Grafana 13.3 release: manage variables across dashboards, share findings with Notebooks, a UI refresh, and more

Grafana 13.3 is here, bringing more consistency and control to how you work across Grafana. 

Cross-dashboard variables help you manage shared dashboard controls from one place, while Notebooks let you capture and share findings from across Grafana in a single, editable document. You'll also get a first look at Grafana's biggest visual refresh since Grafana 7, along with new ways to guide and refine dashboards built with Grafana Assistant.

Below are just some of the highlights from this release. You can explore all of the updates in the changelog or our What's new in Grafana 13.3 documentation.

Define a variable once and use it across dashboards

Available in public preview in all editions of Grafana

When multiple dashboards use the same variable, such as an environment, region, or cluster selector, managing it separately in each dashboard creates duplicate work and can lead to configuration drift. To address this, we’re rolling out cross-dashboard variables, which let you define a variable once and reuse it across dashboards in your Grafana organization.

You can create and manage these variables from Dashboards > Variables, and scope each one as either:

• Global: available to every dashboard in the organization
• Folder: available only to dashboards in the same folder

When you edit a dashboard, add a variable from the sidebar and select Global or folder variable. Grafana shows only the variables available to that dashboard's scope, and you can add them one at a time or all at once. Viewers can still change the variable's value on the dashboard, while its configuration stays managed centrally, so shared controls stay consistent without editing every dashboard that uses them.

To try cross-dashboard variables in self-managed Grafana, enable the grafana.dashboardGlobalVariables feature toggle. To learn more, refer to the cross-dashboard variables documentation.

Consolidate and share your findings with Notebooks

Available in public preview in all editions of Grafana

An investigation rarely happens in one place. You might start on a dashboard panel, jump into Explore to run a query, and then ask Grafana Assistant what's going on. Until now, the evidence and your reasoning ended up scattered across tabs, screenshots, and chat threads.

Notebooks let you capture findings from across Grafana in a single, editable document. Add panels from dashboards or Explore, pull in findings from Grafana Assistant, and write your observations right next to the data. Teammates can then follow your investigation, understand how you reached your conclusions, and collaborate on next steps.

You can use a notebook to:

• Explore a question about your data, keeping queries and notes side by side as your thinking develops.
• Document an investigation so the next person doesn't have to start from scratch.
• Prepare a post-incident review with the relevant panels already in place.

You can create notebooks manually or with Grafana Assistant, then save and share them for future reference. The new Notebooks page also makes it easy to find and manage your work, with options to search, filter, edit, and export notebooks. 

Notebooks are gradually rolling out to Grafana Cloud. To try them in self-managed Grafana, enable the dashboard.notebooks feature toggle. To learn more, refer to the Notebooks documentation.

A fresh new look for the Grafana UI

Available in public preview in all editions of Grafana

Whether it’s adding new data sources or supporting new use cases, we’re constantly expanding what Grafana can do. And as AI-powered workflows with Grafana Assistant became a bigger part of how people use Grafana every day, we saw an opportunity to rethink how the platform looks and feels.

With Grafana 13.3, we're introducing the first phase of our biggest visual refresh since Grafana 7. Built on an updated set of design principles, the refresh introduces new colors, typography, and UI components to create a more modern, consistent experience across Grafana.

Updates include: 

• New default dark and light themes. We've reworked every theme color, with more shades for flexibility, and main action buttons now have a solid, high-contrast style.
• Softer borders and floating components. Rounder corners offer a more modern feel, and subtle borders on cards, panels, and drawers create a clearer sense of depth. The toolbar and navigation also stand apart more clearly from page content.
• Updated inputs, drop-downs, buttons, and tags. We've resized our most-used components to be more proportional and consistent. 
• Revised typography. A new type scale mixes font weights and sizes, rather than relying on size alone, so it's easier to see what matters most on a page. 

Importantly, this is a visual refresh, not a redesign. Your existing workflows and navigation stay the same, and there are no breaking changes for plugins. Plugins that use standard Grafana components and theme tokens will automatically pick up the new look, while those with custom styling can migrate on their own timeline.

To try out the new UI in self-managed Grafana, enable the grafana.visualDesignRefresh feature toggle. You can switch back to the previous design at any time, and we welcome your feedback as we continue rolling out improvements over the coming months.

Build and edit dashboards with more control using Grafana Assistant 

Grafana Assistant can already help you build and edit dashboards from a plain-language description. Now, with Grafana 13.3, you have more control over that process, from reviewing and refining a dashboard plan before it's built to easily undoing changes afterward. 

Review a dashboard plan from Assistant

Available in public preview in all editions of Grafana 

With dashboard plans, you can describe what you want to monitor, and instead of building it right away, Assistant proposes a plan in chat. The plan covers the dashboard title, tabs or rows, panels, visualization types, and variables, so you can catch a missing panel or the wrong chart type before anything is built.

Select Preview to open a read-only version of the dashboard, then keep the conversation going to iterate from there. When the preview matches what you need, select Build it to generate the dashboard and save it.

Quickly revert Assistant edits 

Generally available in all editions of Grafana 

Experimenting with different layouts and visualizations is easier when you can quickly undo changes you don’t want. With Grafana 13.3, you can now select Undo turn after Grafana Assistant edits your dashboard to restore it to its previous state. If Assistant changed multiple panels in a single request, you can undo all those changes at once.

To learn more, refer to the Grafana Assistant dashboarding guide.

More to explore in Grafana 13.3

Beyond these highlights, Grafana 13.3 includes a range of updates related to data visualization, alerting, Git Sync, and more. 

For an in-depth list of all the new features, 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 13.3

Download Grafana 13.3 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.

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. 

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