---
title: "What is Grafana Assistant? | Grafana Labs"
description: "What Grafana Assistant is, where it runs, and what it can do"
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

## Define Grafana Assistant

Grafana Assistant is an AI assistant that brings a conversational interface to Grafana. You describe what you need in natural language and the Assistant generates queries, finds dashboards, and explains what your data shows without requiring you to memorize syntax.

## Compare deployment models

Assistant is available in two deployment models:

- **Grafana Cloud**: Assistant runs directly in your stack with the full feature set, including infrastructure memory and messaging integrations.
- **Self-managed Grafana**: The Assistant app runs in your own Grafana deployment and connects to a Grafana Cloud backend. Core chat, dashboarding, querying, and navigation workflows are available, but features that require the full Grafana Cloud backend are not.

### Compare feature availability

Use this table to compare which core Assistant features are available in Grafana Cloud and self-managed Grafana.

| Feature                             | Grafana Cloud | Self-managed Grafana |
|-------------------------------------|---------------|----------------------|
| Chat and prompts                    | Yes           | Yes                  |
| Dashboard creation and editing      | Yes           | Yes                  |
| Query generation and explanation    | Yes           | Yes                  |
| Navigation across Grafana resources | Yes           | Yes                  |
| Rules, quickstarts, and skills      | Yes           | Yes                  |
| MCP server integrations             | Yes           | Limited              |
| Infrastructure memory               | Yes           | No                   |
| Slack                               | Yes           | No                   |
| Grafana Cloud MCP connections       | Yes           | No                   |

Limited means self-managed deployments don’t enable every MCP management workflow available in Grafana Cloud.

For more information, refer to [Set up Grafana Assistant in self-managed Grafana](/docs/grafana-cloud/machine-learning/assistant/get-started/self-managed/).

## Choose Assistant modes

Assistant includes different modes for different types of work:

- **Chat**: Ask questions, run queries, find dashboards, and create or edit visualizations.
- **Learn**: A guided coaching mode that suggests lessons based on your role and environment. Refer to [Use Learn mode](../../02-get-started/06-learn-mode/) for more information.
- Modes for dashboarding and k6 script authoring.