Build dashboards on Grafana Labs

Create dashboards

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:01:40 +0000

Create dashboards

Dashboards and panels allow you to show your data in visual form. Each panel needs at least one query to display a visualization.

Before you begin:

Ensure that you have the proper permissions. For more information about permissions, refer to About users and permissions.
Understand the query language of the target data source.

Create a dashboard

To create a dashboard, follow these steps:

Click Dashboards in the main menu.
Click New and select New Dashboard.
Click the Add new element icon (blue plus sign) and click or drag a panel onto the dashboard.
On the new panel, select one of the following options:
- Configure visualization: Opens panel edit mode with the default data source for your instance preselected. Configure a query and set panel and visualization options.
- Use saved query: Opens the Saved queries drawer. Select a query, and Grafana adds the panel with suggested visualization applied.
  
  Then, go to step 12.
- Use library panel: Opens a drawer with a list of library panels. Select a library panel, and Grafana adds the panel.
  
  Then, go to step 12.

Note
Saved queries is currently in public preview in Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud only.

If you want to change the panel data source, in the Queries tab, click the Data source drop-down list and do one of the following:
- Select one of your existing data sources.
- Click Open advanced data source picker to select one of the Grafana built-in special data sources or to configure a new data source (Admins only).
For more information about data sources, refer to Data sources for specific guidelines.
To create a query, do one of the following:
- Write or construct a query in the query language of your data source.
- Open the Saved queries drop-down menu and click Replace query to reuse a saved query.
(Optional) To save the query for reuse, click the Saved queries drop-down menu and select Save query.
Click Refresh to query the data source.
Select a suggested visualization or click All visualizations and select one from the full list.

Grafana displays a preview of your query results with the visualization applied.

For more information about configuring individual visualizations, refer to Visualizations options.
(Optional) If the panel supports it, choose an option from the Panel styles section in the panel editor sidebar. Each style shows a live preview of how it changes the visualization. Clicking a style applies it to the panel.

Note
Panel styles is currently in public preview. Grafana Labs offers limited support, and breaking changes might occur prior to the feature being made generally available. Enable the vizPresets feature toggle to use this feature.

For more information about Panel styles, refer to the Panel editor documentation.

Refer to the following documentation for ways you can adjust panel settings.

While not required, most visualizations need some adjustment before they properly display the information that you need.
Enter a title and description for the panel or have Grafana create them using generative AI features.
Click Save.
Enter a title and description for the dashboard or have Grafana create them using generative AI features.
Select a folder, if applicable.
Click Save
Click Exit edit.

Dashboard edit

Now that you’ve created a basic dashboard, you can augment it with more options, which is explained in the following sections:

The sidebar and toolbar: Learn about editing without leaving the dashboard.
Navigate using the content outline: Learn how to quickly navigate to any dashboard element with the content outline.
Edit a dashboard: Learn how to edit a dashboard.

The sidebar allows you to make changes without leaving the dashboard, by displaying options associated with the part of the dashboard that’s in focus. The toolbar is next to the sidebar, and it includes options that are useful to have available all the time.

The following image shows the parts of the sidebar and the toolbar. Hover your cursor over the numbers to display descriptions of the toolbar options (descriptions also follow the image):

Add new element: Click to open the sidebar. Edit mode only.
Dashboard options: Click the icon to open the sidebar and access dashboard options. Edit mode only.
Feedback: Submit feedback on the new editing experience. Edit mode only.
Edit as code: Edit the dashboard JSON. Edit mode only.
Export: Click to display export options.
Content outline: Navigate a dashboard using the Content outline.
Filters overview: Open the filters overview drawer.
Dashboard insights: View dashboard analytics including information about users, activity, and query counts.
Dock/Undock: Click to dock or undock the sidebar.

The toolbar is displayed in both edit and view mode, but the Dashboard options and Feedback icons aren’t available in view mode.

The available configuration options in the sidebar differ depending on the selected dashboard element:

Dashboards: High-level options are in the sidebar and further configuration options are in the Settings page.
Groupings (rows and tabs): All configuration options are available in the sidebar.
Panels: High-level options are in the sidebar and further configuration options are in the Edit panel view.

You can close the sidebar by clicking the following icons in the toolbar a second time:

Add new element (if you’re in the configuration options for a dashboard element, it takes two clicks to close the sidebar)
Edit as code
Content outline

You can choose to use the sidebar docked or undocked by clicking the Dock/Undock icon in the toolbar. When the sidebar is docked, the content of the dashboard resizes to accommodate the sidebar. When it’s undocked, the sidebar floats on top of the dashboard content. In edit mode, the sidebar is docked by default and in view mode, it’s undocked.

Note
On mobile devices, the sidebar is docked by default in edit mode.

The following table describes how the sidebar behaves when docked or undocked in edit mode:

Docked	Undocked
After the sidebar is open, it remains open regardless of where you click.	The sidebar closes if you don’t select a dashboard element.
The sidebar displays dashboard options when you click the dashboard canvas.	The sidebar only displays dashboard options when you click the Dashboard options icon.

When you dock or undock the sidebar, your choice is persisted for all dashboards you use in that Grafana instance, across sessions, by way of your browser’s local storage. You can clear this selection by clearing the following keys in your local storage:

For view mode: grafana.ui.sidebar.dashboard-view.docked
For edit mode: grafana.ui.sidebar.dashboard.docked

You can also resize the sidebar and toolbar. You can only resize the toolbar when the sidebar is closed, however, you can do so in view or edit mode. Your resizing changes persist until you change them.

Navigate using the content outline

The Content outline provides a tree-like structure that shows you all the parts of the dashboard and their relationships to each other, including panels, rows, tabs, and variables. The outline also lets you quickly navigate the dashboard and is available in both view and edit modes (note that variables are only included in edit mode).

To navigate the dashboard using the outline, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to view or update.
In the right toolbar, click the Content outline icon to open it.
Expand the outline to find the part of the dashboard you want to view or update.
Click the tree item to navigate that part of the dashboard.

Edit a dashboard

To edit a dashboard, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to update.
Click Edit.

Do one of the following:

Update	Action
Edit existing elements	Click the element to open the sidebar showing the relevant options. Click the Dashboard options icon to access dashboard settings. If the dashboard is large, open the Content outline and use it to navigate to the part of the dashboard you want to update.
Add more panels	Click the Add new element icon and select Panel. You can also hover your cursor on the dashboard to display the Add panel button. This is helpful if you want to ensure that you add a new panel within a grouping.
Group panels	Click Add new element and select Group into row or Group into tab. Alternatively hover your cursor on the dashboard to display the Group panels and select a grouping option. For more information on groupings, refer to Panel groupings.
Add dashboard controls	Click Add new element and select one of the following: Variable Annotation query Links
Change layouts	Click a row, tab, or the Dashboard options icon to open the sidebar and access layout options. For more information, refer to panel layout options.

When you’ve finished making changes, click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Back to dashboard, if needed.
Click Exit edit

Panel layouts

Panel layouts control the size and arrangement of panels in the dashboard. There are two panel layout options:

Custom: You can position and size panels individually. This is the default selection for a new dashboard. Show/hide rules are not supported.
Auto grid: Panels resize and fit automatically to create a uniform grid. You can’t make manual changes to this layout. Show/hide rules are supported.

When you first create a dashboard, you select a layout and that selection becomes your the default for rows and tabs that you add to the dashboard. However, you can change this default in the dashboard settings.

