Documentation Plugins Infinity data source Examples ThingSpeak

ThingSpeak API

Connect to the ThingSpeak IoT platform to visualize sensor data and metrics from your IoT devices.

Before you begin

• A ThingSpeak channel with data (public channels work without authentication)
• For private channels, your ThingSpeak Read API Key
• Know your channel ID

This guide uses the public traffic monitor channel (Channel ID: 38629) for examples.

Configure the data source

1. In Grafana, navigate to Connections > Data sources.
2. Click Add new data source and select Infinity.
3. In Allowed hosts, enter https://thingspeak.com.
4. For private channels, expand Authentication and select API Key.
   • Set Key to api_key and add your ThingSpeak Read API Key.
   • Set Add to to Query String.
5. Click Save & test.

Query examples

ThingSpeak provides data in JSON, CSV, and XML formats. Choose the format that best fits your needs.

JSON format

Configuration:

Columns:

CSV format

Configuration:

The CSV format automatically detects column headers.

XML format

Configuration:

Columns:

Filter by dashboard time range

By default, ThingSpeak returns recent data regardless of your Grafana time range. To filter by the dashboard time range, add time parameters to the URL:

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https://thingspeak.com/channels/38629/feed.json?start=${__from:date:YYYY-MM-DD HH:NN:SS}&end=${__to:date:YYYY-MM-DD HH:NN:SS}

This uses Grafana’s time variables to pass the selected time range to the API.

Query long time ranges

For time ranges longer than 2 hours, ThingSpeak requires data aggregation. Add an aggregation parameter:

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https://thingspeak.com/channels/38629/feed.json?start=${__from:date:YYYY-MM-DD HH:NN:SS}&end=${__to:date:YYYY-MM-DD HH:NN:SS}&average=60

Aggregation options

Valid aggregation intervals

For example, average=1440 calculates the daily average.

ThingSpeak URL parameters

Troubleshoot

Additional resources

• ThingSpeak REST API documentation
• Public ThingSpeak channels
• ThingSpeak Read a Channel Feed