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Documentation Grafana documentation As code Observability as code Git Sync Deployment scenarios Single instance

Single instance Git Sync

Use a single Grafana instance synchronized with a Git repository. This is the foundation for Git Sync and helps you understand bidirectional synchronization.

Use it for

• Getting started: You want to learn how Git Sync works before implementing complex scenarios.
• Personal projects: Individual developers manage their own dashboards.
• Small teams: You have a simple setup without multiple environments or complex workflows.
• Development environments: You need quick prototyping and testing.

Architecture

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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           GitHub Repository                         │
│   Repository: your-org/grafana-manifests          │
│   Branch: main                                      │
│                                                     │
│   grafana-manifests/                              │
│   └── grafana/                                     │
│       ├── dashboard-1.json                         │
│       ├── dashboard-2.json                         │
│       └── dashboard-3.json                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                        ↕
              Git Sync (bidirectional)
                        ↕
        ┌─────────────────────────────┐
        │    Grafana Instance         │
        │                             │
        │  Repository Resource:       │
        │  - url: grafana-manifests  │
        │  - branch: main             │
        │  - path: grafana/           │
        │                             │
        │  Creates folder:            │
        │  "grafana-manifests"       │
        └─────────────────────────────┘

Repository structure

In Git:

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your-org/grafana-manifests
└── grafana/
    ├── dashboard-1.json
    ├── dashboard-2.json
    └── dashboard-3.json

In Grafana Dashboards view:

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Dashboards
└── 📁 grafana-manifests/
    ├── Dashboard 1
    ├── Dashboard 2
    └── Dashboard 3

• A folder named “grafana-manifests” (from repository name) contains all synced dashboards.
• Each JSON file becomes a dashboard with its title displayed in the folder.
• Users browse dashboards organized under this folder structure.

Configuration parameters

Configure your Grafana instance to synchronize with:

• Repository: your-org/grafana-manifests
• Branch: main
• Path: grafana/

How it works

1. From Grafana to Git: When users create or modify dashboards in Grafana, Git Sync commits changes to the grafana/ directory on the main branch.
2. From Git to Grafana: When dashboard JSON files are added or modified in the grafana/ directory, Git Sync pulls these changes into Grafana.