Auto grid layout

In the auto grid layout, panels are automatically sized and positioned as you add them. There are default parameters to constrain the layout, and you can update these to have more control over the display:

Min column width: Choose from Standard, Narrow, Wide, or Custom, for which you can enter the minimum width in pixels.
Max columns: Set a number up to 10.
Row height: Choose from Standard, Short, Tall, and Custom, for which you can enter the row height in pixels.
Fill screen: Toggle the switch on to have the panel fill the entire height of the screen. If the panel is in a row, the Fill screen toggle for the row must also be enabled (refer to grouping configuration options.

Update panel layout

To update the panel layout, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to update.
Click Edit.
Click the dashboard or the grouping that contains the panel layout you want to update.
Click the Dashboard options icon to open the sidebar, if needed.
Under Layout, select Custom or Auto grid.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit

Configure repeat options

You can configure Grafana to dynamically add panels, rows, or tabs to a dashboard based on the value of a variable. Variables dynamically change your queries across all panels, rows, or tabs in a dashboard.

This only applies to queries that include a multi-value variable.

To configure repeats, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to update.
Click Edit.
Click the panel, row, or tab you want to update to open the sidebar, or click the Dashboard options icon to open it.

If the dashboard is large, open the Content outline and use it to navigate to the part of the dashboard you want to update.
Expand the Repeat options section.
Select the Repeat by variable.
For panels in a custom layout, set the following options:
Under Repeat direction, choose one of the following:
- Horizontal - Arrange panels side-by-side. Grafana adjusts the width of a repeated panel. You can’t mix other panels on a row with a repeated panel.
- Vertical - Arrange panels in a column. The width of repeated panels is the same as the original, repeated panel.
If you selected Horizontal, select a value in the Max per row drop-down list to control the maximum number of panels that can be in a row.
(Optional) To provide context to dashboard users, add the variable name to the panel, row, or tab title.
When you’ve finished setting the repeat option, click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

Repeating rows and tabs and the Dashboard special data source

If a row includes panels using the special Dashboard data source—the data source that uses a result set from another panel in the same dashboard—then corresponding panels in repeated rows will reference the panel in the original row, not the ones in the repeated rows. The same behavior applies to tabs.

For example, in a dashboard:

Row 1 includes Panel 1A and Panel 1B
Panel 1B uses the results from Panel 1A by way of the -- Dashboard -- data source
Repeating row, Row 2, includes Panel 2A and Panel 2B
Panel 2B references Panel 1A, not Panel 2A

Show/hide rules

You can configure panels, rows, and tabs to be shown or hidden based on rules. For example, you can set a panel to be hidden if there’s no data returned by a query or a tab to only be shown if a specific variable value is present.

There are three types of show/hide rules to choose from:

For steps on how to create show/hide rules, refer to Configure show/hide rules.

Note
You can only configure show/hide rules for panels in the Auto grid layout. Set the panel layout at the dashboard, row, or tab-level.

Query result rule

Show or hide a panel based on whether or not the query returns any results. The rule provides Has data and No data options, so you can choose to show or hide the panel based on the presence or absence of data.

For example, if you have a dashboard with several panels and only want panels that return data to appear, set the rule as follows:

Panel visibility > Show
Query result > Has data

Alternatively, you might also want to troubleshoot a dashboard with several panels to see which ones contain broken queries that aren’t returning any results. In this case, you’d set the rule as follows:

Panel visibility > Show
Query result > No data

Template variable rule

Show or hide a panel, row, or tab dynamically based on the variable value. You can select any variable that’s configured for the dashboard and choose from the following operators for maximum flexibility:

Equals
Not equals
Matches (regular expression values)
Not matches (regular expression values)

You can add more variables if you need to without leaving the dashboard.

Time range less than rule

Show or hide a panel, row, or tab if the dashboard time range is shorter than the selected time range. This ensures that as you change the time range of the dashboard, you only see data relevant to that time period.

For example, a dashboard is tracking adoption of a feature over time has the following setup:

Dashboard time range is Last 7 days
One panel tracks weekly stats
One panel tracks daily stats

For the panel tracking weekly stats, a rule is set up to hide it if the dashboard time range is less than 7 days. For the panel tracking daily stats, a rule is set up to hide it if the dashboard time range is less 24 hours. This configuration ensures that these time-based panels are only displayed when enough time has passed to make them relevant.

For this rule type, you can select time ranges from 5 minutes to 5 years.

Configure show/hide rules

To configure show/hide rules, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to update.
Click Edit.
Click the panel, row, or tab you want to update to open the sidebar, or click the Dashboard options icon to open it.

If the dashboard is large, open the Content outline and use it to navigate to the part of the dashboard you want to update.
Expand the Show / hide rules section.
Select Show or Hide to set whether the panel, row, or tab is shown or hidden based on the rules outcome.
Click + Add rule.
Select a rule type:
- Query result: Show or hide a panel based on query results. Choose from Has data and No data.
- Template variable: Show or hide the panel, row, or tab dynamically based on the variable value. Select a variable and operator and enter a value.
- Time range less than: Show or hide the panel, row, or tab if the dashboard time range is shorter than the selected time range. Select a time range from 5 minutes to 5 years.
If you’ve configured more than rule, under Match rules, select one of the following:
- Match all: The panel, row, or tab is shown or hidden only if all the rules are matched.
- Match any: The panel, row, or tab is shown or hidden if any of the rules are matched.
This option is only displayed if you add multiple rules.
When you’ve finished setting rules, click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit

Hidden panels, rows, or tabs aren’t visible when the dashboard is in view mode. In edit mode, hidden dashboard elements are displayed with an icon or overlay indicating this.

Move a panel

To move a panel, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to update.
Click Edit.
Navigate to the panel you want to move.

If the dashboard is large, open the Content outline and use it to navigate to the panel.
Click the panel title and drag the panel to another row or tab, or to a new position on the dashboard.

If the dashboard has groupings, you can only move the panel to another grouping.
When the new position is highlighted in a solid blue line, drop the panel.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit

Resize a panel

When your dashboard or grouping has a Custom layout, you can manually resize a panel.

To resize a panel, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to update.
Click Edit.
Navigate to the panel you want to resize.

If the dashboard is large, open the Content outline and use it to navigate to the panel.
Click and drag the lower-right corner of the panel to change the size of the panel.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

Copy or duplicate dashboard elements

You can copy and paste or duplicate the following dashboard elements:

Panels
Rows
Tabs

To copy or duplicate dashboard elements, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to update.
Click Edit.
Click the panel, row, or tab you want to update to open the sidebar, or click the Dashboard options icon to open it.

If the dashboard is large, open the Content outline and use it to navigate to the part of the dashboard you want to update.
In the top-corner of the sidebar, click the Copy or Duplicate icon and do one of the following:
- Click Copy.
- Click Duplicate. The duplicated element is added next to the original one. Proceed to step 6.
If you selected Copy, navigate to the part of the dashboard where you want to add the copied element, and click Paste panel, Paste row, or Paste tab.
Update the copied or duplicated element if needed.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit

Copy a dashboard

To make a copy of a dashboard, follow these steps:

Navigate to the dashboard you want to update.
Click Edit.
Click the Save drop-down list and select Save as copy.
(Optional) Specify the name, folder, description, and whether or not to copy the original dashboard tags for the copied dashboard.

By default, the copied dashboard has the same name as the original dashboard with the word “Copy” appended and is in the same folder.
Click Save.

