diff --git a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/model/actions/processes/RunBackendStepInput.java b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/model/actions/processes/RunBackendStepInput.java
index 764f930c..84da02f7 100644
--- a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/model/actions/processes/RunBackendStepInput.java
+++ b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/model/actions/processes/RunBackendStepInput.java
@@ -257,7 +257,11 @@ public class RunBackendStepInput extends AbstractActionInput
    public <E extends QRecordEntity> List<E> getRecordsAsEntities(Class<E> entityClass) throws QException
    {
       List<E> rs = new ArrayList<>();
-      for(QRecord record : processState.getRecords())
+
+      ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+      // note - important to call getRecords here, which is overwritten in subclasses! //
+      ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+      for(QRecord record : getRecords())
       {
          rs.add(QRecordEntity.fromQRecord(entityClass, record));
       }
@@ -601,7 +605,7 @@ public class RunBackendStepInput extends AbstractActionInput
     ***************************************************************************/
    public void traceMessage(ProcessTracerMessage message)
    {
-      if(processTracer != null)
+      if(processTracer != null && message != null)
       {
          try
          {
diff --git a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/implementations/bulk/insert/BulkInsertExtractStep.java b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/implementations/bulk/insert/BulkInsertExtractStep.java
index 694ae332..dabfb3f4 100644
--- a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/implementations/bulk/insert/BulkInsertExtractStep.java
+++ b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/implementations/bulk/insert/BulkInsertExtractStep.java
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ public class BulkInsertExtractStep extends AbstractExtractStep
    @Override
    public void run(RunBackendStepInput runBackendStepInput, RunBackendStepOutput runBackendStepOutput) throws QException
    {
+      runBackendStepInput.traceMessage(BulkInsertStepUtils.getProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage(runBackendStepInput));
+
       int rowsAdded     = 0;
       int originalLimit = Objects.requireNonNullElse(getLimit(), Integer.MAX_VALUE);
 
diff --git a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/implementations/bulk/insert/BulkInsertStepUtils.java b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/implementations/bulk/insert/BulkInsertStepUtils.java
index c52cd299..e9c09cea 100644
--- a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/implementations/bulk/insert/BulkInsertStepUtils.java
+++ b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/implementations/bulk/insert/BulkInsertStepUtils.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.model.data.QRecord;
 import com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.model.savedbulkloadprofiles.SavedBulkLoadProfile;
 import com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.processes.implementations.bulk.insert.model.BulkLoadProfile;
 import com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.processes.implementations.bulk.insert.model.BulkLoadProfileField;
+import com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.processes.tracing.ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage;
 import com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.utils.ValueUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.BooleanUtils;
 import org.json.JSONArray;
@@ -190,4 +191,29 @@ public class BulkInsertStepUtils
       runProcessInput.addValue("isHeadless", true);
    }
 
+
+
+   /***************************************************************************
+    **
+    ***************************************************************************/
+   public static void setProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage(RunProcessInput runProcessInput, ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage processTracerKeyRecordMessage)
+   {
+      runProcessInput.addValue("processTracerKeyRecordMessage", processTracerKeyRecordMessage);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /***************************************************************************
+    **
+    ***************************************************************************/
+   public static ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage getProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage(RunBackendStepInput runBackendStepInput)
+   {
+      Serializable value = runBackendStepInput.getValue("processTracerKeyRecordMessage");
+      if(value instanceof ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage processTracerKeyRecordMessage)
+      {
+         return (processTracerKeyRecordMessage);
+      }
+      
+      return (null);
+   }
 }
diff --git a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/tracing/ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage.java b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/tracing/ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..53938092
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/processes/tracing/ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+ * QQQ - Low-code Application Framework for Engineers.
+ * Copyright (C) 2021-2025.  Kingsrook, LLC
+ * 651 N Broad St Ste 205 # 6917 | Middletown DE 19709 | United States
+ * contact@kingsrook.com
+ * https://github.com/Kingsrook/
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+ * License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+package com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.processes.tracing;
+
+
+/*******************************************************************************
+ ** Specialization of process tracer message, to indicate a 'key record' that was
+ ** used as an input or trigger to a process.
+ *******************************************************************************/
+public class ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage extends ProcessTracerMessage
+{
+   private final String  tableName;
+   private final Integer recordId;
+
+
+
+   /***************************************************************************
+    **
+    ***************************************************************************/
+   public ProcessTracerKeyRecordMessage(String tableName, Integer recordId)
+   {
+      super("Process Key Record is " + tableName + " " + recordId);
+      this.tableName = tableName;
+      this.recordId = recordId;
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    ** Getter for tableName
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public String getTableName()
+   {
+      return (this.tableName);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    ** Getter for recordId
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public Integer getRecordId()
+   {
+      return (this.recordId);
+   }
+
+}