--- title: "Configure the Parca data source | Grafana documentation" description: "Configure the Parca data source in Grafana to connect to your Parca continuous profiling instance." --- > For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt). # Configure the Parca data source > Warning > > This plugin is deprecated and will only receive critical security updates. Support will end on January 2, 2027. This document explains how to configure the Parca data source in Grafana. You can configure the data source using the Grafana UI, a YAML provisioning file, or Terraform. If you make any changes in the UI, select **Save & test** to preserve those changes. ## Before you begin Before configuring the data source, ensure you have: - **Grafana permissions:** `Organization administrator` role. - **Parca instance:** A running Parca instance (v0.19 or later) accessible from your Grafana server. If you’re provisioning the data source, you also need administrative rights on the server hosting your Grafana instance. ## Add the data source To add the Parca data source: 1. Click **Connections** in the left-side menu. 2. Click **Add new connection**. 3. Type `Parca` in the search bar. 4. Select **Parca**. 5. Click **Add new data source**. ## Configure settings The **Settings** tab contains the following configuration sections. ### Basic settings Expand table | Setting | Description | |-------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------| | **Name** | A name to identify this data source in panels, queries, and Explore. | | **Default** | Toggle to make this the default data source for new panels. | ### Connection Expand table | Setting | Description | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | **URL** | The URL of your Parca instance. For example, `http://localhost:7070`. Grafana connects to Parca using gRPC-Web, so the URL should point to the Parca HTTP endpoint. | ### Authentication Use this section to select an authentication method to access the data source. The available methods are: Expand table | Method | Description | |----------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | **Basic authentication** | Authenticate with a username and password. Enter values in the **User** and **Password** fields. | | **Forward OAuth Identity** | Forward the logged-in user’s OAuth token to the data source. | | **No Authentication** | Connect without credentials. Use this when the Parca instance doesn’t require authentication. | ### TLS settings Configure TLS for secure communication with your Parca instance. Expand table | Setting | Description | |-------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | **Add self-signed certificate** | Toggle to provide a CA certificate. When enabled, paste the CA certificate in the **CA Certificate** field. | | **TLS Client Authentication** | Toggle to enable mutual TLS. When enabled, provide the **Server Name**, **Client Certificate**, and **Client Key**. | | **Skip TLS certificate validation** | Toggle to skip server certificate verification. Use only for testing. | > Note > > Use Transport Layer Security (TLS) for an additional layer of security when working with Parca. ### Custom HTTP headers Add custom HTTP headers to requests sent to the Parca instance. Click **Add header** to add a new row with **Header** (name) and **Value** (secret) fields. Custom headers are useful for passing authentication tokens or routing information required by proxies between Grafana and Parca. ## Additional settings Click the down arrow to expand the **Additional settings** section. These settings are optional. ### Advanced HTTP settings Expand table | Setting | Description | |---------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | **Allowed cookies** | Cookies that should be forwarded to the data source. The Grafana proxy strips all cookies by default. | | **Timeout** | The HTTP request timeout in seconds. | ### Secure SOCKS proxy > Note > > This section is only visible when the Grafana server has the secure SOCKS proxy feature enabled. Expand table | Setting | Description | |-------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | **Enabled** | Toggle to route requests to the Parca instance through a secure SOCKS proxy. | ## Verify the connection Click **Save & test** to verify that Grafana can connect to your Parca instance. The health check queries the available profile types from the Parca server. A successful connection displays the message **Data source is working**. If the test fails, verify that the URL is correct and that your Parca instance is running and accessible from the Grafana server. For more help, refer to [Troubleshoot Parca data source issues](/docs/grafana/latest/datasources/parca/troubleshooting/). ## Provision the data source You can define the data source in YAML files as part of the Grafana provisioning system. For more information, refer to [Provisioning Grafana](/docs/grafana/latest/administration/provisioning/#data-sources). ### YAML provisioning example YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml apiVersion: 1 datasources: - name: Parca type: parca url: http://localhost:7070 ``` To provision with basic authentication: YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml apiVersion: 1 datasources: - name: Parca type: parca url: http://localhost:7070 basicAuth: true basicAuthUser: secureJsonData: basicAuthPassword: ``` Replace the following: - ``: Your Parca username. - ``: Your Parca password. ### Terraform example To provision the data source with Terraform, use the [`grafana_data_source` resource](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/grafana/grafana/latest/docs/resources/data_source): hcl ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```hcl resource "grafana_data_source" "parca" { type = "parca" name = "Parca" url = "http://localhost:7070" } ``` To provision with basic authentication: hcl ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```hcl resource "grafana_data_source" "parca" { type = "parca" name = "Parca" url = "http://localhost:7070" basic_auth_enabled = true basic_auth_username = "" secure_json_data_encoded = jsonencode({ basicAuthPassword = "" }) } ``` Replace the following: - ``: Your Parca username. - ``: Your Parca password. ## Next steps - [Query profiling data with the Parca query editor](/docs/grafana/latest/datasources/parca/query-editor/)