Create dashboards from templates and suggestions

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:59:56 +0000

Create dashboards from templates and suggestions

Grafana provides alternative ways to start building a dashboard with templates and suggested dashboards.

Dashboard templates

Note
Dashboard templates is currently in public preview. Grafana Labs offers limited support, and breaking changes might occur prior to the feature being made generally available.

Grafana provides a variety of pre-built dashboard templates that you can use to quickly set up visualizations for your data. These dashboards use sample data, which you can replace with your own data, making it easier to get started with monitoring and analysis.

The templates provide standardized dashboard layouts designed to help you answer engineering or business questions consistently. For instance, the DORA template allows all teams within an organization to measure delivery performance using a widely adopted industry framework.

Create dashboards from templates

To create a dashboard from a template, follow these steps:

Click Dashboards in the primary menu.
Click New and select Dashboard from template in the drop-down menu.
Hover the cursor over the template you want to use and click View template.

The dashboard created includes a banner panel indicating the dashboard is using sample data:
Click Save in the top-right corner.
(Optional) Enter a new title for the dashboard.
(Optional) Select a folder for the dashboard.
Click Save.
Update the data source for each panel to add your own data and configure the queries you need.

In Grafana Cloud, you also have the option to customize the template using Grafana Assistant.
Make any other edits to the dashboard to most effectively display your data.
When you’ve made all of your changes, hover the cursor over the top-right corner of the banner panel to open the panel edit menu, and then click Remove to remove the panel.
Click Save.
Enter an optional description of your updates, and click Save.

Suggested dashboards

Note
Suggested dashboards is currently in public preview. Grafana Labs offers limited support, and breaking changes might occur prior to the feature being made generally available.

Suggested dashboards can be helpful when you have a data source configured, but you’re not sure how to most effectively visualize your data. The process of creating a dashboard from a suggestion starts from the Data sources feature, so the suggestions are specific to your data source type (for example, Prometheus, Loki, or Elasticsearch).

The dashboards suggested are either provided by the data source plugin (provisioned) or come from the Grafana Community, and they are labeled to indicate this:

For Prometheus data sources, Grafana compares the metrics of your data source against those of the suggested dashboard to assess how much you might need to update the dashboard to make it useful. Using that analysis, Grafana assigns the dashboard a compatibility score:

Access the suggested dashboards for a data source by clicking the Build a dashboard drop-down list and selecting From suggestions:

The From suggestions option is only enabled if suggested dashboards are available for the data source. If there are no suggestions available, Grafana displays a warning, and you won’t be able to select the option.

Create dashboards from suggestions

To build a dashboard from suggestions, follow these steps:

Navigate to Connections > Data sources.
Go to the row of the data source for which you want to create a dashboard.
Click the Build a dashboard drop-down list and select From suggestions.

A dialog box with suggested dashboards opens.
Hover the cursor over the suggestion you want to use and click View dashboard.

In Grafana Cloud, you also have the option to customize the suggested dashboard using Grafana Assistant.
(Optional) Do one or more of the following:
- If there are more than six suggested dashboards, use the page numbers or arrow buttons at the bottom of the dialog box to navigate between pages of suggestions.
- To find a specific dashboard, enter the name of the dashboard in the search bar.
- If, after viewing the suggested dashboard, you find it doesn’t meet your needs, go back and choose a different suggestion or start a new dashboard by clicking one of the options in the banner:
Complete the rest of the dashboard configuration.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a new title for the dashboard.
(Optional) Select a folder for the dashboard.
Click Save.

Customize templates and suggested dashboards with Grafana Assistant

In Grafana Cloud, you can customize a dashboard template or suggested dashboard using Grafana Assistant.

To use this option, hover the cursor over the template or suggestion that you want to use and click Customize with Assistant:

When you choose this option, a preconfigured prompt is entered into the Assistant chat to start the process:

Grafana Assistant analyses the template or suggested dashboard, checks your available data sources, and guides the creation of a dashboard tailored to your environment. This lets you create a working, relevant dashboard from a template or suggestion without the need to manually map metrics and panels.

Grafana Assistant can query a subset of data sources, so customizing with Assistant for other data sources might generate poor results. For an up-to-date list of supported data sources, refer to the Assistant documentation.

Import dashboards

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:59:56 +0000

Import dashboards

You can import preconfigured dashboards into your Grafana instance or Cloud stack using the UI or the HTTP API.

Import a dashboard

To import a dashboard, follow these steps:

Click Dashboards in the primary menu.
Click New and select Import dashboard in the drop-down menu.
Perform one of the following steps:
- Upload a dashboard JSON file.
- Paste a Grafana.com dashboard URL or ID into the field provided.
- Paste dashboard JSON text directly into the text area.
(Optional) Change the dashboard name, folder, or UID, and specify metric prefixes, if the dashboard uses any.
Select a data source, if required.
Click Import.

Discover dashboards on grafana.com

The Dashboards page on grafana.com provides you with dashboards for common server applications. Browse our library of official and community-built dashboards and import them to quickly get up and running.

You can also add to this library by exporting one of your own dashboards. For more information, refer to Share dashboards and panels.

More examples

Your Grafana Cloud stack comes with several default dashboards in the Grafana Cloud folder in Dashboards. If you’re running your own installation of Grafana, you can find more example dashboards in the public/dashboards/ directory.

Modify dashboard settings

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:59:56 +0000

Modify dashboard settings

The dashboard settings page allows you to:

Edit general dashboard properties, including time settings
Add annotation queries
Add dashboard variables
Add links
View the dashboard JSON model

To access the dashboard setting page:

Click Edit.
In the toolbar, click the Dashboard options icon.
In the sidebar, click Settings.

Modify dashboard time settings

Adjust dashboard time settings when you want to change the dashboard timezone, the local browser time, and specify auto-refresh time intervals.

On the the General tab of the Settings page, scroll down to the Time options section.
Specify time settings as follows.
- Time zone: Specify the local time zone of the service or system that you are monitoring. This can be helpful when monitoring a system or service that operates across several time zones.
  - Default: Grafana uses the default selected time zone for the user profile, team, or organization. If no time zone is specified for the user profile, a team the user is a member of, or the organization, then Grafana uses the local browser time.
  - Browser time: The time zone configured for the viewing user browser is used. This is usually the same time zone as set on the computer.
  - Standard ISO 8601 time zones, including UTC.
- Auto refresh: Customize the options displayed for relative time and the auto-refresh options Entries are comma separated and accept any valid time unit.
- Now delay: Override the now time by entering a time delay. Use this option to accommodate known delays in data aggregation to avoid null values.
- Hide time picker: Select this option if you do not want Grafana to display the time picker.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

Use this option to control tooltip and hover highlight behavior across graph panels (for example, time series).

On the the General tab of the Settings page, scroll down to the Panel options section.
Choose from the following options to control the tooltip and hover highlight behavior across graph panels:
- Default - Tooltip and hover highlight behavior isn’t shared across panels.
- Shared crosshair - When you hover the cursor over one graph panel in the dashboard, the crosshair is also displayed on all other graph panels in the dashboard.
- Shared tooltip - When you hover the cursor over one graph panel in the dashboard, the crosshair and tooltips are also displayed on all other graph panels in the dashboard.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

Add tags

You can add metadata to your dashboards using tags. Tags also give you the ability to filter the list of dashboards.

Tags can be up to 50 characters long, including spaces.

To add tags to a dashboard, follow these steps:

On the the General tab of the Settings page, scroll down to the Tags section.
In the field, enter a new or existing tag.

