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

# Limitations

> Review current LightShip limitations for authorization, authentication, schema handling, querying, and operational controls.

Use these constraints when evaluating or deploying LightShip.

## Supported field types

* String, string-array, boolean, and number fields can be used for filtering.
* String, string-array, and boolean fields can be used in policies. Number policies are not supported.
* Structured payloads (nested JSON objects) are returned as trace data but cannot be used as marked fields for filtering or policies.

## Authentication

* LightShip supports password-based sign-in and API-key authentication (`Authorization: Bearer lsk_...`).
* External identity-provider integrations such as OIDC and SAML are not currently supported.

## Authorization and payload handling

* Authorization is trace-wide. If any span in a trace matches a role policy, the response includes
  the complete trace, including unmatched spans and payloads.
* LightShip does not currently redact or classify trace data.

## Query and analysis capabilities

* There is no free-text search across traces or spans.
* There is no custom sorting API; trace lists are ordered newest first.
* There is no aggregate query API (for example, counting spans or grouping by attribute).
* The local MCP companion can export authorized traces for ad hoc analysis. It returns a file path
  and counts rather than trace rows, but the exported JSONL still contains complete authorized
  payloads. See [MCP clients](/use/mcp).
* A complete trace is buffered before it is returned. An unusually large trace can exhaust service
  memory.

## Schema compatibility

* Physical-to-logical field compatibility and schema drift are not fully enforced.
* `lightship check` compiles the stored access model but does not validate it against the live
  ClickHouse schema.

## Query performance

* Query speed depends on the indexes defined in your ClickHouse trace table.
* LightShip Setup reports recommended DDL for missing indexes but never changes the source schema.
  Review suggestions through the setup MCP tool `lightship_optimizations` or
  `GET /schema/optimizations`.

## Operational limits

* Login and trace concurrency limits are per process, not per client or deployment.
* Trace requests have a configurable deadline and maximum time window. LightShip does not provide
  distributed rate limiting; apply it at the edge.
* See [Deployment](/operate/deployment#multiple-replicas) for access-model behavior across replicas.