feat(core): add stringify helper and make AI-tracing serializers safe

Adds an exported stringify to core (string passthrough, else JSON.stringify, never throws)
and routes the SDK's span-attribute serializers through it. getJsonString and
getTruncatedJsonString previously threw on circular refs / BigInt straight into
span.setAttribute with no try/catch, which could crash instrumentation; the safe path
returns '[unserializable]' instead. Consolidates safeStringify (server-utils) and langchain's
asString too.

Author: logaretm

packages/core/src/shared-exports.ts

@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ export {
   stackParserFromStackParserOptions,
   stripSentryFramesAndReverse,
 } from './utils/stacktrace';
-export { isMatchingPattern, safeJoin, snipLine, stringMatchesSomePattern, truncate } from './utils/string';
+export { isMatchingPattern, safeJoin, stringify, snipLine, stringMatchesSomePattern, truncate } from './utils/string';
 export {
   isNativeFunction,
   supportsDOMException,

packages/core/src/tracing/ai/utils.ts

@@ -192,34 +192,23 @@ export function endStreamSpan(span: Span, state: StreamResponseState, recordOutp
 }
 
 /**
- * Serialize a value to a JSON string without truncation.
- * Strings are returned as-is, arrays and objects are JSON-stringified.
- */
-export function getJsonString<T>(value: T | T[]): string {
-  if (typeof value === 'string') {
-    return value;
-  }
-  return JSON.stringify(value);
-}
-
-/**
- * Get the truncated JSON string for a string or array of strings.
+ * Get the truncated JSON string for a string, an array of messages, or an object.
  *
- * @param value - The string or array of strings to truncate
+ * @param value - The value to truncate and serialize
  * @returns The truncated JSON string
  */
 export function getTruncatedJsonString<T>(value: T | T[]): string {
   if (typeof value === 'string') {
     // Some values are already JSON strings, so we don't need to duplicate the JSON parsing
     return truncateGenAiStringInput(value);
   }
-  if (Array.isArray(value)) {
-    // truncateGenAiMessages returns an array of strings, so we need to stringify it
-    const truncatedMessages = truncateGenAiMessages(value);
-    return JSON.stringify(truncatedMessages);
+  // Both truncation (media stripping recurses the value) and `JSON.stringify` can throw on
+  // circular refs or non-serializable values (e.g. BigInt); never let that crash instrumentation.
+  try {
+    return JSON.stringify(Array.isArray(value) ? truncateGenAiMessages(value) : value);
+  } catch {
+    return '[unserializable]';
   }
-  // value is an object, so we need to stringify it
-  return JSON.stringify(value);
 }
 
 /**

packages/core/src/tracing/anthropic-ai/utils.ts

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ import {
   GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ORIGINAL_LENGTH_ATTRIBUTE,
   GEN_AI_SYSTEM_INSTRUCTIONS_ATTRIBUTE,
 } from '../ai/gen-ai-attributes';
-import { extractSystemInstructions, getJsonString, getTruncatedJsonString } from '../ai/utils';
+import { extractSystemInstructions, getTruncatedJsonString } from '../ai/utils';
+import { stringify } from '../../utils/string';
 import type { AnthropicAiResponse } from './types';
 
 /**
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ export function setMessagesAttribute(span: Span, messages: unknown, enableTrunca
   span.setAttributes({
     [GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE]: enableTruncation
       ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages)
-      : getJsonString(filteredMessages),
+      : stringify(filteredMessages),
     [GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ORIGINAL_LENGTH_ATTRIBUTE]: filteredLength,
   });
 }

packages/core/src/tracing/google-genai/index.ts

@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@ import {
   GEN_AI_USAGE_TOTAL_TOKENS_ATTRIBUTE,
 } from '../ai/gen-ai-attributes';
 import type { InstrumentedMethodEntry } from '../ai/utils';
+import { stringify } from '../../utils/string';
 import {
   buildMethodPath,
   extractSystemInstructions,
-  getJsonString,
   getTruncatedJsonString,
   resolveAIRecordingOptions,
   shouldEnableTruncation,
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ export function addPrivateRequestAttributes(
       [GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ORIGINAL_LENGTH_ATTRIBUTE]: filteredLength,
       [GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE]: enableTruncation
         ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages)
-        : getJsonString(filteredMessages),
+        : stringify(filteredMessages),
     });
   }
 }

