> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/relay/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/relay/_mcp/server.

# Function llm_call

> Start a manual LLM lifecycle span.

Generated from `cargo doc --no-deps -p nemo-relay -p nemo-relay-adaptive -p nemo-relay-pii-redaction -p nemo-relay-ffi -p nemo-relay-types -p nemo-relay-plugin -p nemo-relay-worker-proto -p nemo-relay-worker`.

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Start a manual LLM lifecycle span.

This emits an LLM-start event after applying sanitize-request guardrails to the payload recorded for observability.

## Parameters

* `name`: Logical provider or model family name recorded on the span.
* `request`: Raw [`LlmRequest`](/reference/api/rust-library-reference/nemo-relay/api/llm/struct-llmrequest) associated with the span.
* `parent`: Optional explicit parent scope.
* `attributes`: LLM attribute bitflags applied to the span.
* `data`: Optional application payload stored on the returned handle. The emitted start event data is the sanitized `request` payload.
* `metadata`: Optional JSON metadata recorded on the start event.
* `model_name`: Optional normalized model name recorded separately from the request payload.
* `annotated_request`: Optional normalized request annotation produced by a codec.
* `timestamp`: Optional timestamp recorded as the handle start time and on the emitted start event. When `None`, the current UTC time is used.

## Returns

A [`Result`](/reference/api/rust-library-reference/nemo-relay/error/type-result) containing the created [`LlmHandle`](/reference/api/rust-library-reference/nemo-relay/api/llm/struct-llmhandle).

## Errors

Returns an error when the runtime owner check fails or when internal state cannot be read safely.

## Notes

Sanitize-request guardrails affect only the emitted start-event payload, not the caller-owned [`LlmRequest`](/reference/api/rust-library-reference/nemo-relay/api/llm/struct-llmrequest).