# Observe and export AI usage

Last validated Jul 2, 2026

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Aperture captures telemetry for every LLM request, including token counts, model names, session grouping, and tool use data. You can access this data through the Aperture dashboard or export it for integration with external monitoring and compliance tools. For more information on what Aperture captures and how session tracking works, refer to [How Aperture works][kb-aperture-how-aperture-works].

You can also connect Aperture with external services such as log aggregators and authorization engines. Refer to [Integrate with external tools][kb-aperture-integrate] for available integrations.

## Retention

Aperture lets you control how long it keeps captured request and response bodies, including zero data retention, where bodies are never written to disk. Usage metrics are preserved either way, so the dashboard continues to show usage and cost analytics. For configuration details and step-by-step instructions, refer to [Privacy and data retention][kb-aperture-privacy].

> **Note:**
>
> **Connector observability.** MCP tool calls that an LLM initiates appear in captures as part of the LLM request and response bodies (the `tool_use` and `tool_result` content blocks). You can view these in the Logs page like any other request detail.
>
> HTTP connector proxy requests (traffic to `/v1/connectors/{id}/`) do **not** appear in the dashboard or in captures. There is currently no customer-visible record of these requests. Refer to [Connectors][kb-aperture-connectors] for more information on configuring MCP and HTTP connectors.

[**Aperture dashboard reference**](/docs/aperture/reference/dashboard) — Reference for the pages every Aperture user can access in the dashboard, organized by sidebar group, including My Dashboard, Agent Config, Models, Connectors, Chat, and Usage Overview.

[**Aperture admin dashboard reference**](/docs/aperture/reference/dashboard-admin) — Reference for admin-only Aperture dashboard pages, grouped by sidebar section, including Security, Administration, Usage & Adoption, Integrations, and API Docs.

[**Export usage data to S3**](/docs/aperture/how-to/export-usage-data-to-s3) — Configure Aperture to export LLM usage data to an Amazon S3 bucket for analysis, archiving, and long-term retention.

[kb-aperture-connectors]: /docs/aperture/connectors

[kb-aperture-how-aperture-works]: /docs/aperture/how-aperture-works

[kb-aperture-integrate]: /docs/aperture/integrate

[kb-aperture-privacy]: /docs/aperture/privacy-and-data-retention