If you’re entering an existing tag, make sure that you spell it the same way or a new tag is created.
Click Add or press the Enter key.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

When you’re on the Dashboards page, any tags you’ve entered show up under the Tags column.

Add an annotation query

An annotation query is a query that queries for events. These events can be visualized in graphs across the dashboard as vertical lines along with a small icon you can hover over to see the event information.

On the Settings page, go to the Annotations tab.
Click Add annotation query.
Enter a name and select a data source.
Complete the rest of the form to build a query and annotation.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

The query editor UI changes based on the data source you select. Refer to the Data source documentation for details on how to construct a query.

Add a variable

Variables enable you to create more interactive and dynamic dashboards. Instead of hard-coding things like server, application, and sensor names in your metric queries, you can use variables in their place. Variables are displayed as dropdown lists at the top of the dashboard. These dropdowns make it easy to change the data being displayed in your dashboard.

For more information about variables, refer to Variables.

On the Settings page, go to the Variables tab.
Click + New variable.
In the Select variable type drop-down, choose an option.

The variable type you select impacts which fields you populate on the page.
In the General section, enter the name of the variable.

This is the name that you’ll use later in queries.
Set the rest of the variable options.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

Add a link

Dashboard links enable you to place links to other dashboards and web sites directly below the dashboard header. Links provide for easy navigation to other, related dashboards and content.

On the Settings page, click the Links tab.
Click + New link.
Enter title for the link.
In the Type drop-down, select Dashboards or Link.
Set the rest of the link options.

For more detailed directions on creating links, refer to Dashboard links
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

View 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, and so on.

To view a dashboard JSON model, on the Settings page, click the JSON Model tab.

For more information about the JSON fields, refer to JSON fields.

Manage dashboard links

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:59:56 +0000

Manage dashboard links

You can use links to navigate between commonly-used dashboards or to connect others to your visualizations. Links let you create shortcuts to other dashboards, panels, and even external websites.

Grafana supports dashboard links, panel links, and data links. Dashboard links are displayed at the top of the dashboard. Panel links are accessible by clicking the icon next to the panel title.

Which link should you use?

Start by figuring out how you’re currently navigating between dashboards. If you’re often jumping between a set of dashboards and struggling to find the same context in each, links can help optimize your workflow.

The next step is to figure out which link type is right for your workflow. Even though all the link types in Grafana are used to create shortcuts to other dashboards or external websites, they work in different contexts.

If the link relates to most if not all of the panels in the dashboard, use dashboard links.
If you want to drill down into specific panels, use panel links.
If you want to link to an external site, you can use either a dashboard link or a panel link.
If you want to drill down into a specific series, or even a single measurement, use data links.

Controlling time range using the URL

To control the time range of a panel or dashboard, you can provide query parameters in the dashboard URL:

from - defines lower limit of the time range, specified in ms epoch
to - defines upper limit of the time range, specified in ms epoch
time and time.window - defines a time range from time-time.window/2 to time+time.window/2. Both params should be specified in ms. For example ?time=1500000000000&time.window=10000 will result in 10s time range from 1499999995000 to 1500000005000

Dashboard links

When you create a dashboard link, you can include the time range and current template variables to directly jump to the same context in another dashboard. This way, you don’t have to worry whether the person you send the link to is looking at the right data. For other types of links, refer to Data link variables.

Dashboard links can also be used as shortcuts to external systems, such as submitting a GitHub issue with the current dashboard name.

To see an example of dashboard links in action, check out:

Once you’ve added a dashboard link, it appears in the upper right corner of your dashboard.

Add links to dashboards

To add a link to another dashboard at the top of your current dashboard, follow these steps:

In the dashboard you want to link, click Edit.
In the toolbar, click the Dashboard options icon.
In the sidebar, click Settings.
Go to the Links tab and then click Add dashboard link.

The default link type is Dashboards.

In the With tags drop-down list, enter tags to limit the linked dashboards to only the ones with the tags you enter.

If you don’t add any tags, Grafana includes links to all other dashboards.
Set link options:
- Show as dropdown – If you are linking to lots of dashboards, then you probably want to select this option and add an optional title to the dropdown. Otherwise, Grafana displays the dashboard links side by side across the top of your dashboard.
- Include current time range – Select this option to include the dashboard time range in the link. When the user clicks the link, the linked dashboard opens with the indicated time range already set. Example: https://play.grafana.org/d/000000010/annotations?orgId=1&from=now-3h&to=now
- Include current template variable values – Select this option to include template variables currently used as query parameters in the link. When the user clicks the link, any matching templates in the linked dashboard are set to the values from the link. For more information, see Dashboard URL variables.
- Open link in new tab – Select this option if you want the dashboard link to open in a new tab or window.
- Show in controls menu – Select this option to display the link in the dashboard controls menu instead of at the top of the dashboard. The dashboard controls menu appears as a button in the dashboard toolbar.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Back to dashboard and Exit edit.

Tip
To add links without leaving the dashboard, click the Add new element icon in the dashboard toolbar, and select Link. For more information, refer to the Dashboard controls documentation.

Add a URL link to a dashboard

Add a link to a URL at the top of your current dashboard. You can link to any available URL, including dashboards, panels, or external sites. You can even control the time range to ensure the user is zoomed in on the right data in Grafana.

To add a URL link to your dashboard, follow these steps:

In the dashboard you want to link, click Edit.
In the toolbar, click the Dashboard options icon.
In the sidebar, click Settings.
Go to the Links tab and then click Add dashboard link.
In the Type drop-down list, select Link.
In the URL field, enter the URL to which you want to link.

Depending on the target, you might want to include field values. Example: https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/new?title=Dashboard%3A%20HTTP%20Requests
In the Tooltip field, enter the tooltip you want the link to display when the user hovers their mouse over it.
In the Icon drop-down, choose the icon you want displayed with the link.
Set link options; by default, these options are enabled for URL links:
- Include current time range – Select this option to include the dashboard time range in the link. When the user clicks the link, the linked dashboard opens with the indicated time range already set. Example: https://play.grafana.org/d/000000010/annotations?orgId=1&from=now-3h&to=now
- Include current template variable values – Select this option to include template variables currently used as query parameters in the link. When the user clicks the link, any matching templates in the linked dashboard are set to the values from the link.
- Open link in new tab – Select this option if you want the dashboard link to open in a new tab or window.
- Show in controls menu – Select this option to display the link in the dashboard controls menu instead of at the top of the dashboard. The dashboard controls menu appears as a button in the dashboard header.
Click Save in the top-right corner.
Enter an optional description of your changes and click Save.
Click Back to dashboard and then Exit edit.

Update a dashboard link

To edit, duplicate, or delete dashboard link, follow these steps:

In the dashboard you want to link, click Edit.
In the toolbar, click the Dashboard options icon.
In the sidebar, click Settings.
Go to the Links tab.
Do one of the following:
- Edit - Click the name of the link and update the link settings.
- Duplicate - Click the copy link icon next to the link that you want to duplicate.
- Delete - Click the red X next to the link that you want to delete, and then Delete.
Click Save in the top-right corner.
Enter an optional description of your changes and click Save.
Click Back to dashboard and then Exit edit.

Panel links

Each panel can have its own set of links that are shown in the upper left of the panel after the panel title. You can link to any available URL, including dashboards, panels, or external sites. You can even control the time range to ensure the user is zoomed in on the right data in Grafana.

Click the icon next to the panel title to see available panel links.

Add a panel link

Hover over any part of the panel to which you want to add the link to display the actions menu on the top right corner.
Click the menu and select Edit.

