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Task History

The Spice runtime stores information about completed tasks in the spice.runtime.task_history table. A task is a single unit of execution within the runtime, such as a SQL query or an AI chat completion (see Task Types below). Tasks can be nested, and the runtime will record the parent-child relationship between tasks.

Each task executed has a row in this table, and by default the data is retained for 8 hours. Use a SELECT query to return information about each task as shown in this example:

SELECT
*
FROM
spice.runtime.task_history
LIMIT
100;

Output:

+----------------------------------+------------------+----------------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| trace_id | span_id | parent_span_id | task | input | captured_output | start_time | end_time | execution_duration_ms | error_message | labels |
+----------------------------------+------------------+----------------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| f94dba6b89de98c6e54b074f2353a897 | 4eb243d9b5347762 | | accelerated_refresh | runtime.metrics | | 2024-09-23T23:17:39.907789 | 2024-09-23T23:17:39.917777 | 9.988 | | {sql: SELECT * FROM runtime.metrics} |
| 1f1f8305520e15ea7ad9b0a43e5d2c7e | 6aadf7c91caea3c4 | | accelerated_refresh | runtime.task_history | | 2024-09-23T23:17:39.907873 | 2024-09-23T23:17:39.917797 | 9.924000000000001 | | {sql: SELECT * FROM runtime.task_history} |
| 1432e30c5ed7764f4ef35f6508dfd56c | fbb31c60d41d8232 | | accelerated_refresh | logs_file | | 2024-09-23T23:17:40.143699 | 2024-09-23T23:17:40.271678 | 127.97900000000001 | | {sql: SELECT * FROM logs_file} |
| fd0b909b789938384d99f0e4e6f4b68b | 624ea4751bb6727a | | accelerated_refresh | logs | | 2024-09-23T23:17:40.676838 | 2024-09-23T23:17:42.345932 | 1669.0939999999998 | | {sql: SELECT * FROM "logs"} |
| 3db5488039408825ac0829a3feb49b05 | e3e5ac928b497eef | | accelerated_refresh | decimal | | 2024-09-23T23:17:41.592359 | 2024-09-23T23:17:43.781699 | 2189.34 | | {sql: SELECT * FROM "decimal"} |
| 5c5ddd481d1e19df823da74fe33f261f | 6afcfd1e65385a16 | | sql_query | select * from runtime.task_history limit 100 | | 2024-09-23T23:17:48.305649 | 2024-09-23T23:17:48.307369 | 1.72 | | {runtime_query: true, query_execution_duration_ms: 1.429375, protocol: FlightSQL, datasets: runtime.task_history, rows_produced: 5} |
| 4c3dd314b874aa63fcd15023e67fc645 | cab3cdc2d31c1b6a | | sql_query | select block_number from logs_file limit 5 | | 2024-09-23T23:18:00.267218 | 2024-09-23T23:18:00.269278 | 2.06 | | {datasets: logs_file, rows_produced: 5, query_execution_duration_ms: 1.940291, accelerated: true, protocol: FlightSQL} |
| f135c00df3aecd68dfa4d2360eff78f5 | db3474855449715c | | sql_query | select * from foobar | | 2024-09-23T23:18:12.865122 | 2024-09-23T23:18:12.865196 | 0.074 | Error during planning: table 'spice.public.foobar' not found | {protocol: FlightSQL, error_code: QueryPlanningError, rows_produced: 0, query_execution_duration_ms: 0.126959, datasets: } |
+----------------------------------+------------------+----------------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

More example queries can be found in the Task History SQL Reference.

Task Types​

The following top-level task types are currently recorded:

Task TypeDescriptionCLI Command
sql_querySQL Queryspice sql
nsql_queryNatural Language to SQL Query
ai_chatAI Chat Completionspice chat
vector_searchVector Searchspice search
accelerated_refreshAccelerated Table Refresh
text_embedText Embedding

Configuration​

Set the following parameters in the runtime.task_history section of the spicepod.yaml file to configure task history:

  • enabled: Enable or disable task history. Default: true.
  • retention_period: The duration for which task history data is retained. Default: 8h.
  • retention_check_interval: The interval at which the task history retention is checked. Default: 1m.
  • captured_output: The level of output captured for tasks. none or truncated. Default: none. truncated captures the first 3 rows of the result set for sql_query and nsql_query task types. Other task types currently capture the entire output even in truncated mode.

Examples​

Adjust the retention period for task history:

runtime:
task_history:
retention_period: 1h # Keep tasks for 1 hour
retention_check_interval: 1m # Check for expired tasks every minute

Disable task history:

runtime:
task_history:
enabled: false

Disable capturing output from tasks:

runtime:
task_history:
captured_output: none # none or truncated

Table Schema​

Column NameData TypeIs NullableDescription
trace_idUtf8NOUnique identifier for the entire trace this task happened in
span_idUtf8NOUnique identifier for this specific task within the trace
parent_span_idUtf8YESIdentifier of the parent task, if any
taskUtf8NOName or description of the task being performed (e.g. sql_query)
inputUtf8NOInput data or parameters for the task
captured_outputUtf8YESOutput or result of the task, if available
start_timeTimestamp(Nanosecond, None)NOTime when the task started
end_timeTimestamp(Nanosecond, None)NOTime when the task ended
execution_duration_msFloat64NODuration of the task execution in milliseconds
error_messageUtf8YESError message if the task failed, otherwise null
labelsMap(Utf8, Utf8)NOKey-value pairs for additional metadata or attributes associated with the task