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

# What is Carbon?

> The analytics layer of AI.

Carbon turns every LLM and tool call your application makes into a queryable ledger. Each call is recorded as a structured event, and the dashboard slices that ledger by agent, model, user, and thread: which agents spend the most, which models are slow, which users drive usage, where errors cluster — down to the exact call.

## How it works

<Steps>
  <Step title="Instrument your app">
    Wrap your existing OpenAI, Anthropic, or Vercel AI SDK client with the Carbon SDK. Your code keeps working as
    before; Carbon captures each call as an event in the background.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Events flow to Carbon">
    The SDK batches events and sends them to the ingest API, where they are validated, enriched with provider and cost
    data, and stored durably. Delivery is idempotent, so retries never create duplicates.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Explore the ledger">
    The dashboard slices your events by agent, model, user, thread, and tool over any time range — cost, usage, latency,
    and errors, from the top-level summary to the individual call.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Get started

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/documentation/get-started/quickstart">
    Create an API key, install the SDK, and see your first events in a few minutes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Integrations" icon="plug" href="/documentation/integrations/openai">
    Drop-in wrappers for the OpenAI, Anthropic, and Vercel AI SDKs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Coding apps" icon="terminal" href="/documentation/integrations/claude-code">
    Connect Claude Code and Codex in one command with @carbon-js/connect — no SDK.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Event model" icon="database" href="/documentation/concepts/events">
    What an event is, what it contains, and how traces tie events together.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API reference" icon="square-terminal" href="/api-reference/overview/introduction">
    Send events directly to the ingest API from any language.
  </Card>
</Columns>