Grafana 12.2 release: LLM-powered SQL expressions, updates to canvas and table visualizations, simplified reporting, and more

Grafana 12.2 has arrived, delivering new features to help you and your team move from data to decisions faster than ever. 

Below are just some of the highlights from the latest Grafana release. If you want to explore all the latest updates in 12.2, please refer to the changelog or our What’s New documentation, and be sure to check out the TL;DR video below.

New ways to visualize, filter, and gain value from your data

Many of the data visualization updates in our Grafana 12.2 extend and enhance features rolled out earlier this year, adding new functionality, smoother workflows, and deeper integrations. From LLM-driven SQL expressions to our revamped table visualization, here are some powerful new ways to unlock insights from your data.

SQL expressions: a more intuitive, LLM-powered experience 

Available in public preview in all editions of Grafana 

SQL expressions, rolled out in private preview in Grafana 12, make it easy to join and transform data from any data source, using familiar SQL syntax. For example, you can grab raw data from Salesforce, join it to your MongoDB data, and group or format it exactly how you’d like.

Now, SQL expressions are officially in public preview, and we’ve improved the overall experience in several ways. Some of the highlights include:

• Integration of the Grafana LLM app plugin directly with the editor, allowing you to generate SQL queries from natural language and get instant explanations of existing queries.
• A more intuitive editor that supports well-structured formatting, quick copying, easy expansion, and a shortcut to instantly run your queries.
• Support for column/field autocomplete, which you can enable via the sqlExpressionsColumnAutoComplete feature toggle (currently experimental).

For a deeper dive on SQL expressions, check out our technical docs.

Advanced formatting in the table visualization

Generally available in all editions of Grafana 

Earlier this year, we refactored the table visualization to use the react-data-grid library, resulting in significant performance improvements. Now, with the release of Grafana 12.2, this revamped table visualization is generally available, and includes new, community-requested features that help you build and format your visualizations with greater flexibility. 

Updates to the table visualization include:

• New cell types: The new Pill cell type displays each item in a comma-separated string in a colored block, while the Markdown + HTML cell type displays rich Markdown or HTML content that’s rendered using the GitHub-Flavored Markdown spec.
• Wrapping header text: Wrap header text at the table level (vs. just at the cell level).
• Freezing columns: Freeze columns (as many as you want!) starting from the left side of the table.
• Defining a max row height: Set a maximum row height when you apply text wrapping to one or more columns. 
• Rendering a tooltip from a field: Use any of the fields in the table as the source of tooltip content.

In addition, the table visualization now has an updated footer (the element that displays the results of calculations and reducer functions on fields), and allows you to apply multiple calculations or reducers simultaneously.

To learn more about the table visualization, please visit our docs. 

User experience improvements in the canvas visualization 

This month, we have a few exciting updates to share related to the canvas visualization — an extensible visualization type that allows you to add and arrange elements wherever you want within unstructured static and dynamic layouts.

A more flexible pan and zoom experience 

Available in public preview in all editions of Grafana 

The canvas visualization editor now offers a completely re-engineered pan and zoom experience that allows you to place elements anywhere — even beyond panel edges — without disrupting connections or layouts. Background images stay consistent, connection anchors rotate with elements, and an optional Zoom to content toggle automatically fits your canvas content to any view. 

Constraints remain intact thanks to a transparent root container, ensuring layout behavior stays reliable across pan and zoom operations.

To try out this feature, please enable the canvasPanelPanZoom feature toggle.

More control over connections and tooltips 

Generally available in all editions of Grafana

You can now control the direction of connections between canvas elements — a feature that is especially useful to visualize real-time data flows, system states, or transitions, where directionality changes based on metrics.

To control directions, you map the direction to a specific field value. A positive value draws the connection arrow forward, a negative value draws it in reverse, and a value of zero removes the directional arrow entirely. Alternatively, you can assign a fixed direction value.

In addition, you can now choose to enable or disable tooltips — the information overlays that appear when you hover your cursor over data points — within canvas visualizations via the Tooltip mode setting. You can also use the Disable for one-click elements option to selectively hide tooltips on elements that have one-click functionality enabled. This prevents tooltips from interfering with one-click interactions while still allowing them on other elements.

You can learn more about the canvas visualization in our documentation.

Enhanced ad hoc filter support 

Generally available in all editions of Grafana 

In Grafana, ad hoc filters are one of the most complex and flexible variable options. They automatically generate key-value pair variables for all dimensions returned by your data source query. This eliminates the need to create a separate variable for each dimension you wish to filter, allowing you to apply filters dashboard-wide.

Traditionally, ad hoc filters couldn’t be reliably implemented on SQL data sources. Now, with the Grafana 12.2 release, you can query a data set from an initial panel using an SQL data source. Then you can build the rest of your dashboard on that data set and use ad hoc filters to refine and drill down into the data.

This is enabled by two key enhancements:

• Dashboard data source support: You can now define ad hoc filters in dashboards that use the -- Dashboard -- data source.
• The ability to set filters from the bar chart tooltip: Previously, setting ad hoc filter values was only possible on table visualizations, but now you can also do this from the bar chart.

Together, these updates unlock a flexible workflow: a single source panel defines the dataset, and ad hoc filters make it easy to explore and refine.