packages/core/src/tracing/langchain/utils.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { SEMANTIC_ATTRIBUTE_SENTRY_ORIGIN } from '../../semanticAttributes';
 import type { SpanAttributeValue } from '../../types/span';
+import { stringify } from '../../utils/string';
 import {
   GEN_AI_AGENT_NAME_ATTRIBUTE,
   GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE,
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ import {
   GEN_AI_USAGE_TOTAL_TOKENS_ATTRIBUTE,
 } from '../ai/gen-ai-attributes';
 import { isContentMedia, stripInlineMediaFromSingleMessage } from '../ai/mediaStripping';
-import { extractSystemInstructions, getJsonString, getTruncatedJsonString } from '../ai/utils';
+import { extractSystemInstructions, getTruncatedJsonString } from '../ai/utils';
 import { LANGCHAIN_ORIGIN, ROLE_MAP } from './constants';
 import type { LangChainLLMResult, LangChainMessage, LangChainSerialized } from './types';
 
@@ -50,19 +51,6 @@ const setNumberIfDefined = (target: Record<string, SpanAttributeValue>, key: str
   if (!Number.isNaN(n)) target[key] = n;
 };
 
-/**
- * Converts a value to a string. Avoids double-quoted JSON strings where a plain
- * string is desired, but still handles objects/arrays safely.
- */
-function asString(v: unknown): string {
-  if (typeof v === 'string') return v;
-  try {
-    return JSON.stringify(v);
-  } catch {
-    return String(v);
-  }
-}
-
 /**
  * Converts message content to a string, stripping inline media (base64 images, audio, etc.)
  * from multimodal content before stringification so downstream media stripping can't miss it.
@@ -78,7 +66,7 @@ function asString(v: unknown): string {
  * ])
  * // => '[{"type":"text","text":"What color?"},{"type":"image_url","image_url":{"url":"[Blob substitute]"}}]'
  *
- * // Without this, asString() would JSON.stringify the raw array and the base64 blob
+ * // Without this, stringification would JSON.stringify the raw array and the base64 blob
  * // would end up in span attributes, since downstream stripping only works on objects.
  */
 function normalizeContent(v: unknown): string {
@@ -92,7 +80,7 @@ function normalizeContent(v: unknown): string {
       return String(v);
     }
   }
-  return asString(v);
+  return stringify(v, String);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -264,9 +252,9 @@ function baseRequestAttributes(
   langSmithMetadata?: Record<string, unknown>,
 ): Record<string, SpanAttributeValue> {
   return {
-    [GEN_AI_SYSTEM_ATTRIBUTE]: asString(system ?? 'langchain'),
+    [GEN_AI_SYSTEM_ATTRIBUTE]: stringify(system ?? 'langchain', String),
     [GEN_AI_OPERATION_NAME_ATTRIBUTE]: 'chat',
-    [GEN_AI_REQUEST_MODEL_ATTRIBUTE]: asString(modelName),
+    [GEN_AI_REQUEST_MODEL_ATTRIBUTE]: stringify(modelName, String),
     [SEMANTIC_ATTRIBUTE_SENTRY_ORIGIN]: LANGCHAIN_ORIGIN,
     ...extractCommonRequestAttributes(serialized, invocationParams, langSmithMetadata),
   };
@@ -299,7 +287,7 @@ export function extractLLMRequestAttributes(
     setIfDefined(
       attrs,
       GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE,
-      enableTruncation ? getTruncatedJsonString(messages) : getJsonString(messages),
+      enableTruncation ? getTruncatedJsonString(messages) : stringify(messages),
     );
   }
 
