A search was one transaction, its time a single lump with nothing to say;
now the read, the groups, the match, and the render each get a span of their own to weigh.
The spans hold counts and never the query, since a query is a name someone typed,
and the gem's Sequel patch stays off because its SQL would carry a card's text inside.

Assisted-by: Claude Opus 5.5 via Claude Code
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

diff --git a/lib/pro_tacts/web/search.rb b/lib/pro_tacts/web/search.rb
index 550bea0..cb960d3 100644
--- a/lib/pro_tacts/web/search.rb
+++ b/lib/pro_tacts/web/search.rb
@@ -11,20 +11,26 @@ module ProTacts
     # stays in Admin::Search, the one place it is decided, rather than
     # a second copy in the page's script
     # (docs/plans/2026-09-30-live-search.md).
+    #
+    # Each step is a span on the request's Sentry transaction, so a slow
+    # search names its slow step. A span carries counts and never the
+    # query, which is a name typed into a field.
     hash_branch("search") do |r|
       query = r.params["q"].to_s.strip
 
       r.is do
         r.get do
           response["Content-Type"] = "text/html; charset=utf-8"
-          Admin::SearchPage.call(login: @login, query:, results: search_results(query))
+          results = search_results(query)
+          search_span("render") { Admin::SearchPage.call(login: @login, query:, results:) }
         end
       end
 
       # The results alone, put under the input whole.
       r.get "results" do
         response["Content-Type"] = "text/html; charset=utf-8"
-        search_results(query).call
+        results = search_results(query)
+        search_span("render") { results.call }
       end
     end
 
@@ -35,16 +41,25 @@ module ProTacts
     # word is typed.
     #: (String query) -> Admin::SearchResults
     def search_results(query)
-      recent = store.contacts_by_recency
+      recent = search_span("contacts_by_recency") { |span|
+        store.contacts_by_recency.tap { span&.set_data("rows", it.length) }
+      }
       if query.empty?
         return Admin::SearchResults.new(contacts: recent.first(Admin::Dashboard::RECENT_LIMIT), groups: [], recent: true)
       end
 
-      groups = store.all_groups
-      Admin::SearchResults.new(
-        contacts: Admin::Search.contacts(recent, query:, groups:),
-        groups: Admin::Search.groups(groups, query:),
-      )
+      groups = search_span("all_groups") { |span| store.all_groups.tap { span&.set_data("rows", it.length) } }
+      search_span("match") { |span|
+        contacts = Admin::Search.contacts(recent, query:, groups:)
+        span&.set_data("words", query.split.length)
+        span&.set_data("contacts", contacts.length)
+        Admin::SearchResults.new(contacts:, groups: Admin::Search.groups(groups, query:))
+      }
+    end
+
+    #: [T] (String step) { (Sentry::Span?) -> T } -> T
+    def search_span(step, &)
+      Sentry.with_child_span(op: "search.#{step}", description: step, &)
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/sig/gems/sentry.rbs b/sig/gems/sentry.rbs
index 0618afc..2747a73 100644
--- a/sig/gems/sentry.rbs
+++ b/sig/gems/sentry.rbs
@@ -2,8 +2,16 @@
 # exception-capturing middleware web.rb mounts, the refusal warnings
 # RefusalAlerts sends, the arrival messages dav.rb and store.rb send,
 # and the photo decode refusal contact.rb captures. ExchangeLog tags the
-# request's scope and reads whether anything was reported under it.
+# request's scope and reads whether anything was reported under it, and
+# the search times its steps as spans.
 module Sentry
+  # Yields nil outside a transaction, as under a nil DSN.
+  def self.with_child_span: [T] (op: String, description: String) { (Span?) -> T } -> T
+
+  class Span
+    def set_data: (String key, Integer value) -> void
+  end
+
   def self.capture_message: (String message, ?level: Symbol, ?fingerprint: Array[String], ?tags: Hash[Symbol, String]) -> untyped
 
   def self.capture_exception: (Exception exception, ?level: Symbol) -> untyped
diff --git a/test/pro_tacts/admin/test_contacts_pages.rb b/test/pro_tacts/admin/test_contacts_pages.rb
index f0f7261..1252d9a 100644
--- a/test/pro_tacts/admin/test_contacts_pages.rb
+++ b/test/pro_tacts/admin/test_contacts_pages.rb
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ require "pro_tacts/web"
 # date.
 class AdminContactsPagesTest < Minitest::Test
   include Rack::Test::Methods
+  include Sentry::TestHelper
   include ThrowawayContacts
 
   def app
@@ -397,6 +398,25 @@ class AdminContactsPagesTest < Minitest::Test
     end
   end
 
+  # Each step of a search is a span on the request's transaction, and
+  # none of them carries the query (Web's search branch).
+  def test_search_times_its_steps_without_the_query
+    setup_sentry_test { it.traces_sample_rate = 1.0 }
+    with_contacts({"ada" => ADA}) do
+      get "/search/results", q: "lovelace"
+
+      transactions = sentry_events.grep(Sentry::TransactionEvent)
+      assert_equal 1, transactions.length
+      transaction = transactions.first
+      spans = transaction.spans.select { it[:op].start_with?("search.") }
+      assert_equal %w[search.contacts_by_recency search.all_groups search.match search.render], spans.map { it[:op] }
+      assert_equal({"words" => 1, "contacts" => 1}, spans.find { it[:op] == "search.match" }[:data])
+      refute_includes JSON.generate(transaction.to_h), "lovelace"
+    end
+  ensure
+    teardown_sentry_test
+  end
+
   # A blank query answers the recently updated list, the search page
   # showing it before a word is typed and again once the input is
   # cleared.