To read more about ad hoc filters, please visit our documentation. 

Save, reuse, and share your queries

Available in public preview in Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud

Why reinvent the wheel when writing queries for your data sources?

Instead, you can now save, reuse, and share queries in Grafana dashboards and Explore. This helps users across your organization create dashboards or find insights in Explore without having to create their own queries or know a query language. It also helps avoid having several users build the same queries for the same data sources multiple times.

In the new Saved queries drawer, you can:

• Search for queries by data source name, query content, title, or description.
• Sort queries alphabetically or by creation date.
• Filter by data source name, author name, and tags (the tag filter uses the OR operator, while the others use the AND operator).
• Set queries as favorites.
• … and more. 

Please reference our technical docs to learn more. 

Queryless data insights: Grafana Drilldown updates

Our suite of Grafana Drilldown apps is designed to help you quickly find insights in your observability data without having to write complex queries. And we’re constantly working to add new features and enhancements to make the Drilldown experience even more powerful.

Filter and analyze JSON log data in Logs Drilldown

Generally available in all editions Grafana

The JSON log line viewer in Logs Drilldown significantly streamlines how you debug and analyze your JSON log data.

It displays that data in a structured and collapsible view that lets you focus on specific log lines or the fields and values in your JSON logs. This means you can quickly filter for specific information with a single click, and make related visualizations more relevant and focused by including or excluding specific fields and values.

Please check out our docs to learn more.

Streamlined alert creation with Metrics Drilldown

Generally available in all editions of Grafana 

Creating effective alert rules often requires knowing exactly what query to write upfront. But sometimes you need to explore your data first to understand how metrics behave, spot patterns, and build confidence in your monitoring approach.

Now, you can use Metrics Drilldown to bring visual data exploration directly into the alert creation process and find related metrics with just a few simple clicks. Visualize how metrics break down across labels, and when you discover the perfect visualization, click through to Explore to grab the underlying query and use it in your alert rule.

You can read more about Metrics Drilldown in our docs. 

Simplified, one-page reporting

Available in public preview in Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud

In Grafana, the reporting feature allows you to send automated and scheduled emails from any of your dashboards, making it easy to share insights and data with stakeholders. And now, we’ve redesigned that feature to make the report creation process faster and more intuitive.

Key updates include:

• Creating reports from dashboards while maintaining dashboard context
• Easy access to organization report settings

With this update, we’ve also removed the report wizard and replaced it with a one-page form. The page has sections that can be expanded and collapsed, allowing you to easily access all report options on a single page.

The redesigned reporting feature, under the newShareReportDrawer feature toggle, is enabled by default. You can learn more about creating and managing reports in our docs. 

Extending Grafana: what’s new in data sources 

We believe you should be able to query and visualize your data, regardless of where that data lives. As a result, we’re always working to expand and enhance our line-up of Grafana data sources. 

Here’s a look at the latest updates.

Visualizing Jenkins data

Available in public preview in Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud

Continuous integration tools like Jenkins play a critical role in the software development lifecycle, and they also contain a wealth of information (like DORA metrics) that can help you improve the effectiveness of your team’s software delivery process. With the new Jenkins Enterprise data source, you can visualize that information alongside the health of your applications and infrastructure.

This data source includes two built-in dashboards to help you quickly get started visualizing Jenkins data:

• Jenkins Overview dashboard: provides an overview of the Jenkins instance, including all projects, nodes, executor status and build queue.
• Jenkins DORA Metrics dashboard: provides information on four key metrics used to assess software development team performance: deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and time to restore service. 

To learn more about the Jenkins Enterprise data source, check out our documentation. 

Actions authentication with the Infinity data source

Available in public preview in all editions of Grafana 

Visualization actions now support authenticated HTTP requests by integrating with the Infinity data source. This lets you perform actions that require authentication by leveraging preconfigured Infinity data source connections.

To try out this feature, enable the vizActionsAuth feature toggle. Note that users with the Viewer role can’t see or execute actions. You can also visit our docs to learn more about our Infinity data source.

Learn more about Grafana

For an in-depth list of all the new features in Grafana, check out our Grafana documentation, the Grafana changelog, or our What’s New documentation.

Join the Grafana Labs community

We invite you to engage with the Grafana Labs community forums. Share your experiences with the new features, discuss best practices, and explore creative ways to integrate these updates into your workflows. Your insights and use cases are invaluable in enriching the Grafana ecosystem.

Upgrade to Grafana 12.2

Download Grafana 12.2 today or experience all the latest features by signing up for Grafana Cloud, which offers an actually useful forever-free tier and plans for every use case. Sign up for a free Grafana Cloud account today.

Our Grafana upgrade guide also provides step-by-step instructions for those looking to upgrade from an earlier version to ensure a smooth transition.

A special thanks to our community

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Grafana community!

Your contributions, ranging from pull requests to valuable feedback, are crucial in continually enhancing Grafana. And your enthusiasm and dedication inspire us at Grafana Labs to persistently innovate and elevate the Grafana platform.

Grafana Cloud is the easiest way to get started with metrics, logs, traces, dashboards, and more. We have a generous forever-free tier and plans for every use case. Sign up for free now!