diff --git a/.changeset/sunny-walls-share.md b/.changeset/sunny-walls-share.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..692380f9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/sunny-walls-share.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"braintrust": minor
+---
+
+feat: Expose flag for toggling realtime mode in span fetcher
diff --git a/js/src/logger.ts b/js/src/logger.ts
index f315f8ed5..e9cfdcce6 100644
--- a/js/src/logger.ts
+++ b/js/src/logger.ts
@@ -6108,6 +6108,7 @@ export class ObjectFetcher<RecordType> implements AsyncIterable<
     // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
     private mutateRecord?: (r: any) => WithTransactionId<RecordType>,
     private _internal_btql?: Record<string, unknown>,
+    private _internalBrainstoreRealtime = true,
   ) {}
 
   public get id(): Promise<string> {
@@ -6178,7 +6179,7 @@ export class ObjectFetcher<RecordType> implements AsyncIterable<
             ...internalBtqlWithoutReservedQueryKeys,
           },
           use_columnstore: false,
-          brainstore_realtime: true,
+          brainstore_realtime: this._internalBrainstoreRealtime,
           query_source: `js_sdk_object_fetcher_${this.objectType}`,
           ...(this.pinnedVersion !== undefined
             ? {
diff --git a/js/src/object-fetcher.test.ts b/js/src/object-fetcher.test.ts
index 931f2adcb..43d9d751b 100644
--- a/js/src/object-fetcher.test.ts
+++ b/js/src/object-fetcher.test.ts
@@ -31,8 +31,9 @@ class TestObjectFetcher extends ObjectFetcher<TestRecord> {
   constructor(
     private readonly postMock: ReturnType<typeof createPostMock>,
     internalBtql?: Record<string, unknown>,
+    brainstoreRealtime = true,
   ) {
-    super("dataset", undefined, undefined, internalBtql);
+    super("dataset", undefined, undefined, internalBtql, brainstoreRealtime);
   }
 
   public get id(): Promise<string> {
@@ -66,6 +67,23 @@ function getBtqlQuery(
 }
 
 describe("ObjectFetcher internal BTQL limit handling", () => {
+  test.each([
+    ["default", undefined, true],
+    ["disabled", false, false],
+  ])(
+    "sets brainstore realtime to %s",
+    async (_name, inputFlag, expectedFlag) => {
+      const postMock = createPostMock();
+      const fetcher = new TestObjectFetcher(postMock, undefined, inputFlag);
+
+      await triggerFetch(fetcher);
+
+      expect(postMock.mock.calls[0][1]).toMatchObject({
+        brainstore_realtime: expectedFlag,
+      });
+    },
+  );
+
   test("preserves custom _internal_btql limit instead of default batch size", async () => {
     const postMock = createPostMock();
     const fetcher = new TestObjectFetcher(postMock, {
diff --git a/js/src/trace.test.ts b/js/src/trace.test.ts
index e7a4f44f5..ee5d55fba 100644
--- a/js/src/trace.test.ts
+++ b/js/src/trace.test.ts
@@ -104,6 +104,31 @@ describe("CachedSpanFetcher", () => {
       });
     });
 
+    test("should thread brainstore realtime setting to BTQL fetches", async () => {
+      const post = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+        json: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+          data: [],
+          cursor: null,
+        }),
+      });
+      const state = {
+        apiConn: () => ({ post }),
+      } as unknown as BraintrustState;
+      const fetcher = new CachedSpanFetcher(
+        "project_logs",
+        "project-1",
+        "root-1",
+        async () => state,
+        false,
+      );
+
+      await fetcher.getSpans();
+
+      expect(post.mock.calls[0][1]).toMatchObject({
+        brainstore_realtime: false,
+      });
+    });
+
     test("should fetch specific span types when filter specified", async () => {
       const llmSpans = [makeSpan("span-1", "llm"), makeSpan("span-2", "llm")];
 
diff --git a/js/src/trace.ts b/js/src/trace.ts
index 5a423771e..5c0547896 100644
--- a/js/src/trace.ts
+++ b/js/src/trace.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export class SpanFetcher extends ObjectFetcher<SpanRecord> {
     private readonly _state: BraintrustState,
     private readonly spanTypeFilter?: string[],
     includeScorers = false,
+    brainstoreRealtime = true,
   ) {
     // Build the filter expression for root_span_id and optionally span_attributes.type
     const filterExpr = SpanFetcher.buildFilter(
@@ -32,9 +33,15 @@ export class SpanFetcher extends ObjectFetcher<SpanRecord> {
       includeScorers,
     );
 
-    super(objectType, undefined, undefined, {
-      filter: filterExpr,
-    });
+    super(
+      objectType,
+      undefined,
+      undefined,
+      {
+        filter: filterExpr,
+      },
+      brainstoreRealtime,
+    );
   }
 
   private static buildFilter(
@@ -138,6 +145,7 @@ export class CachedSpanFetcher {
     objectId: string,
     rootSpanId: string,
     getState: () => Promise<BraintrustState>,
+    brainstoreRealtime?: boolean,
   );
   constructor(fetchFn: SpanFetchFn);
   constructor(
@@ -149,6 +157,7 @@ export class CachedSpanFetcher {
     objectId?: string,
     rootSpanId?: string,
     getState?: () => Promise<BraintrustState>,
+    brainstoreRealtime = true,
   ) {
     if (typeof objectTypeOrFetchFn === "function") {
       // Direct fetch function injection (for testing)
@@ -165,6 +174,7 @@ export class CachedSpanFetcher {
           state,
           spanType,
           includeScorers,
+          brainstoreRealtime,
         );
         const rows: WithTransactionId<SpanRecord>[] =
           await fetcher.fetchedData();