AgentSight: Zero-Instrumentation LLM Agent Observability with eBPF

AgentSight is a observability tool designed specifically for monitoring LLM agent behavior through SSL/TLS traffic interception and process monitoring. Unlike traditional application-level instrumentation, AgentSight observes at the system boundary using eBPF technology, providing comprehensive insights into AI agent interactions with minimal performance overhead.

✨ Zero Instrumentation Required - No code changes, no new dependencies, no SDKs. Works with any AI framework or application out of the box.

Quick Start

wget https://github.com/eunomia-bpf/agentsight/releases/latest/download/agentsight && chmod +x agentsight
# Record Claude Code activity (Bun-based, requires --binary-path for statically-linked BoringSSL)
sudo ./agentsight record -c claude --binary-path ~/.local/share/claude/versions/$(claude --version | head -1)
# Record agent behavior from claude (old version)
sudo ./agentsight record -c "claude"
# Record agent behavior from gemini-cli (comm is "node")
sudo ./agentsight record -c "node"
# For Python AI tools (e.g. aider, open-interpreter)
sudo ./agentsight record -c "python"
# For Node.js apps with NVM (statically-linked OpenSSL)
sudo ./agentsight record -c node --binary-path ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.0.0/bin/node

Visit http://127.0.0.1:7395 to view the recorded data.

Real-time process tree visualization showing AI agent interactions and file operations

Real-time timeline visualization showing AI agent interactions and system calls

Real-time metrics visualization showing AI agent memory and CPU usage

🚀 Why AgentSight?

Traditional Observability vs. System-Level Monitoring

Challenge	Application-Level Tools	AgentSight Solution
Framework Adoption	❌ New SDK/proxy for each framework	✅ Drop-in daemon, no code changes
Closed-Source Tools	❌ Limited visibility into operations	✅ Complete visibility into prompts & behaviors
Dynamic Agent Behavior	❌ Logs can be silenced or manipulated	✅ Kernel-level hooks for reliable monitoring
Encrypted Traffic	❌ Only sees wrapper outputs	✅ Captures real unencrypted requests/responses
System Interactions	❌ Misses subprocess executions	✅ Tracks all process behaviors & file operations
Multi-Agent Systems	❌ Isolated per-process tracing	✅ Global correlation and analysis

AgentSight captures critical interactions that application-level tools miss:

• Subprocess executions that bypass instrumentation
• Raw encrypted payloads before agent processing
• File operations and system resource access
• Cross-agent communications and coordination

🏗️ Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              AI Agent Runtime                   │
│   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│   │    Application-Level Observability      │   │
│   │  (LangSmith, Helicone, Langfuse, etc.)  │   │
│   │         🔴 Can be bypassed               │   │
│   └─────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│                     ↕ (Can be bypassed)         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ ← System Boundary
│  🟢 AgentSight eBPF Monitoring (Kernel-level)   │
│  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────┐   │
│  │   SSL Traffic   │  │    Process Events   │   │
│  │   Monitoring    │  │    Monitoring       │   │
│  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                      ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         Rust Streaming Analysis Framework       │
│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌────────┐  │
│  │   Runners   │  │  Analyzers   │  │ Output │  │
│  │ (Collectors)│  │ (Processors) │  │        │  │
│  └─────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                      ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           Frontend Visualization                │
│     Timeline • Process Tree • Event Logs       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Core Components

1. eBPF Data Collection (Kernel Space)

   • SSL Monitor: Intercepts SSL/TLS read/write operations via uprobe hooks
   • Process Monitor: Tracks process lifecycle and file operations via tracepoints
   • <3% Performance Overhead: Operates below application layer with minimal impact

2. Rust Streaming Framework (User Space)

   • Runners: Execute eBPF programs and stream JSON events (SSL, Process, Agent, Combined)
   • Analyzers: Pluggable processors for HTTP parsing, chunk merging, filtering, logging
   • Event System: Standardized event format with rich metadata and JSON payloads

3. Frontend Visualization (React/TypeScript)

   • Interactive timeline, process tree, and log views
   • Real-time data streaming and analysis
   • See "Web Interface Access" section for details