To use a keyboard shortcut to open the panel, hover over the panel and press e.
Expand the Panel options section, scroll down to Panel links.
Click Add link.
Enter a Title. Title is a human-readable label for the link that will be displayed in the UI.
Enter the URL you want to link to. You can even add one of the template variables defined in the dashboard. Press Ctrl+Space or Cmd+Space and click in the URL field to see the available variables. By adding template variables to your panel link, the link sends the user to the right context, with the relevant variables already set. You can also use time variables:
- from - Defines the lower limit of the time range, specified in ms epoch.
- to - Defines the upper limit of the time range, specified in ms epoch.
- time and time.window - Define a time range from time-time.window/2 to time+time.window/2. Both params should be specified in ms. For example ?time=1500000000000&time.window=10000 will result in 10s time range from 1499999995000 to 1500000005000.
If you want the link to open in a new tab, then select Open in new tab.
Click Save to save changes and close the dialog box.
Click Save in the top-right corner.
Enter an optional description of your changes and click Save.
Click Back to dashboard and then Exit edit.

Update a panel link

Hover over any part of the panel to display the actions menu on the top right corner.
Click the menu and select Edit.

To use a keyboard shortcut to open the panel, hover over the panel and press e.
Expand the Panel options section, scroll down to Panel links.
Find the link that you want to make changes to.
Click the Edit (pencil) icon to open the Edit link window.
Make any necessary changes.
Click Save to save changes and close the dialog box.
Click Save in the top-right corner.
Enter an optional description of your changes and click Save.
Click Back to dashboard and then Exit edit.

Delete a panel link

Hover over any part of the panel to display the actions menu on the top right corner.
Click the menu and select Edit.

To use a keyboard shortcut to open the panel, hover over the panel and press e.
Expand the Panel options section, scroll down to Panel links.
Find the link that you want to delete.
Click the X icon next to the link you want to delete.
Click Save in the top-right corner.
Enter an optional description of your changes and click Save.
Click Back to dashboard and then Exit edit.

Dashboard URL variables

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Dashboard URL variables

Dashboard URL variables allow you to provide more context when you share a dashboard URL.

For example, you could share a basic URL to your dashboard that looks like this:

https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard

This allows someone to navigate to the dashboard, but doesn’t provide any helpful context that might be available.

Instead, you can add dashboard variables, passed as query parameters in the dashboard URL, to provide a URL like this:

https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?var-example=value

This allows you to provide added context to the dashboard when someone navigates to it.

Variables as query parameters

Grafana interprets query string parameters prefixed with var- as variables in the given dashboard.

For example:

https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?var-example=value

In this URL, the query parameter var-example=value represents the dashboard variable example with a value of value.

Multiple values for a variable

To pass multiple values, repeat the variable parameter once for each value:

https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?var-example=value1&var-example=value2

Grafana interprets var-example=value1&var-example=value2 as the dashboard variable example with two values: value1 and value2.

Example

This dashboard in Grafana Play passes the variable server with multiple values, and the variables app and interval with a single value each.

Filters

Filters apply key/value filters to all metric queries that use the specified data source. For more information, refer to Add filters.

To pass a filter as a query parameter, use the variable syntax to pass the filter variable. Then provide the key, operator, and value as a pipe-separated list.

For example:

https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?var-adhoc=example_key|=|example_value

In this URL, the query parameter var-adhoc=key|=|value applies the filter configured as the adhoc dashboard variable using the example_key key, the = operator, and the example_value value.

Note
When sharing URLs with filters, remember to encode the URL. In the preceding example, replace the pipes (|) with %7C and the equality operator (=) with %3D.

Example

This dashboard in Grafana Play passes the filter variable Filters with the filter value job = metrictank/tsdb-gw.

Time range control using the URL

You can control the time range of a dashboard by providing the following query parameters in the dashboard URL:

from - Defines the lower limit of the time range, specified in ms, epoch, or relative time.
to - Defines the upper limit of the time range, specified in ms, epoch, or relative time.
time and time.window - Defines a time range from time-time.window/2 to time+time.window/2. Both parameters should be specified in ms. For example ?time=1500000000000&time.window=10000 results in a 10-second time range from 1499999995000 to 1500000005000`.
timezone - Defines the time zone. For example timezone=Europe/Madrid.

Since these aren’t variables, they don’t require the var- prefix.

The following example shows a dashboard with the time range of the last five minutes:

https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?from=now-5m&to=now

Variables in dashboard links

When you create dashboard links the dashboard settings, you can have current dashboard variables included in the link by selecting that option:

For steps to add variables to dashboard links, refer to Manage dashboard links.

Manage library panels

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Manage library panels

A library panel is a reusable panel that you can use in any dashboard. When you make a change to a library panel, that change propagates to all instances of where the panel is used. Library panels streamline reuse of panels across multiple dashboards.

You can save a library panel in a folder alongside saved dashboards.

Role-based access control

You can control permissions for library panels using role-based access control (RBAC). RBAC provides a standardized way of granting, changing, and revoking access when it comes to viewing and modifying Grafana resources, such as dashboards, reports, and administrative settings.

Create a library panel

Library panels can be reused in different dashboards throughout Grafana. When you create a library panel, the panel on the source dashboard is converted to a library panel as well. You need to save the original dashboard once a panel is converted.

To create a library panel, follow these steps:

In the top-right corner of the dashboard, click Edit.
Hover over any part of the panel you want to share to display the actions menu on the top right corner.
Click More > New library panel.
In the Library panel name field, enter the name.
In the Save in folder drop-down list, select the folder in which to save the library panel. By default, the root level is selected.
Click Create library panel to save your changes.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Exit edit.

Once created, you can modify the library panel using any dashboard on which it appears. After you save the changes, all instances of the library panel reflect these modifications.

Add a library panel to a dashboard

Add a Grafana library panel to a dashboard when you want to provide visualizations to other dashboard users.

To add a library panel, follow these steps:

Click Dashboards in the main menu.
Click New and select New dashboard in the drop-down list.
On the empty dashboard, click or drag the panel onto the dashboard.
Click Use library panel.

The Add panel from panel library drawer opens.
Filter the list or search to find the panel you want to add.
Click a panel to add it to the dashboard.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.

Unlink a library panel

Unlink a library panel when you want to make a change to the panel and not affect other instances of the library panel.

To unlink a library panel, follow these steps:

Click Dashboards in the main menu.
Click Library panels.
Select a library panel that is being used in dashboards.
Click the panel you want to unlink.
In the dialog box, select the dashboard from which you want to unlink the panel.
Click View panel in <dashboard name>.
Click Edit in the top-right corner of the dashboard.
Hover over any part of the panel you want to unlink to display the menu icon on the top-right corner.
Click the menu icon and select More > Unlink library panel.
Click Yes, unlink.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.

Alternatively, if you know where the library panel is being used, you can go directly to that dashboard and start at step 7.

Replace a library panel

To replace a library panel with a different one, follow these steps:

Click Dashboards in the main menu.
Click Library panels.
Select a library panel that is being used in different dashboards.
Click the panel you want to unlink.
In the dialog box, select the dashboard from which you want to unlink the panel.
Click View panel in <dashboard name>.
Click Edit in the top-right corner of the dashboard.
Hover over any part of the panel you want to unlink to display the menu icon on the top-right corner.
Click the menu icon and select More > Replace library panel.
Select the replacement library panel.
Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save and Exit edit.

