---
title: "Glossary | Grafana documentation"
description: "Grafana glossary"
---

# Glossary

This topic lists words and abbreviations that are commonly used in the Grafana documentation and community.

|                             |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|-----------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| app plugin                  | An extension of Grafana that allows users to provide additional functionality to enhance their experience by including a set of panel and data source plugins, as well as custom pages. See also *data source plugin*, *panel plugin*, and *plugin*.                                                        |
| dashboard                   | A set of one or more panels, organized and arranged into one or more rows, that provide an at-a-glance view of related information.                                                                                                                                                                         |
| data source                 | A file, database, or service providing the data. Grafana supports several data sources by default, and can be extended to support additional data sources through plugins.                                                                                                                                  |
| data source plugin          | Extends Grafana with support for additional data sources. See also *data source*, *app plugin*, *panel plugin*, and *plugin*.                                                                                                                                                                               |
| exemplar                    | An exemplar is any data that serves as a detailed example of one of the observations aggregated into a metric. An exemplar contains the observed value together with an optional timestamp and arbitrary labels, which are typically used to reference a trace.                                             |
| Explore                     | Explore allows a user to focus on building a query. Users can refine the query to return the expected metrics before building a dashboard. For more information, refer to the [Explore](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/explore) topic.                                                             |
| export or import dashboard  | Grafana includes the ability to export your dashboards to a file containing JSON. Community members sometimes share their created dashboards on the [Grafana Dashboards page](https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards). Dashboards previously exported or found on this site may be imported by other users. |
| exporter                    | An exporter translates data that comes out of a data source into a format that Prometheus can digest.                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| `gcx`                       | A command-line tool that enables users to authenticate, manage multiple environments, and perform administrative tasks through Grafana's REST API. It's compatible with AI agents.                                                                                                                          |
| Integration (Grafana Cloud) | Each Integration in Grafana Cloud uses the cloud agent to connect your data source to Grafana Cloud for visualizing. Note: Prometheus uses the word “integrations” to refer to software that exposes Prometheus metrics without needing an exporter, which is a different use of the same word we use here. |
| graph                       | A commonly-used visualization that displays data as points, lines, or bars.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| `grafanactl`                | A command-line tool that enables users to authenticate, manage multiple environments, and perform administrative tasks through Grafana's REST API.                                                                                                                                                          |
| mixin                       | A mixin is a set of Grafana dashboards and Prometheus rules and alerts, written in Jsonnet and packaged together in a bundle.                                                                                                                                                                               |
| panel                       | Basic building block in Grafana, composed by a query and a visualization. Can be moved and resized within a dashboard.                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| panel plugin                | Extends Grafana with additional visualization options. See also *panel*, *plugin*, *app plugin*, and *data source plugin*.                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| plugin                      | An extension of Grafana that allows users to provide additional functionality to enhance their experience. See also *app plugin*, *data source plugin*, and *panel plugin*.                                                                                                                                 |
| query                       | Used to request data from a data source. The structure and format of the query depend on the specific data source.                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| time series                 | A series of measurements, ordered by time. Time series are stored in data sources and returned as the result of a query.                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| trace                       | An observed execution path of a request through a distributed system. For more information, refer to [What is Distributed Tracing?](https://opentracing.io/docs/overview/what-is-tracing/)                                                                                                                  |
| transformation              | Transformations process the result set of a query before it’s passed on for visualization. For more information, refer to the [Transformations overview](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/panels/transformations) topic.                                                                             |
| visualization               | A graphical representation of query results.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |