> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://traceroot.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Timeline View

> Visualize spans as Gantt-style bars over time to spot long operations, parallelism, and gaps

The trace viewer renders every trace as either a **Trace** view (hierarchical tree) or a **Timeline** view (Gantt-style bars). Both views share selection and collapse state.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/tracerootai/mg06WcpxCSaDtbnB/images/trace_timeline_v1.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=mg06WcpxCSaDtbnB&q=85&s=7384d903b17ecc1af69c0c5ff0d47cf7" alt="TraceRoot trace viewer showing the Timeline view with span bars" width="3448" height="1862" data-path="images/trace_timeline_v1.png" />
</Frame>

## Trace vs Timeline

| Trace view                                    | Timeline view                             |
| --------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| Call hierarchy and parent/child relationships | Span duration relative to siblings        |
| Inspecting span attributes, inputs, outputs   | Finding the critical path or longest span |
| Navigating nested agent or tool calls         | Checking parallel vs serial execution     |

## Toggling

Use the **Trace** / **Timeline** buttons in the trace viewer's sub-header. Selection persists across the switch.

## Click-to-select

Clicking a bar in the Timeline view selects the span and switches back to the Trace view, scrolling and expanding ancestors so the span is visible.