Scenes-powered Dashboards is generally available

For the past few months we’ve been working on a major update of our Dashboards architecture and migrated it to the Scenes library. This migration provides us with more stable, dynamic, and flexible dashboards as well as setting the foundation for what we envision the future of Grafana dashboards will be. Here are two of the improvements that are being introduced as part of this work:

Edit mode

It can be difficult to efficiently navigate through the visually cluttered options during the dashboard editing process. With the introduction of the edit mode, we aim to provide an easier way to discover and interact with the dashboard edit experience.

Fixed positioning of template variables and time picker

We moved the time picker into the dashboard canvas and now, together with template variables, it will stick to the top as you scroll through your dashboard. This has historically been a very requested feature that we’re very happy to be able to finally roll out!

Timezone parameter in Grafana URL

We’ve added a new URL parameter tz. This allows sharing dashboards with a selected time zone, ensuring that the receiver views it in the intended time zone regardless of their local settings.

Kiosk mode displays dashboard controls

When playing a playlist or displaying a dashboard in full screen, controls are now shown by default. These controls include the time and refresh picker, variables, annotations, and links.

If you prefer to hide these controls during playlist playback, new configuration options are available when starting a playlist. You can choose which controls to display while the playlist is running.

For configuring controls outside of playlist playback, you can use the following URL parameters:

_dash.hideTimePicker: Hides the time and refresh picker
_dash.hideVariables: Hides variables and annotations controls
_dash.hideLinks: Hides dashboard links

Known limitations

The variable usage check is not yet available.
Editing a panel:
- The Library panels tab is not available anymore. You can replace a library panel from the panel menu.
- The Overrides tab is missing in panel options (coming in Grafana v11.3.0). Overrides are shown at the bottom of the option list.
- The drop-down to collapse the visualization picker is missing (coming in Grafana v11.3.0).
Share button is not visible when edit mode is enabled (coming in Grafana v11.3.0).

If you want to learn more, in detail, about all the improvements we’ve made, don’t miss our blog post.