The exploration workflow

Grafana Metrics Drilldown follows a five-step pattern for investigating infrastructure metrics.

The workflow

Step	What you do	What you get
Search	Type part of a metric name in the search bar	List of matching metrics
Filter	Use filter options via the sidebar to narrow scope by label values	Reduced set of time series
Visualize	View the automatic graph of selected metric	Time series visualization
Investigate	Explore related metrics with shared labels via the Related Metrics tab	Discover connections and patterns
Add to dashboard	Click the menu to export visualization to a dashboard	Permanent monitoring

Why this workflow matters

This pattern guides you from broad exploration to specific findings. You don’t need to know exactly what you’re looking for when you start. The workflow helps you discover problems and patterns as you navigate.

Let’s walk through the typical exploration workflow in Grafana Metrics Drilldown. This is the pattern you’ll use when investigating metrics.

First, search for a metric. Type part of the name and Metrics Drilldown shows matching options. This helps when you’re not sure of the exact metric name.

Second, filter by labels. Select the label values that narrow down to what you care about. Instance, namespace, job, whatever dimensions matter for your investigation.

Third, visualize the data. Metrics Drilldown shows you the time series as a graph automatically. You can see patterns, spikes, and trends without writing a query.

Fourth, investigate related metrics. The interface suggests other metrics that share the same labels. This helps you discover connections, like seeing memory metrics when you’re investigating CPU.

Finally, add findings to a dashboard. When you find something worth monitoring permanently, you can export the visualization to a new or existing dashboard with one click.

The exploration workflow