@@ -343,7 +331,7 @@ export function extractChatModelRequestAttributes(
     setIfDefined(
       attrs,
       GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE,
-      enableTruncation ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages) : getJsonString(filteredMessages),
+      enableTruncation ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages) : stringify(filteredMessages),
     );
   }
 
@@ -378,7 +366,7 @@ function addToolCallsAttributes(generations: LangChainMessage[][], attrs: Record
   }
 
   if (toolCalls.length > 0) {
-    setIfDefined(attrs, GEN_AI_RESPONSE_TOOL_CALLS_ATTRIBUTE, asString(toolCalls));
+    setIfDefined(attrs, GEN_AI_RESPONSE_TOOL_CALLS_ATTRIBUTE, stringify(toolCalls, String));
   }
 }
 
@@ -466,7 +454,7 @@ export function extractLlmResponseAttributes(
       .filter((r): r is string => typeof r === 'string');
 
     if (finishReasons.length > 0) {
-      setIfDefined(attrs, GEN_AI_RESPONSE_FINISH_REASONS_ATTRIBUTE, asString(finishReasons));
+      setIfDefined(attrs, GEN_AI_RESPONSE_FINISH_REASONS_ATTRIBUTE, stringify(finishReasons, String));
     }
 
     // Tool calls metadata (names, IDs) are not PII, so capture them regardless of recordOutputs
@@ -479,7 +467,7 @@ export function extractLlmResponseAttributes(
         .filter(t => typeof t === 'string');
 
       if (texts.length > 0) {
-        setIfDefined(attrs, GEN_AI_RESPONSE_TEXT_ATTRIBUTE, asString(texts));
+        setIfDefined(attrs, GEN_AI_RESPONSE_TEXT_ATTRIBUTE, stringify(texts, String));
       }
     }
   }
@@ -506,7 +494,7 @@ export function extractLlmResponseAttributes(
   // Stop reason: v1 stores this in message.response_metadata.finish_reason
   const stopReason = llmOutput?.stop_reason ?? v1Message?.response_metadata?.finish_reason;
   if (stopReason) {
-    setIfDefined(attrs, GEN_AI_RESPONSE_STOP_REASON_ATTRIBUTE, asString(stopReason));
+    setIfDefined(attrs, GEN_AI_RESPONSE_STOP_REASON_ATTRIBUTE, stringify(stopReason, String));
   }
 
   return attrs;

packages/core/src/tracing/langgraph/index.ts

@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ import {
 } from '../ai/gen-ai-attributes';
 import {
   extractSystemInstructions,
-  getJsonString,
   getTruncatedJsonString,
   resolveAIRecordingOptions,
   shouldEnableTruncation,
 } from '../ai/utils';
+import { stringify } from '../../utils/string';
 import { createLangChainCallbackHandler } from '../langchain';
 import type { BaseChatModel, LangChainMessage } from '../langchain/types';
 import { normalizeLangChainMessages } from '../langchain/utils';
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ function instrumentCompiledGraphInvoke(
               span.setAttributes({
                 [GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE]: enableTruncation
                   ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages)
-                  : getJsonString(filteredMessages),
+                  : stringify(filteredMessages),
                 [GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ORIGINAL_LENGTH_ATTRIBUTE]: filteredLength,
               });
             }

packages/core/src/tracing/openai/index.ts

@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ import {
   GEN_AI_SYSTEM_INSTRUCTIONS_ATTRIBUTE,
 } from '../ai/gen-ai-attributes';
 import type { InstrumentedMethodEntry } from '../ai/utils';
+import { stringify } from '../../utils/string';
 import {
   buildMethodPath,
   extractSystemInstructions,
-  getJsonString,
   getTruncatedJsonString,
   resolveAIRecordingOptions,
   shouldEnableTruncation,
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ export function addRequestAttributes(
 
   span.setAttribute(
     GEN_AI_INPUT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE,
-    enableTruncation ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages) : getJsonString(filteredMessages),
+    enableTruncation ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages) : stringify(filteredMessages),
   );
 
