SpanDock Foundations
From install to your first cost report
Install SpanDock, pair your team's computers, connect your AI coding tools and read what they cost. The course for everyone who runs or uses SpanDock.
- hours
- 5
- hours
- modules
- 7
- modules
- lessons
- 25
- lessons
- labs
- 4
- labs
7 modules, 25 lessons
About 4 h 47 min in all, at your own pace. Choose any lesson to hear when it opens.
- Video
- Reading
- Hands-on lab
- Assessment
Module 1: How SpanDock works
The one app, its three roles and the path telemetry takes.
4 lessons · 28 min
- What SpanDock does (Video, 6 min)Why AI coding tools need observability, and what you see once they report.
- Servers, satellites and clients (Video, 8 min)One app, three roles: which computer becomes what, and why the choice sticks.
- How telemetry flows (Video, 8 min)OpenTelemetry from your tools to the client, the encrypted tunnel and the server.
- Plans and licenses (Reading, 6 min)What the free Personal plan covers, and what the paid plans add.
Module 2: Install and activate
A working server in under ten minutes.
4 lessons · 43 min
- Before you install (Reading, 5 min)Hardware, operating systems and ports, with the sizing calculator.
- Install on macOS, Linux or Windows (Video, 10 min)Homebrew, the installers and a server without a screen.
- Activate a server (Video, 8 min)Sign in once to activate, and what the license check does.
- Lab: install your first server (Hands-on lab, 20 min)Install, activate and open the dashboard on your own machine or a demo server.
Module 3: Pair clients and connect your AI tools
Every laptop reporting, with no open ports and no accounts.
4 lessons · 45 min
- Pairing codes (Video, 8 min)How a client joins a server, and how to pair many at once.
- Connect Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI (Video, 12 min)Point each tool's OpenTelemetry at the client, and check it arrives.
- Offline and reconnecting (Reading, 5 min)The on-disk queue, failover, and why nothing is dropped.
- Lab: pair a client and send telemetry (Hands-on lab, 20 min)Pair a client to the demo server and watch your first session arrive.
Module 4: Read the dashboards
Find any session, call or person in seconds.
4 lessons · 41 min
- Activity and sessions (Video, 10 min)Live activity, sessions per project and every call in order.
- Models and the leaderboard (Video, 8 min)Spend, speed and value per model, side by side.
- People and projects (Video, 8 min)Assign clients to people and see work per project.
- Lab: find the most expensive session (Hands-on lab, 15 min)Use filters and the session view to explain a spike.
Module 5: The model proxy
Control which model answers, and what it costs.
4 lessons · 44 min
- Why route model calls (Video, 6 min)Keys that stay on the server, and spend you can see and steer.
- Turn on the model proxy (Video, 10 min)Switch it on for one client or many from the server.
- Routing basics and SpanDock Mind (Video, 8 min)Passthrough, rules and SpanDock Mind, the advisor that picks a cheaper model when it's good enough.
- Lab: send calls through the proxy (Hands-on lab, 20 min)Route a tool's calls through the demo server and compare the cost.
Module 6: Costs and destinations
What every person, project and model costs, and where the data goes next.
3 lessons · 26 min
- How cost is calculated (Video, 8 min)Tokens, prices and cache reads, and why estimates are labelled.
- Cost reports (Video, 8 min)Spend per person, project and model over any period.
- Forward to your observability tools (Video, 10 min)Send telemetry on to Langfuse, Grafana Cloud, New Relic or any OTLP endpoint.
Module 7: Assessment and certificate
Check what you know, then earn your Level 1 certificate.
2 lessons · 1 h
Earn the SpanDock Foundations Certificate
- Questions
- 40, drawn from a bank of 160+
- Pass mark
- 75%
- Time limit
- 45 minutes
- Retakes
- Up to 3 attempts in 30 days, 24 hours apart
- Valid
- Does not expire
Your certificate has your name and a unique ID. Download it as a PDF or an image, add it to LinkedIn in one click, and share its link: anyone can check it on the SpanDock verification page.
SpanDock Academy
Certificate of achievement
This certifies that
Alex Rivera
has passed the assessment for
SpanDock Foundations Certificate
- Certificate ID
- SDA-L1-7K3M-Q9TF
- Verify at
- spandock.com/academy/verify