance for enabling OpenAI-specific telemetry.

I then checked the Aspire.OpenAI component documentation, but the configuration steps mentioned there didn't work for me.

After researching further, I discovered in the commit history (specifically #11237) that OpenAI telemetry requires setting EnableSensitiveTelemetryData to true to be visible in the dashboard.

The documentation should be updated to clearly explain that:

1. OpenAI telemetry is disabled by default due to containing potentially sensitive data
2. Users need to explicitly set EnableSensitiveTelemetryData=true to view this telemetry
3. This setting should be mentioned in both the main dashboard documentation and the Aspire.OpenAI component documentation
4. A clear warning about the implications of enabling this setting (exposing potentially sensitive AI prompts/responses in telemetry) would be helpful

This would save other developers significant time troubleshooting why their OpenAI telemetry isn't appearing in the dashboard.

Expected Behavior

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Steps To Reproduce

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Exceptions (if any)

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.NET Version info

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Anything else?

No response

[davidfowl]

What versions of everything are you using?

[Varorbc]

I am currently using version 13.0.0-preview.1.25560.3 of Aspire.OpenAI.

[JamesNK]

If you're using Aspire 13 then it should automatically work when your app is run locally.

The OTEL_INSTRUMENTATION_GENAI_CAPTURE_MESSAGE_CONTENT env var is set to true, which should default EnableSensitiveTelemetryData to true.

For example, when I run the GitHubModelsEndToEnd playground app, sensitive data is true because the env var is set.

[JamesNK]

I've updated the documentation to link directly to the section that configures sensitive data in integrations: microsoft/aspire.dev#56

This should be for cases where someone doesn't want to rely on the env var. For example, maybe they want to enable it in a deployed environment.

[Varorbc]

If you're using Aspire 13 then it should automatically work when your app is run locally.

The OTEL_INSTRUMENTATION_GENAI_CAPTURE_MESSAGE_CONTENT env var is set to true, which should default EnableSensitiveTelemetryData to true.

For example, when I run the GitHubModelsEndToEnd playground app, sensitive data is true because the env var is set.

@JamesNK I noticed that the environment variable OTEL_INSTRUMENTATION_GENAI_CAPTURE_MESSAGE_CONTENT is true, but EnableSensitiveTelemetryData is false. Because EnableSensitiveTelemetryData has no initial value

aspire/src/Components/Aspire.OpenAI/OpenAISettings.cs

Line 49 in d27bba2

public bool EnableSensitiveTelemetryData { get; set; }

[JamesNK]

This is a bug. We didn't default this instance of EnableSensitiveTelemetryData.

[JamesNK]

Fix here: #12992. We can backport to 13.0.1