   if (Array.isArray(filteredMessages)) {

packages/core/src/tracing/vercel-ai/utils.ts

@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ import {
   GEN_AI_USAGE_INPUT_TOKENS_ATTRIBUTE,
   GEN_AI_USAGE_OUTPUT_TOKENS_ATTRIBUTE,
 } from '../ai/gen-ai-attributes';
-import { extractSystemInstructions, getJsonString, getTruncatedJsonString } from '../ai/utils';
+import { extractSystemInstructions, getTruncatedJsonString } from '../ai/utils';
+import { stringify } from '../../utils/string';
 import { toolCallSpanContextMap } from './constants';
 import type { TokenSummary, ToolCallSpanContext } from './types';
 import { AI_PROMPT_ATTRIBUTE, AI_PROMPT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE } from './vercel-ai-attributes';
@@ -241,9 +242,7 @@ export function requestMessagesFromPrompt(span: Span, attributes: SpanAttributes
       }
 
       const filteredLength = Array.isArray(filteredMessages) ? filteredMessages.length : 0;
-      const messagesJson = enableTruncation
-        ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages)
-        : getJsonString(filteredMessages);
+      const messagesJson = enableTruncation ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages) : stringify(filteredMessages);
 
       span.setAttributes({
         [AI_PROMPT_ATTRIBUTE]: messagesJson,
@@ -275,7 +274,7 @@ export function requestMessagesFromPrompt(span: Span, attributes: SpanAttributes
             ? originalMessagesJson
             : enableTruncation
               ? getTruncatedJsonString(filteredMessages)
-              : getJsonString(filteredMessages);
+              : stringify(filteredMessages);
 
         span.setAttributes({
           [AI_PROMPT_MESSAGES_ATTRIBUTE]: messagesJson,

packages/core/src/utils/string.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,30 @@ import { stringifyValue } from './normalize';
 
 export { escapeStringForRegex } from '../vendor/escapeStringForRegex';
 
+/**
+ * Coerce a value to a string without ever throwing. Strings pass through unchanged (so an
+ * already-serialized value isn't double-encoded and a plain string isn't wrapped in quotes);
+ * anything else is `JSON.stringify`-ed, falling back to `fallback` if that throws (e.g. on
+ * circular references or `BigInt`).
+ *
+ * @param value the value to stringify
+ * @param fallback returned when serialization throws, or, if a function, called with `value` to
+ *   produce the fallback. Defaults to `'[unserializable]'`.
+ */
+export function stringify(
+  value: unknown,
+  fallback: string | ((value: unknown) => string) = '[unserializable]',
+): string {
+  if (typeof value === 'string') {
+    return value;
+  }
+  try {
+    return JSON.stringify(value);
+  } catch {
+    return typeof fallback === 'function' ? fallback(value) : fallback;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Truncates given string to the maximum characters count
  *

packages/core/test/lib/tracing/ai-message-truncation.test.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import { truncateGenAiMessages, truncateGenAiStringInput } from '../../../src/tracing/ai/messageTruncation';
+import { getTruncatedJsonString } from '../../../src/tracing/ai/utils';
 
 describe('message truncation utilities', () => {
   describe('truncateGenAiMessages', () => {
@@ -610,3 +611,18 @@ describe('message truncation utilities', () => {
     });
   });
 });
+
+describe('getTruncatedJsonString', () => {
+  it('returns a fallback instead of throwing on circular references', () => {
+    const circular: Record<string, unknown> = { role: 'user', content: 'hi' };
+    circular.self = circular;
+
+    expect(getTruncatedJsonString(circular)).toBe('[unserializable]');
+    expect(() => getTruncatedJsonString([circular])).not.toThrow();
+  });
+
+  it('serializes normal values as before', () => {
+    expect(getTruncatedJsonString('hello')).toBe('hello');
+    expect(getTruncatedJsonString({ a: 1 })).toBe('{"a":1}');
+  });
+});