Use Grafana Assistant self-managed
Use Grafana Assistant in a self-managed deployment by installing the Assistant app in your self-managed Grafana deployment and connecting it to a Grafana Cloud stack. This article explains how it works, what you need before you start, and which features are available.
What you’ll achieve
Grafana Assistant keeps the Assistant experience inside your own self-managed Grafana deployment.
After setup, you can use Assistant to work with metrics, logs, traces, profiles, and databases, create and update dashboards, generate queries, and navigate Grafana resources from natural language prompts.
Understand how self-managed works
Grafana Assistant uses a hybrid deployment model for self-managed installations.
The Assistant UI runs in your self-managed Grafana deployment. The Assistant backend, usage limits, and billing stay in the Grafana Cloud stack that you connect during setup. If you run Grafana OSS or Grafana Enterprise, this is the supported way to use Assistant outside Grafana Cloud.
This also means the self-managed experience doesn’t include every Grafana Cloud feature. Assistant keeps the core chat and dashboarding workflows, but some backend-dependent features remain available only in Grafana Cloud.
Understand what data goes to Grafana Cloud
When you use Assistant, the prompts you submit and the query context needed to generate a response are sent to the Grafana Cloud backend for processing. Your underlying data sources and infrastructure remain in your own environment. Grafana Cloud processes requests in the region associated with your connected stack.
For full details on data handling, refer to Manage your data privacy and security.
Before you begin
Grafana Assistant self-managed needs access in both your self-managed Grafana deployment and a Grafana Cloud stack.
- A Grafana Cloud stack with Assistant enabled
- A self-managed Grafana deployment
- Organization administrator access in the self-managed Grafana deployment
- Administrator access in the Grafana Cloud stack that will back the deployment
- The Grafana Assistant app available in the self-managed Grafana deployment
The app name is Grafana Assistant. The plugin ID is grafana-assistant-app.
Connect your deployment
Grafana Assistant connects your self-managed Grafana deployment to the Grafana Cloud stack that provides the backend services.
- Enable Assistant in the Grafana Cloud stack that will back the deployment.
- In the self-managed Grafana deployment, install the Grafana Assistant app.
- Sign in to the self-managed Grafana deployment as an organization administrator.
- Open Administration > Plugins and data > Plugins and select Grafana Assistant.
- Open Connection.
- Select Start connection and complete the authorization flow in Grafana Cloud.
After the connection succeeds, the page reloads and Assistant becomes available in the self-managed Grafana UI.
If you prefer to configure the connection manually, enter the following values from the Grafana Cloud stack in Connection:
- Backend URL
- Instance ID
- Access Token
Note
When you use Start connection, Grafana sends your Grafana URL, including internal hostnames, to Grafana Cloud so the two deployments can be paired.
For the complete setup flow, refer to Get started with Grafana Assistant.
Understand pricing and limits
Self-managed deployments use the same usage limits and pricing as Grafana Cloud Assistant. Limits apply per connected Grafana Cloud stack.
Refer to Grafana Assistant pricing to see the current tiers, included seats, and overage rates.
Note
If you’re evaluating Assistant for a large organization, contact your Grafana account team for a tailored plan.
Review available features
Grafana Assistant in a self-managed deployment keeps the main chat workflows available and hides features that depend on the full Grafana Cloud backend.
Available in self-managed deployments:
- Chat and prompt-based assistance
- Dashboard creation and editing
- Query generation and explanation
- Navigation across Grafana resources
- Rules, quickstarts, and skills
- MCP server integrations
Not available in self-managed deployments:
- Assistant investigations and related investigation memory features
- Infrastructure memory
- Grafana Cloud MCP connections
- CLI auth tokens
- SQL table discovery
- Automations and sandbox settings
- Anonymous access to the Assistant app
Manage access and usage
Grafana Assistant uses Grafana RBAC in the Grafana deployment where the plugin runs.
Use plugins.app:access scoped to plugins:id:grafana-assistant-app to control who can open Assistant in the self-managed Grafana deployment. Assistant-specific roles such as Assistant User and Assistant Admin also apply there. Permissions alone don’t enable features that aren’t available in self-managed deployments.
Usage and limits are tracked against the connected Grafana Cloud stack. To review or change your plan, refer to Grafana Assistant pricing.
If you need to review permissions or data handling, refer to the related articles:
