diff --git a/packages/cli/src/types/dashboard.ts b/packages/cli/src/types/dashboard.ts
index 07b83188e..c6f8c5981 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/types/dashboard.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/types/dashboard.ts
@@ -388,6 +388,10 @@ function extractFunctionName(aggregate: string): string {
  * Example: `p50(value,completion.duration_ms,distribution,none)`
  */
 function isTracemetricsAggregate(aggregate: string): boolean {
+  // equation| prefix denotes a formula combining multiple tracemetrics aggregates
+  if (aggregate.startsWith("equation|")) {
+    return true;
+  }
   const parenIdx = aggregate.indexOf("(");
   if (parenIdx < 0) {
     return false;
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/types/dashboard.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/types/dashboard.test.ts
index 17702440b..93f427fcc 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/types/dashboard.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/test/types/dashboard.test.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import {
   TABLE_DISPLAY_TYPES,
   type TextResult,
   TIMESERIES_DISPLAY_TYPES,
+  validateAggregateNames,
   validateWidgetLayout,
   WIDGET_TYPES,
   type WidgetDataResult,
@@ -963,6 +964,34 @@ describe("mapWidgetTypeToDataset", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("validateAggregateNames", () => {
+  test("accepts comma-separated tracemetrics aggregates", () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      validateAggregateNames(
+        ["p50(value,completion.duration_ms,distribution,none)"],
+        "tracemetrics"
+      )
+    ).not.toThrow();
+  });
+
+  test("accepts equation| formula aggregates for tracemetrics", () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      validateAggregateNames(
+        [
+          "equation|p50(value,a,distribution,none) / p50(value,b,distribution,none)",
+        ],
+        "tracemetrics"
+      )
+    ).not.toThrow();
+  });
+
+  test("rejects span-style aggregates for tracemetrics", () => {
+    expect(() => validateAggregateNames(["count()"], "tracemetrics")).toThrow(
+      ValidationError
+    );
+  });
+});
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // validateWidgetLayout
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------