What the interviewer is testing

Whether you can define request-level logging, multi-step tracing, operational alerts, quality monitoring, and safe handling of production data.

Answer framework

Log each request with its prompt version, model, token usage, latency, cost, and outcome.

Trace multi-step calls so the order of model, retrieval, and tool operations is visible.

Build dashboards and alerts for error rate, p95 latency, cost spikes, and quality signals.

Sample conversations for review and track user feedback to identify quality problems.

Redact PII before information is written to logs and restrict access to sensitive records.

Sample answer

I would monitor an LLM system at three levels: individual requests, multi-step traces, and aggregate service health. For every request, I would log a request identifier, the prompt or template version, model name, token counts, latency, cost, and a structured outcome. Those fields let me connect a user report to the exact call that produced it.…