Alternatively, if you know where the library panel that you want to replace is being used, you can go directly to that dashboard and start at step 7.

View a list of library panels

You can view a list of available library panels and see where those panels are being used.

To view and manage library panels, follow these steps:

Click Dashboards > Library panels in the main menu.

You can see a list of previously defined library panels.
Search for a specific library panel if you know its name.

You can also filter the panels by folder or type.
Click the panel to see if it’s being used in any dashboards.
(Optional) If the library panel is in use, select one of the dashboards using it.
(Optional) Click View panel in <dashboard name> to see the panel in context.

Delete a library panel

To delete a library panel that you no longer need, follow these steps:

Click Dashboards > Library panels in the main menu.
Click the delete icon next to the library panel name.
Click Delete.

Manage dashboard version history

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Manage dashboard version history

Whenever you save a version of your dashboard, a copy of that version is saved so that previous versions of your dashboard are never lost. You can see a list of dashboard versions in the Versions tab of the dashboard settings:

The dashboard version history feature lets you compare dashboards and restore previously saved dashboard versions. Grafana saves 20 versions by default. To change this limit, configure the [dashboards] versions_to_keep setting.

Compare two dashboard versions

To compare two dashboard versions, follow these steps:

Click Edit.
In the toolbar, click the Dashboard options icon.
In the sidebar, click Settings.
Go to the Versions tab.
Select the two dashboard versions that you want to compare.
Click Compare versions to view the diff between the two versions.
Review the text descriptions of the differences between the versions.
(Optional) Expand the View JSON Diff section of the page to see the diff of the raw JSON that represents your dashboard.
When you’ve finished comparing versions, click Back to dashboard and Exit edit.

When you’re comparing versions, if one of the versions you’ve selected is the latest version, a button to restore the previous version is also displayed, so you can restore a version from the compare view:

Restore a previously dashboard version

To restore to a previously saved dashboard version, follow these steps:

Click Edit.
Click the Dashboard options icon.
In the sidebar, click Settings.
Go to the Versions tab.
Click the Restore button next to the version.

When you restore a version, the dashboard is immediately saved and you’re no longer in edit mode.

After you restore a previous version, a new version of the dashboard is created containing the same exact data as the previous version, but with a different version number. This is indicated in the Notes column in the Versions tab of the dashboard settings. This is done simply to ensure your previous dashboard versions are not affected by the change.

Annotate visualizations

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Annotate visualizations

Annotations provide a way to mark points on a visualization with rich events. They are visualized as vertical lines and icons on all graph panels. When you hover over an annotation, you can get event description and event tags. The text field can include links to other systems with more detail.

You can annotate visualizations in three ways:

Directly in the panel, using the built-in annotations query
Using the HTTP API
Configuring annotation queries in the dashboard settings

In the first two cases, you’re creating new annotations, while in the last you’re querying existing annotations from data sources. The built-in annotation query also supports this.

This page explains the first and third options; for information about using the HTTP API, refer to Annotations API.

Annotations are supported for the following visualization types:

Time series
State timeline
Candlestick

Create annotations in panels

Grafana comes with the ability to add annotation events directly from a panel using the built-in annotation query that exists on all dashboards. Annotations that you create this way are stored in Grafana.

To add annotations directly in the panel:

The dashboard must already be saved.
The built-in query must be enabled. Learn more in Built-in query.

Watch the following video for a quick tutorial on creating annotations:

Add an annotation

To add an annotation, complete the following steps:

If you’ve just saved a dashboard, refresh the page.
Click a data point in a panel to open the tooltip.
In the tooltip, click Add annotation.
Add an annotation description and tags (optional).
Click Save.

Alternatively, to add an annotation, press Ctrl/Cmd and click anywhere on the panel, and the Add annotation tooltip appears.

Add a region annotation

If you’ve just saved a dashboard, refresh the page.
Press Ctrl/Cmd and click and drag on the panel to open the Add annotation dialog box.
Add an annotation description and tags (optional).
Click Save

Edit an annotation

Hover over the annotation indicator at the bottom of the panel to open the tooltip.
Click the pencil icon to open the annotation dialog box.
Modify the description and tags.
Click Save.

Delete an annotation

Hover over the annotation indicator at the bottom of the panel to open the tooltip.
Click the trash icon to open the annotation dialog box.

Annotation queries

You can add new queries to fetch annotations using any data source, including the built-in data annotation data source. Annotation queries return events that can be visualized as event markers in graphs across the dashboard.

Check out the video below for a quick tutorial.

Add annotation queries

To add an annotation query to a dashboard, follow these steps:

Click Edit in the top-right corner of the dashboard.
In the toolbar, click the Dashboard options icon to open the sidebar.
In the sidebar, click Settings.
On the Settings page, go to the Annotations tab.
Click Add annotation query.

If you’ve added a query before, the + New query button is displayed.
Enter a name for the annotation query.

This name is given to the toggle that allows you to enable/disable showing annotation events from this query.
Select the data source for the annotations.

You can also click Open advanced data source picker to see more options, including adding a data source (Admins only).
If you don’t want to use the annotation query right away, clear the Enabled checkbox.
Select a color for the event markers.
Select one of the following options in the Show annotation controls in drop-down list to control where annotations are displayed:
- Above dashboard - The annotation toggle is displayed above the dashboard. This is the default.
- Controls menu - The annotation toggle is displayed in the dashboard controls menu instead of above the dashboard. The dashboard controls menu appears as a button in the dashboard toolbar.
- Hidden - The annotation toggle is not displayed on the dashboard.
In the Show in drop-down, choose one of the following options:
- All panels - The annotations are displayed on all panels that support annotations.
- Selected panels - The annotations are displayed on all the panels you select.
- All panels except - The annotations are displayed on all panels except the ones you select.
Annotation filtering
To create a query, do one of the following:
- Write or construct a query in the query language of your data source. The annotation query options are different for each data source. For information about annotations in a specific data source, refer to the specific data source topic.
- Open the Saved queries drop-down menu and click Replace query to reuse a saved query.
(Optional) To save the query for reuse, open the Saved queries drop-down menu and click the Save query option.
(Optional) Click Test annotation query to ensure that the query is working properly.
(Optional) To add subsequent queries, click + Add query or + Add from saved queries, and test them as many times as needed.

Note
Saved queries is currently in public preview in Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud only.

Click Save.
(Optional) Enter a description of the changes you’ve made.
Click Save.
Click Back to dashboard and Exit edit.

Tip
To create annotation queries without leaving the dashboard, click the Add new element icon in the dashboard toolbar, and select Annotation query. For more information, refer to the Dashboard controls documentation.

Built-in query

After you add an annotation, they are still visible. This is due to the built-in annotation query that exists on all dashboards. This annotation query fetches all annotation events that originate from the current dashboard, which are stored in Grafana, and show them on the panel where they were created. This includes alert state history annotations.

By default, the built-in annotation query uses the -- Grafana -- special data source, and manual annotations are only supported using this data source. You can use another data source in the built-in annotation query, but you’ll only be able to create automated annotations using the query editor for that data source.

To add annotations directly to the dashboard, this query must be enabled.

To confirm if the built-in query is enabled, take the following steps:

Click Edit in the top-right corner of the dashboard.
Click the Dashboard options icon in the toolbar.
In the sidebar, click Settings.
On the Settings page, go to the Annotations tab.
Select the Annotations & Alerts (Built-in query).
Check if the Enabled checkbox is selected.

