# Manual Setup

Instrument your app with OpenTelemetry by hand and query it yourself

The [Quickstart](/quickstart/) lets your coding agent do this work. This page is the same journey by hand. It is also the path for stacks the `otel-instrumentation` skill does not cover yet.

## Prerequisites

- Node.js v22.13.0+ installed

## Step 1: Start Kopai

Run the local backend:

**npm:**

```bash
npx @kopai/app start
```

**pnpm:**

```bash
pnpm dlx @kopai/app start
```

**yarn:**

```bash
yarn dlx @kopai/app start
```

This starts an OTLP collector on port `4318` and the dashboard with its API server on port `8000`.

## Step 2: Instrument Your Application

Follow the OpenTelemetry guide for your language:

- [Node.js](/integration/languages/node)
- [JavaScript in the browser](/integration/languages/browser)
- [Python](/integration/languages/python)
- [Go](/integration/languages/go)
- [Java](/integration/languages/java)
- [.NET](/integration/languages/dotnet)
- [Ruby](/integration/languages/ruby)
- [PHP](/integration/languages/php)
- [Rust](/integration/languages/rust)
- [C++](/integration/languages/cpp)
- [Erlang](/integration/languages/erlang)

We also cover the [Next.js](/integration/frameworks/nextjs), [Mastra](/integration/frameworks/mastra), and [LangChain](/integration/frameworks/langchain) frameworks, plus infrastructure logs from [journald](/integration/infrastructure-logs/journald) and [rsyslog](/integration/infrastructure-logs/rsyslog).

## Step 3: See Your Telemetry

Run your app and send it a few requests. Then open the dashboard at `http://localhost:8000` and inspect the Traces, Logs, and Metrics.

## Step 4: Query With the CLI

The CLI reads from the local backend with no login and no flags:

**npm:**

```bash
npx @kopai/cli traces search --limit 5
```

**pnpm:**

```bash
pnpm dlx @kopai/cli traces search --limit 5
```

**yarn:**

```bash
yarn dlx @kopai/cli traces search --limit 5
```

Swap `traces search` for `logs search` or `metrics discover` to query the other signals.

## Next Steps

- [Kopai Cloud](/kopai-cloud/) — Send telemetry to a hosted backend and share it with your team, free while in alpha
- [Quickstart](/quickstart/) — Hand this same workflow to your coding agent