DocumentationGrafana AgentFlow modeGet startedRunStandalone

Run Grafana Agent Flow as a standalone binary

If you downloaded the standalone binary, you must run Grafana Agent Flow from a terminal or command window.

Start Grafana Agent Flow on Linux, macOS, or FreeBSD

To start Grafana Agent Flow on Linux, macOS, or FreeBSD, run the following command in a terminal window:

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AGENT_MODE=flow <BINARY_PATH> run <CONFIG_PATH>

Replace the following:

• <BINARY_PATH>: The path to the Grafana Agent Flow binary file.
• <CONFIG_PATH>: The path to the Grafana Agent Flow configuration file.

Start Grafana Agent Flow on Windows

To start Grafana Agent Flow on Windows, run the following commands in a command prompt:

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set AGENT_MODE=flow
<BINARY_PATH> run <CONFIG_PATH>

Replace the following:

• <BINARY_PATH>: The path to the Grafana Agent Flow binary file.
• <CONFIG_PATH>: The path to the Grafana Agent Flow configuration file.

Set up Grafana Agent Flow as a Linux systemd service

You can set up and manage the standalone binary for Grafana Agent Flow as a Linux systemd service.

1. To create a new user called grafana-agent-flow run the following command in a terminal window:

   shell Copy

   sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /bin/false grafana-agent-flow

2. Create a service file in /etc/systemd/system called grafana-agent-flow.service with the following contents:

   systemd Copy

   [Unit]
   Description=Vendor-neutral programmable observability pipelines.
   Documentation=https://grafana.com/docs/agent/latest/flow/
   Wants=network-online.target
   After=network-online.target
   
   [Service]
   Restart=always
   User=grafana-agent-flow
   Environment=HOSTNAME=%H
   EnvironmentFile=/etc/default/grafana-agent-flow
   WorkingDirectory=<WORKING_DIRECTORY>
   ExecStart=<BINARY_PATH> run $CUSTOM_ARGS --storage.path=<WORKING_DIRECTORY> $CONFIG_FILE
   ExecReload=/usr/bin/env kill -HUP $MAINPID
   TimeoutStopSec=20s
   SendSIGKILL=no
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

   Replace the following:

   • <BINARY_PATH>: The path to the Grafana Agent Flow binary file.
   • <WORKING_DIRECTORY>: The path to a working directory, for example /var/lib/grafana-agent-flow.

3. Create an environment file in /etc/default/ called grafana-agent-flow with the following contents:

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   ## Path:
   ## Description: Grafana Agent Flow settings
   ## Type:        string
   ## Default:     ""
   ## ServiceRestart: grafana-agent-flow
   #
   # Command line options for grafana-agent
   #
   # The configuration file holding the Grafana Agent Flow configuration.
   CONFIG_FILE="<CONFIG_PATH>"
   
   # User-defined arguments to pass to the run command.
   CUSTOM_ARGS=""
   
   # Restart on system upgrade. Defaults to true.
   RESTART_ON_UPGRADE=true

   Replace the following:

   • <CONFIG_PATH>: The path to the Grafana Agent Flow configuration file.

4. To reload the service files, run the following command in a terminal window:

   shell Copy

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload

5. Use the Linux systemd commands to manage your standalone Linux installation of Grafana Agent Flow.