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What is Grafana Assistant?

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.

FeatureGrafana CloudSelf-managed Grafana
Chat and promptsYesYes
Dashboard creation and editingYesYes
Query generation and explanationYesYes
Navigation across Grafana resourcesYesYes
Rules, quickstarts, and skillsYesYes
MCP server integrationsYesLimited
Infrastructure memoryYesNo
SlackYesNo
Grafana Cloud MCP connectionsYesNo

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.

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 for more information.
  • Modes for dashboarding and k6 script authoring.

Script

Grafana Assistant brings natural-language intelligence to Grafana. Instead of writing PromQL, LogQL, or TraceQL from scratch, you describe what you want in plain English and the Assistant generates queries, finds dashboards, and helps you understand what your data shows.

Assistant runs in two deployment models. In Grafana Cloud, it connects directly to your stack with the full feature set, including infrastructure memory and Slack integration. In a self-managed Grafana deployment, the Assistant plugin runs in your own instance but connects to a Grafana Cloud backend for processing. Core chat, dashboard creation, query generation, and navigation workflows are all available. Features that depend on the full Grafana Cloud backend, such as infrastructure memory, are not available in self-managed deployments.

The Assistant includes different modes for different types of work. In Chat, you ask questions, run queries, find dashboards, and create or edit visualizations. Learn mode turns the Assistant into a guided coach and suggests lessons based on your role and the services in your environment. A later section covers Learn mode in more detail.

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