Dashboard JSON model
A dashboard in Grafana is represented by a JSON object, which stores metadata of its dashboard. Dashboard metadata includes dashboard properties, metadata from panels, template variables, panel queries, etc.
To view the JSON of a dashboard:
- Navigate to a dashboard.
- In the top navigation menu, click the Dashboard settings (gear) icon.
- Click JSON Model.
JSON fields
When a user creates a new dashboard, a new dashboard JSON object is initialized with the following fields:
Note
In the following JSON, id is shown as null which is the default value assigned to it until a dashboard is saved. Once a dashboard is saved, an integer value is assigned to theid
field.
{
"id": null,
"uid": "cLV5GDCkz",
"title": "New dashboard",
"tags": [],
"timezone": "browser",
"editable": true,
"graphTooltip": 1,
"panels": [],
"time": {
"from": "now-6h",
"to": "now"
},
"timepicker": {
"refresh_intervals": []
},
"templating": {
"list": []
},
"annotations": {
"list": []
},
"refresh": "5s",
"schemaVersion": 17,
"version": 0,
"links": []
}
Each field in the dashboard JSON is explained below with its usage:
Name | Usage |
---|---|
id | unique numeric identifier for the dashboard. (generated by the db) |
uid | unique dashboard identifier that can be generated by anyone. string (8-40) |
title | current title of dashboard |
tags | tags associated with dashboard, an array of strings |
style | theme of dashboard, i.e. dark or light |
timezone | timezone of dashboard, i.e. utc or browser |
editable | whether a dashboard is editable or not |
graphTooltip | 0 for no shared crosshair or tooltip (default), 1 for shared crosshair, 2 for shared crosshair AND shared tooltip |
time | time range for dashboard, i.e. last 6 hours, last 7 days, etc |
timepicker | timepicker metadata, see timepicker section for details |
templating | templating metadata, see templating section for details |
annotations | annotations metadata, see annotations for how to add them |
refresh | auto-refresh interval |
schemaVersion | version of the JSON schema (integer), incremented each time a Grafana update brings changes to said schema |
version | version of the dashboard (integer), incremented each time the dashboard is updated |
panels | panels array, see below for detail. |
Panels
Panels are the building blocks of a dashboard. It consists of data source queries, type of graphs, aliases, etc. Panel JSON consists of an array of JSON objects, each representing a different panel. Most of the fields are common for all panels but some fields depend on the panel type. Following is an example of panel JSON of a text panel.
"panels": [
{
"type": "text",
"title": "Panel Title",
"gridPos": {
"x": 0,
"y": 0,
"w": 12,
"h": 9
},
"id": 4,
"mode": "markdown",
"content": "# title"
}
Panel size and position
The gridPos property describes the panel size and position in grid coordinates.
w
1-24 (the width of the dashboard is divided into 24 columns)h
In grid height units, each represents 30 pixels.x
The x position, in same unit asw
.y
The y position, in same unit ash
.
The grid has a negative gravity that moves panels up if there is empty space above a panel.
timepicker
"timepicker": {
"collapse": false,
"enable": true,
"notice": false,
"now": true,
"hidden": false,
"nowDelay": "",
"refresh_intervals": [
"5s",
"10s",
"30s",
"1m",
"5m",
"15m",
"30m",
"1h",
"2h",
"1d"
],
"status": "Stable",
"type": "timepicker"
}
Usage of the fields is explained below:
Name | Usage |
---|---|
collapse | whether timepicker is collapsed or not |
enable | whether timepicker is enabled or not |
notice | |
now | |
hidden | whether timepicker is hidden or not |
nowDelay | override the now time by entering a time delay. Use this option to accommodate known delays in data aggregation to avoid null values. |
refresh_intervals | interval options available in the refresh picker dropdown |
status | |
type |
templating
The templating
field contains an array of template variables with their saved values along with some other metadata, for example:
"templating": {
"enable": true,
"list": [
{
"allFormat": "wildcard",
"current": {
"tags": [],
"text": "prod",
"value": "prod"
},
"datasource": null,
"includeAll": true,
"name": "env",
"options": [
{
"selected": false,
"text": "All",
"value": "*"
},
{
"selected": false,
"text": "stage",
"value": "stage"
},
{
"selected": false,
"text": "test",
"value": "test"
}
],
"query": "tag_values(cpu.utilization.average,env)",
"refresh": false,
"type": "query"
},
{
"allFormat": "wildcard",
"current": {
"text": "apache",
"value": "apache"
},
"datasource": null,
"includeAll": false,
"multi": false,
"multiFormat": "glob",
"name": "app",
"options": [
{
"selected": true,
"text": "tomcat",
"value": "tomcat"
},
{
"selected": false,
"text": "cassandra",
"value": "cassandra"
}
],
"query": "tag_values(cpu.utilization.average,app)",
"refresh": false,
"regex": "",
"type": "query"
}
]
}
Usage of the above mentioned fields in the templating section is explained below:
Name | Usage |
---|---|
enable | whether templating is enabled or not |
list | an array of objects each representing one template variable |
allFormat | format to use while fetching all values from data source, eg: wildcard , glob , regex , pipe , etc. |
current | shows current selected variable text/value on the dashboard |
data source | shows data source for the variables |
includeAll | whether all value option is available or not |
multi | whether multiple values can be selected or not from variable value list |
multiFormat | format to use while fetching timeseries from data source |
name | name of variable |
options | array of variable text/value pairs available for selection on dashboard |
query | data source query used to fetch values for a variable |
refresh | configures when to refresh a variable |
regex | extracts part of a series name or metric node segment |
type | type of variable, i.e. custom , query or interval |