diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_test_deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/build_test_deploy.yml
index 1a889988566c..834c46f59d17 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_test_deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_test_deploy.yml
@@ -1199,10 +1199,21 @@ jobs:
           name: wasm-dev-binary
           path: packages/next-swc/crates/wasm/pkg-nodejs
 
+  check-trace-secrests:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      trace-api-key: ${{ steps.trace-api-key.outputs.defined }}
+    steps:
+      - id: trace-api-key
+        env:
+          TRACE_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.DATA_DOG_API_KEY }}
+        if: "${{ env.TRACE_API_KEY != '' }}"
+        run: echo "::set-output name=defined::true"
   build-performance-metrics:
     name: Performance Metrics for Release Build
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [build, build-native-test]
+    needs: [build, build-native-test, check-trace-secrests]
+    if: needs.check-trace-secrests.trace-api-key == 'true'
     steps:
       - name: Setup node
         uses: actions/setup-node@v2
@@ -1236,16 +1247,16 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           yarn --cwd bench/nested-deps install
           node bench/nested-deps/bench.mjs build
-
       - uses: datadog/agent-github-action@v1
         if: ${{needs.build.outputs.docsChange != 'docs only change'}}
         with:
           api_key: ${{ secrets.DATA_DOG_API_KEY }}
-
       - name: Sending metrics data to Datadog
         if: ${{needs.build.outputs.docsChange != 'docs only change'}}
         run: |
           node scripts/trace-dd.mjs bench/nested-deps/.next/trace build ${GIT_SHORT_SHA} ./bench/nested-deps/next.config.js
         env:
+          DD_TRACE_PARTIAL_FLUSH_MIN_SPANS: 10
           DD_ENV: canary
-          DD_SERVICE: http://localhost:8126
+          DD_SERVICE: nextjs-dev-build
+          DD_TRACE_DEBUG: true
diff --git a/scripts/trace-dd.mjs b/scripts/trace-dd.mjs
index 9f09ce6018b6..3b8336b70a36 100644
--- a/scripts/trace-dd.mjs
+++ b/scripts/trace-dd.mjs
@@ -132,7 +132,14 @@ const collectTraces = async (filePath, metadata) => {
  * Naively validate, collect necessary args.
  */
 const validateArgs = async () => {
-  const { DD_ENV, DD_SERVICE } = process.env
+  const { DD_ENV, DD_SERVICE, DATA_DOG_API_KEY } = process.env
+
+  if (!DATA_DOG_API_KEY) {
+    console.log(
+      "Skipping trace collection, api key is not available. Ensure 'DATA_DOG_API_KEY' env variable is set."
+    )
+    return
+  }
 
   if (!DD_ENV || !DD_SERVICE) {
     throw new Error(