If you don’t want annotations to be fetched and drawn, clear the checkbox.
Click Save.
Enter an optional description of your changes and click Save.
Click Exit edit.

When you copy a dashboard using the Save As feature it gets a new dashboard id, so annotations created on the source dashboard is no longer be visible on the copy. You can still show them if you add a new Annotation Query and filter by tags. However, this only works if the annotations on the source dashboard had tags to filter by.

Following are some query options specific to the built-in annotation query.

Filter queries by tag

You can create new queries to fetch annotations from the built-in annotation query using the -- Grafana -- data source by setting Filter by to Tags.

Grafana also supports typeahead of existing tags, provide at least one tag.

For example, create an annotation query name outages and specify a tag outage. This query shows all annotations (from any dashboard or via API) with the outage tag. If multiple tags are defined in an annotation query, then Grafana only shows annotations matching all the tags. To modify the behavior, enable Match any, and Grafana shows annotations that contain any one of the tags you provided.

Warning
If you enable Display annotations on an externally shared dashboard that uses tag-based annotation queries, those queries return matching annotations from all dashboards in the organization. This means annotations from dashboards that are not shared externally are visible to anyone with access to the shared dashboard. This is by design. Review which annotations might match your tags before enabling this option on a shared dashboard.

You can also use template variables in the tag query. This means if you have a dashboard showing stats for different services and a template variable that dictates which services to show, you can use the same template variable in your annotation query to only show annotations for those services.

Add time regions

When adding or editing an annotation, you can define a repeating time region by setting Query type to Time regions. Then, define the From and To sections with the preferred days of the week and time. You also have the option to change the timezone, which is set to the dashboard’s timezone, by default.

The above configuration produces the following result in the Time series panel:

Toggle the Advanced switch and use Cron syntax to set more granular time region controls. The following example sets a time region of 9:00 AM, Monday to Friday:

JSON model

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Dashboard JSON model

Grafana dashboards are represented as JSON objects that store metadata, panels, variables, and settings.

Different dashboard schema models

There are currently three dashboard JSON schema models:

V2 Resource: The current schema, supporting new features such as advanced layouts and conditional rendering. It models all dashboard elements as Kubernetes kinds, following Kubernetes conventions for declaring dashboard components.
Classic: A non-Kubernetes resource that was the default before Grafana v13.0. It’s been widely used for exporting, importing, and sharing dashboards in the Grafana dashboards collection at grafana.com/dashboards. Dashboards created using this model can be exported using either this model or V2.

Note
Observability as Code works with both versions of the JSON model, but it’s fully compatible with version 2.

Access and update the JSON model

To access the JSON representation of a dashboard:

Navigate to the dashboard.
Click Edit in the top-right corner.
In the toolbar, click the Dashboard options icon.
In the sidebar, click Settings.
Go to the JSON Model tab.
When you’ve finished updating the JSON, click Save changes at the bottom of the tab.
Click Back to dashboard and Exit edit.

V2 Resource model

For the detailed V2 Resource model schema, refer to the Swagger documentation. You can also reach the Swagger schema documentation from your Grafana Cloud instance at: https://grafana.com/launch/swagger.

Classic model

When you create a new dashboard in self-managed Grafana, a new dashboard JSON object was 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. After a dashboard is saved, an integer value is assigned to the id 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 as w.
y The y position, in same unit as h.

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": "",
    "quick_ranges": [
      {
        "display": "Last 6 hours",
        "from": "now-6h",
        "to": "now"
      },
      {
        "display": "Last 7 days",
        "from": "now-7d",
        "to": "now"
      }
    ],
    "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.
quick_ranges	custom quick ranges
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`

Grafana dashboard best practices

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:48:24 +0000

Grafana dashboard best practices

This section provides information about best practices for intermediate Grafana administrators and users about how to build and maintain Grafana dashboards.

For more information about the different kinds of dashboards you can create, refer to Grafana dashboards: A complete guide to all the different types you can build.

Common observability strategies

When you have a lot to monitor, like a server farm, you need a strategy to decide what is important enough to monitor. This page describes several common methods for choosing what to monitor.

A logical strategy allows you to make uniform dashboards and scale your observability platform more easily.

Guidelines for usage

The USE method tells you how happy your machines are, the RED method tells you how happy your users are.
USE reports on causes of issues.
RED reports on user experience and is more likely to report symptoms of problems.
The best practice of alerting is to alert on symptoms rather than causes, so alerting should be done on RED dashboards.

USE method

USE stands for:

Utilization - Percent time the resource is busy, such as node CPU usage
Saturation - Amount of work a resource has to do, often queue length or node load
Errors - Count of error events

This method is best for hardware resources in infrastructure, such as CPU, memory, and network devices. For more information, refer to The USE Method.

RED method

RED stands for:

Rate - Requests per second
Errors - Number of requests that are failing
Duration - Amount of time these requests take, distribution of latency measurements

This method is most applicable to services, especially a microservices environment. For each of your services, instrument the code to expose these metrics for each component. RED dashboards are good for alerting and SLAs. A well-designed RED dashboard is a proxy for user experience.

For more information, refer to Tom Wilkie’s blog post The RED method: How to instrument your services.

The Four Golden Signals

According to the Google SRE handbook, if you can only measure four metrics of your user-facing system, focus on these four.

This method is similar to the RED method, but it includes saturation.

Latency - Time taken to serve a request
Traffic - How much demand is placed on your system
Errors - Rate of requests that are failing
Saturation - How “full” your system is

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on The Four Golden Signals.

Try it

Dashboard management maturity model

Dashboard management maturity refers to how well-designed and efficient your dashboard ecosystem is. It’s recommended that you periodically review your dashboard setup to gauge where you are and how you can improve.

Broadly speaking, dashboard maturity can be defined as low, medium, or high.

Much of the content for this topic was taken from the KubeCon 2019 talk Fool-Proof Kubernetes Dashboards for Sleep-Deprived Oncalls.

Low - default state

At this stage, you have no coherent dashboard management strategy. Almost everyone starts here.

How can you tell you are here?

Everyone can modify your dashboards.
Lots of copied dashboards, little to no dashboard reuse.
One-off dashboards that hang around forever.
No version control (dashboard JSON in version control).
Lots of browsing for dashboards, searching for the right dashboard. This means lots of wasted time trying to find the dashboard you need.
Not having any alerts to direct you to the right dashboard.

Medium - methodical dashboards

At this stage, you are starting to manage your dashboard use with methodical dashboards. You might have laid out a strategy, but there are some things you could improve.

How can you tell you are here?

Prevent sprawl by using template variables. For example, you don’t need a separate dashboard for each node, you can use query variables. Even better, you can make the data source a template variable too, so you can reuse the same dashboard across different clusters and monitoring backends.

Refer to the list of Variable examples if you want some ideas.
Methodical dashboards according to an observability strategy.
Hierarchical dashboards with drill-downs to the next level.

Example of using drill-down
Dashboard design reflects service hierarchies. The example shown below uses the RED method (request and error rate on the left, latency duration on the right) with one row per service. The row order reflects the data flow.

Example of a service hierarchy
Compare like to like: split service dashboards when the magnitude differs. Make sure aggregated metrics don’t drown out important information.
Expressive charts with meaningful use of color and normalizing axes where you can.
- Example of meaningful color: Blue means it’s good, red means it’s bad. Thresholds can help with that.
- Example of normalizing axes: When comparing CPU usage, measure by percentage rather than raw number, because machines can have a different number of cores. Normalizing CPU usage by the number of cores reduces cognitive load because the viewer can trust that at 100% all cores are being used, without having to know the number of CPUs.
Directed browsing cuts down on “guessing.”
- Template variables make it harder to “just browse” randomly or aimlessly.
- Most dashboards should be linked to by alerts.
- Browsing is directed with links. For more information, refer to Manage dashboard links.
Version-controlled dashboard JSON.

