---
title: "Export dashboard JSON | Grafana Labs"
description: "Call build() to validate the dashboard, serialize it to JSON, and write it to a file."
---

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

# Export dashboard JSON

Your dashboard is defined in code, but Grafana needs JSON. The final step is to call `build()` on your builder to validate the configuration and produce the dashboard object, then serialize it to JSON and write it to a file.

To export your dashboard as JSON, complete the following steps:

## Go

1. Add the build and serialization logic to the end of your `main()` function in `main.go`:
   
   Go ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```go
     dashboardObj, err := builder.Build()
     if err != nil {
       log.Fatalf("failed to build dashboard: %v", err)
     }
   
     dashboardJson, err := json.MarshalIndent(dashboardObj, "", "  ")
     if err != nil {
       log.Fatalf("failed to marshal: %v", err)
     }
   
     err = os.WriteFile("dashboard.json", dashboardJson, 0644)
     if err != nil {
       log.Fatalf("failed to write file: %v", err)
     }
   
     log.Println("Dashboard written to dashboard.json")
   ```
2. Run the program:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   go run main.go
   ```

## TypeScript

1. Add the build and serialization logic to the end of your `index.ts`:
   
   typescript ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```typescript
   import * as fs from 'fs';
   
   const dashboardObj = builder.build();
   const json = JSON.stringify(dashboardObj, null, 2);
   fs.writeFileSync('dashboard.json', json, 'utf8');
   
   console.log('Dashboard written to dashboard.json');
   ```
2. Run the program:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   npx ts-node index.ts
   ```

## What build() does

1. **Validates** all configuration values. Invalid settings produce an error instead of broken JSON.
2. **Returns** the final dashboard object with all panels, queries, and settings resolved
3. **Serializes** to standard Grafana dashboard JSON, the same format the Grafana UI produces when you export a dashboard

You should now have a `dashboard.json` file in your project directory.

In the next milestone, you verify the output is valid and review its structure.