--- title: "Quick start for Tempo | Grafana Tempo documentation" description: "Use Docker to quickly view traces using K-6 and Tempo" --- # Quick start for Tempo Using this quickstart, you can set up a Tempo instance using Docker Compose so you can play and understand how Tempo works. If you want to use Tempo in production, refer to the [Set up for tracing](/docs/tempo/latest/set-up-for-tracing/) documentation. The Tempo repository provides [multiple examples](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/tree/main/example/docker-compose) to help you quickly get started using Tempo and distributed tracing data. Every example has a `docker-compose.yaml` manifest that includes all of the options needed to explore trace data in Grafana, including resource configuration and trace data generation. The Tempo examples running with Docker using docker-compose include a version of Tempo and a storage configuration suitable for testing or development. ## Before you begin To follow this guide, you need: - Git - [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/) - The Docker Compose plugin (included with Docker Desktop) > Tip > > Alternatively, you can try out this example in our interactive learning environment: [Quick start for Tempo](https://killercoda.com/grafana-labs/course/tempo/quick-start). > > It’s a fully configured environment with all the dependencies installed. > > Provide feedback, report bugs, and raise issues in the [Grafana Killercoda repository](https://github.com/grafana/killercoda). ## Clone the Tempo repository and start Docker This quick start guide uses the `local` example running Tempo as a single binary (monolithic). Any data is stored locally in the `tempo-data` folder. To learn more, read the [local storage example README](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/blob/main/example/docker-compose/local). 1. Clone the Tempo repository: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash git clone https://github.com/grafana/tempo.git ``` 2. Go into the examples directory: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash cd tempo/example/docker-compose/local ``` 3. Create a new directory to store data: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash mkdir tempo-data ``` 4. Start the services defined in the docker-compose file: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash docker compose up -d ``` 5. Verify that the services are running: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash docker compose ps ``` You should see something like: console ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```console docker compose ps NAME COMMAND SERVICE STATUS PORTS local-grafana-1 "/run.sh" grafana running 0.0.0.0:3000->3000/tcp local-k6-tracing-1 "/k6-tracing run /ex…" k6-tracing running local-prometheus-1 "/bin/prometheus --c…" prometheus running 0.0.0.0:9090->9090/tcp local-tempo-1 "/tempo -config.file…" tempo running 0.0.0.0:3200->3200/tcp, 0.0.0.0:4317-4318->4317-4318/tcp, 0.0.0.0:9411->9411/tcp, 0.0.0.0:14268->14268/tcp ``` ## Explore the traces in Grafana As part of the Docker Compose manifest, Grafana is now accessible on port 3000. You can use Grafana to explore the traces generated by the k6-tracing service. 1. Open a browser and navigate to [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000). 2. Once logged in, navigate to the **Explore** page, select the **Tempo** data source and select the **Search** tab. Select **Run query** to list the recent traces stored in Tempo. Select one to view the trace diagram: [](/media/docs/grafana/data-sources/tempo/query-editor/tempo-ds-builder-span-details-v11.png) 3. A couple of minutes after Tempo starts, select the **Service graph** tab for the Tempo data source in the **Explore** page. Select **Run query** to view a service graph, generated by Tempo’s metrics-generator. [](/media/docs/grafana/data-sources/tempo/query-editor/tempo-ds-query-service-graph.png) 4. To stop the services: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash docker compose down -v ``` ## Traces Drilldown plugin The [Traces Drilldown](/docs/grafana/latest/explore/simplified-exploration/traces/) plugin offers an opinionated non query-based approach to exploring traces. Let’s take a look at some of its key features and panels. 1. Open a browser and navigate to [http://localhost:3000/a/grafana-exploretraces-app](http://localhost:3000/a/grafana-exploretraces-app). 2. Within the filter bar, there is a dropdown menu set to **Rate** of **Full traces**. Change this to **Duration** and **All spans**. This updated panel view looks like this: [](/media/docs/tempo/explore-spans-error-view.png) Breakdown of the view: - The histogram at the top shows the distribution of span durations. The lighter the color, the more spans in that duration bucket. In this example, most spans fall within `537ms`, which is considered the average duration for the system. - The high peaks in the histogram indicate spans that are taking longer than the average (As high as `2.15s`). These are likely to be the spans that are causing performance issues. You can investigate further to identify the root cause. Select `Slow traces` tab in the navigation bar to view the slowest traces in the system. [](/media/docs/tempo/slow-trace-view.png) `shop-backend` appears to be the primary culprit for the slow traces. This happens when a user initiates the `article-to-cart` operation. From here, you can select the **Trace Name** to open the **Trace View** panel. [](/media/docs/tempo/slow-trace-trace-view.png) The **Trace View** panel provides a detailed view of the trace. The panel is divided into three sections: - The top section shows the trace ID, duration, and the service that generated the trace. - The middle section shows the trace timeline. Each span is represented as a horizontal bar. The color of the bar represents the span’s status. The width of the bar represents the duration of the span. - The bottom section shows the details of the selected span. This includes the span name, duration, and tags. Drilling into the `shop-backend` span, you can see that the `place-articles` operation has an exception event tied to it. This is likely the root cause of the slow trace. [](/media/docs/tempo/slow-trace-root-cause-2.png) If you would like to dive deeper into the Traces Drilldown plugin and its panel concepts, refer to the [Traces Drilldown Concepts](/docs/grafana/latest/explore/simplified-exploration/traces/concepts/). ## Next steps You have successfully set up Tempo and Grafana to explore traces generated by the k6-tracing service. Now that you’ve explored the basics of Tempo, you can: - Set up Tempo by following the [Set up for tracing documentation](/docs/tempo/latest/set-up-for-tracing/setup-tempo/). - Learn how to [instrument your application](/docs/tempo/latest/set-up-for-tracing/instrument-send/set-up-instrumentation/) to emit traces. ### Alternative: Complete MLTP example If you would like to use a demo with multiple telemetry signals, then try the [Introduction to Metrics, Logs, Traces, and Profiling in Grafana](https://github.com/grafana/intro-to-mltp). `Intro-to-mltp` provides a self-contained environment for learning about Mimir, Loki, Tempo, Pyroscope, and Grafana. The project includes detailed explanations of each component and annotated configurations for a single-instance deployment. Data from `intro-to-mltp` can also be pushed to Grafana Cloud. ### Further reading Here are some resources to help you learn more about Tempo: - [Instrumenting your application](/docs/tempo/latest/set-up-for-tracing/instrument-send/) - [Set up for tracing](/docs/tempo/latest/set-up-for-tracing/)