High - optimized use

At this stage, you have optimized your dashboard management use with a consistent and thoughtful strategy. It requires maintenance, but the results are worth it.

Actively reducing sprawl.
- Regularly review existing dashboards to make sure they are still relevant.
- Only approved dashboards added to master dashboard list.
- Tracking dashboard use. If you’re an Enterprise user, you can take advantage of Usage insights.
Consistency by design.
Use scripting libraries to generate dashboards, ensure consistency in pattern and style.
- grafonnet (Jsonnet)
- grafanalib (Python)
No editing in the browser. Dashboard viewers change views with variables.
Browsing for dashboards is the exception, not the rule.
Perform experimentation and testing in a separate Grafana instance dedicated to that purpose, not your production instance. When a dashboard in the test environment is proven useful, then add that dashboard to your main Grafana instance.

Best practices for creating dashboards

This page outlines some best practices to follow when creating Grafana dashboards.

Before you begin

Here are some principles to consider before you create a dashboard.

A dashboard should tell a story or answer a question

What story are you trying to tell with your dashboard? Try to create a logical progression of data, such as large to small or general to specific. What is the goal for this dashboard? (Hint: If the dashboard doesn’t have a goal, then ask yourself if you really need the dashboard.)

Keep your graphs simple and focused on answering the question that you are asking. For example, if your question is “which servers are in trouble?”, then maybe you don’t need to show all the server data. Just show data for the ones in trouble.

Dashboards should reduce cognitive load, not add to it

Cognitive load is basically how hard you need to think about something in order to figure it out. Make your dashboard easy to interpret. Other users and future you (when you’re trying to figure out what broke at 2 AM) will appreciate it.

Ask yourself:

Can I tell what exactly each graph represents? Is it obvious, or do I have to think about it?
If I show this to someone else, how long will it take them to figure it out? Will they get lost?

Have a monitoring strategy

It’s easy to make new dashboards. It’s harder to optimize dashboard creation and adhere to a plan, but it’s worth it. This strategy should govern both your overall dashboard scheme and enforce consistency in individual dashboard design.

Refer to Common observability strategies and Dashboard management maturity levels for more information.

Write it down

Once you have a strategy or design guidelines, write them down to help maintain consistency over time. Check out this Wikimedia runbook example.

Best practices to follow

When creating a new dashboard, make sure it has a meaningful name.
- If you are creating a dashboard to play or experiment, then put the word TEST or TMP in the name.
- Consider including your name or initials in the dashboard name or as a tag so that people know who owns the dashboard.
- Remove temporary experiment dashboards when you are done with them.
If you create many related dashboards, think about how to cross-reference them for easy navigation. Refer to Best practices for managing dashboards for more information.
Grafana retrieves data from a data source. A basic understanding of data sources in general and your specific is important.
Avoid unnecessary dashboard refreshing to reduce the load on the network or backend. For example, if your data changes every hour, then you don’t need to set the dashboard refresh rate to 30 seconds.
Use the left and right Y-axes when displaying time series with different units or ranges.
Add documentation to dashboards and panels.
- To add documentation to a dashboard, add a Text panel visualization to the dashboard. Record things like the purpose of the dashboard, useful resource links, and any instructions users might need to interact with the dashboard. Check out this Wikimedia example.
- To add documentation to a panel, edit the panel settings and add a description. Any text you add appears if you hover your cursor over the small i in the top left corner of the panel.
Reuse your dashboards and enforce consistency by using templates and variables.
Be careful with stacking graph data. The visualizations can be misleading, and hide important data. It’s recommended that you turn it off in most cases.

Best practices for managing dashboards

This page outlines some best practices to follow when managing Grafana dashboards.

Before you begin

Here are some principles to consider before you start managing dashboards.

Strategic observability

There are several common observability strategies. You should research them and decide whether one of them works for you or if you want to come up with your own. Either way, have a plan, write it down, and stick to it.

Adapt your strategy to changing needs as necessary.

Maturity level

What is your dashboard maturity level? Analyze your current dashboard setup and compare it to the Dashboard management maturity model. Understanding where you are can help you decide how to get to where you want to be.

Best practices to follow

Avoid dashboard sprawl, meaning the uncontrolled growth of dashboards. Dashboard sprawl negatively affects time to find the right dashboard. Duplicating dashboards and changing “one thing” (worse: keeping original tags) is the easiest kind of sprawl.
- Periodically review the dashboards and remove unnecessary ones.
- If you create a temporary dashboard, perhaps to test something, prefix the name with TEST:. Delete the dashboard when you are finished.
Copying dashboards with no significant changes is not a good idea.
- You miss out on updates to the original dashboard, such as documentation changes, bug fixes, or additions to metrics.
- In many cases copies are being made to simply customize the view by setting template parameters. This should instead be done by maintaining a link to the master dashboard and customizing the view with URL parameters.
When you must copy a dashboard, clearly rename it and do not copy the dashboard tags. Tags are important metadata for dashboards that are used during search. Copying tags can result in false matches.
Maintain a dashboard of dashboards or cross-reference dashboards. This can be done in several ways:
- Create dashboard links, panel, or data links. Links can go to other dashboards or to external systems. For more information, refer to Manage dashboard links.
- Add a Dashboard list panel. You can then customize what you see by doing tag or folder searches.
- Add a Text panel and use markdown to customize the display.

Build dashboards on Grafana Labs

Create dashboards

Create dashboards

Create a dashboard

Dashboard edit

The sidebar and toolbar

Docked and undocked sidebar

Navigate using the content outline

Edit a dashboard

Panel layouts

Auto grid layout

Update panel layout

Configure repeat options

Repeating rows and tabs and the Dashboard special data source

Show/hide rules

Query result rule

Template variable rule

Time range less than rule

Configure show/hide rules

Move a panel

Resize a panel

Copy or duplicate dashboard elements

Copy a dashboard

Create dashboards from templates and suggestions

Create dashboards from templates and suggestions

Dashboard templates

Create dashboards from templates

Suggested dashboards

Create dashboards from suggestions

Customize templates and suggested dashboards with Grafana Assistant

Import dashboards

Import dashboards

Import a dashboard

Discover dashboards on grafana.com

More examples

Modify dashboard settings

Modify dashboard settings

Modify dashboard time settings

Modify graph tooltip behavior

Add tags

Add an annotation query

Add a variable

Add a link

View dashboard JSON model

Manage dashboard links

Manage dashboard links

Which link should you use?

Controlling time range using the URL

Dashboard links

Add links to dashboards

Add a URL link to a dashboard

Update a dashboard link

Panel links

Add a panel link

Update a panel link

Delete a panel link

Dashboard URL variables

Dashboard URL variables

Variables as query parameters

Multiple values for a variable

Example

Filters

Example

Time range control using the URL

Variables in dashboard links

Manage library panels

Manage library panels

Role-based access control

Create a library panel

Add a library panel to a dashboard

Unlink a library panel

Replace a library panel

View a list of library panels

Delete a library panel

Manage dashboard version history

Manage dashboard version history

Compare two dashboard versions

Restore a previously dashboard version

Annotate visualizations

Annotate visualizations