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

# Performance / tracing

In AppSignal, performance and tracing describe the same core flow from two sides.
A trace shows what happened during a request, job, or script run. Performance
views help you understand where that trace spent time and where it slowed down.

When a trace is slow, you can use AppSignal to inspect the spans and events
inside it. When a trace ends with an exception, that same trace becomes the
context you use to debug the error.

## Follow the trace

Use these guides when you want to investigate performance in more detail:

* [Find slow requests](/guides/slow-requests)
* [Find slow queries](/guides/slow-queries)
* [Errors](/errors)

## Add more instrumentation

When the default instrumentation is not enough, add more detail to your traces
with:

* [Add additional OpenTelemetry Instrumentation](/guides/instrumentation/additional-opentelemetry-instrumentation)
* [Custom instrumentation](/custom-instrumentation)