Data Flow Pipeline

eBPF Programs → JSON Events → Runners → Analyzer Chain → Frontend/Storage/Output

Usage

Prerequisites

• Linux kernel: 4.1+ with eBPF support (5.0+ recommended)
• Root privileges: Required for eBPF program loading
• Rust toolchain: 1.88.0+ (for building collector)
• Node.js: 18+ (for frontend development)
• Build tools: clang, llvm, libelf-dev

Installation

Option 1: Using Docker (Recommended)

AgentSight runs in Docker with --privileged for eBPF, --pid=host to access host processes, -v /sys:/sys:ro for process monitoring, and -v /usr:/usr:ro -v /lib:/lib:ro for SSL library access (required to attach uprobes to shared libraries like libssl.so). Example:

# Monitor Python AI tools
docker run --privileged --pid=host --network=host \
  -v /sys:/sys:ro -v /usr:/usr:ro -v /lib:/lib:ro \
  -v $(pwd)/logs:/logs \
  ghcr.io/eunomia-bpf/agentsight:latest \
  record --comm python --log-file /logs/record.log

# Monitor Claude Code (mount home dir for binary access)
docker run --privileged --pid=host --network=host \
  -v /sys:/sys:ro -v /usr:/usr:ro -v /lib:/lib:ro \
  -v $HOME/.local/share/claude:/claude:ro \
  -v $(pwd)/logs:/logs \
  ghcr.io/eunomia-bpf/agentsight:latest \
  record --comm claude --binary-path /claude/versions/2.1.39 --log-file /logs/record.log

Option 2: Build from Source

# Clone repository with submodules
git clone https://github.com/eunomia-bpf/agentsight.git --recursive
cd agentsight

# Install system dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian)
make install

# Build all components (frontend, eBPF, and Rust)
make build

# Or build individually:
# make build-frontend  # Build frontend assets
# make build-bpf       # Build eBPF programs
# make build-rust      # Build Rust collector

Usage Examples

Monitoring Claude Code

Claude Code is a Bun-based application with BoringSSL statically linked and symbols stripped. AgentSight auto-detects BoringSSL functions via byte-pattern matching when --binary-path is provided:

# Find the Claude binary version
CLAUDE_BIN=~/.local/share/claude/versions/$(claude --version | head -1)

# Record all Claude activity with web UI
sudo ./agentsight record -c claude --binary-path "$CLAUDE_BIN"
# Open http://127.0.0.1:7395 to view timeline

# Advanced: full trace with custom filters
sudo ./agentsight trace --ssl true --process true --comm claude \
  --binary-path "$CLAUDE_BIN" --server true --server-port 8080

This captures:

• Conversation API: POST /v1/messages requests with full prompt/response SSE streaming
• Telemetry: heartbeat, event logging, Datadog logs
• Process activity: file operations, subprocess executions

Note: All SSL traffic in Claude flows through an internal "HTTP Client" thread, not the main "claude" thread. When --binary-path is specified, the --comm filter is automatically skipped for SSL monitoring (but still applied for process monitoring) to ensure traffic is captured correctly.

Monitoring Python AI Tools

# Monitor aider, open-interpreter, or any Python-based AI tool
sudo ./agentsight record -c "python"

# Custom port and log file
sudo ./agentsight record -c "python" --server-port 8080 --log-file /tmp/agent.log

Monitoring Node.js AI Tools (Gemini CLI, etc.)

For Node.js applications installed via NVM that statically link OpenSSL, use --binary-path to point to the actual Node.js binary:

# Monitor Gemini CLI or other Node.js AI tools
sudo ./agentsight record -c node --binary-path ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.0.0/bin/node

# Or with system Node.js (uses dynamic libssl, no --binary-path needed)
sudo ./agentsight record -c node

Advanced Monitoring

# Combined SSL and process monitoring with web interface
sudo ./agentsight trace --ssl true --process true --server true

# Custom port and log file
sudo ./agentsight record -c "python" --server-port 8080 --log-file /tmp/agent.log

Browser Plaintext Capture

For browser-specific plaintext capture, use the standalone browsertrace BPF tool instead of sslsniff:

# Chrome / Chromium
sudo ./bpf/browsertrace --binary-path /opt/google/chrome/chrome

# Firefox on Ubuntu Snap
sudo ./bpf/browsertrace --binary-path /snap/firefox/current/usr/lib/firefox/firefox

Note: On Ubuntu, /usr/bin/firefox is often a wrapper script rather than the real browser ELF. Point browsertrace at the actual Firefox binary.

Local MCP over stdio

For local MCP servers that communicate over stdio instead of HTTP/TLS, use the standalone stdiocap BPF tool:

# Capture stdin/stdout/stderr payloads for a local MCP server process
sudo ./bpf/stdiocap -p <mcp_server_pid>

AgentSight also includes a minimal MCP fixture for local testing under docs/mcp-test/README.md. It provides both stdio and HTTP test modes so you can generate predictable MCP traffic before wiring it into the Rust collector.

Direct eBPF Program Usage

# Run sslsniff directly on Claude binary
sudo ./bpf/sslsniff --binary-path ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.39

# Run sslsniff on NVM Node.js
sudo ./bpf/sslsniff --binary-path ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.0.0/bin/node --verbose

# Run browsertrace directly on Chrome
sudo ./bpf/browsertrace --binary-path /opt/google/chrome/chrome

# Run stdiocap directly on a local MCP server PID
sudo ./bpf/stdiocap -p 12345

# Run process tracer
sudo ./bpf/process -c python

Web Interface Access

All monitoring commands with --server flag provide web visualization at:

• Timeline View: http://127.0.0.1:7395/timeline
• Process Tree: http://127.0.0.1:7395/tree
• Raw Logs: http://127.0.0.1:7395/logs

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

General

Q: How does AgentSight differ from traditional APM tools? A: AgentSight operates at the kernel level using eBPF, providing system-level monitoring that is independent of application code. Traditional APM requires instrumentation that can be modified or disabled.

Q: What's the performance impact? A: Less than 3% CPU overhead due to optimized eBPF kernel-space data collection.

Q: Can agents detect they're being monitored?
A: Detection is extremely difficult since monitoring occurs at the kernel level without code modification.

Technical

Q: Which Linux distributions are supported? A: Any distribution with kernel 4.1+ (5.0+ recommended). Tested on Ubuntu 20.04+, CentOS 8+, RHEL 8+.

Q: Can I monitor multiple agents simultaneously?
A: Yes, use combined monitoring modes for concurrent multi-agent observation with correlation.

Q: How do I filter sensitive data?
A: Built-in analyzers can remove authentication headers and filter specific content patterns.

Q: Why doesn't AgentSight capture traffic from Claude Code or NVM Node.js? A: These applications statically link their SSL library (BoringSSL for Claude/Bun, OpenSSL for NVM Node.js) instead of using system libssl.so. Use --binary-path to point to the actual binary so AgentSight can auto-detect SSL functions via byte-pattern matching. See the "Monitoring Claude Code" and "Monitoring Node.js AI Tools" sections for examples.

Q: Why does --comm claude not capture SSL traffic? A: Claude Code's SSL traffic runs on an internal "HTTP Client" thread, not the main "claude" thread. The --comm filter in sslsniff matches thread name (from bpf_get_current_comm()), not process name. When using --binary-path, the collector automatically skips the --comm filter for SSL monitoring.

Troubleshooting

Q: "Permission denied" errors
A: Ensure you're running with sudo or have CAP_BPF and CAP_SYS_ADMIN capabilities.

Q: "Failed to load eBPF program" errors A: Verify kernel version meets requirements (see Prerequisites). Update vmlinux.h for your architecture if needed.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! After cloning and building (see Installation above), you can:

# Run tests
make test

# Frontend development server
cd frontend && npm run dev

# Build debug versions with AddressSanitizer
make -C bpf debug

Key Resources

• CLAUDE.md - Project guidelines and architecture
• collector/DESIGN.md - Framework design details
• docs/why.md - Problem analysis and motivation

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

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💡 The Future of AI Observability: As AI agents become more autonomous and capable of self-modification, traditional observability approaches become insufficient. AgentSight provides independent, system-level monitoring for safe AI deployment at scale.