Plugins 〉Grafana Image Renderer

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Grafana Image Renderer

  • Overview
  • Installation
  • Change log
  • Related content

A Grafana backend plugin that handles rendering panels and dashboards to PNGs using a headless browser (Chromium).

Requirements

Supported operating systems

  • Linux (x64)
  • Windows (x64)
  • Mac OS X (x64)

For Mac ARM64, you need to build the plugin from source or use the remote rendering installation.

Dependencies

This plugin is packaged in a single executable with Node.js runtime and Chromium browser. This means that you don't need to have Node.js and Chromium installed in your system for the plugin to function.

However, the Chromium browser depends on certain libraries. If you don't have all of those libraries installed in your system, you may see some errors when you try to render an image. For more information including troubleshooting help, refer to Grafana Image Rendering documentation.

Memory requirements

Rendering images requires a lot of memory, mainly because Grafana creates browser instances in the background for the actual rendering. We recommend a minimum of 16GB of free memory on the system rendering images.

Rendering multiple images in parallel requires an even bigger memory footprint. You can use the remote rendering service in order to render images on a remote system, so your local system resources are not affected.

Installation

We offer two installation methods: as a plugin and as a remote service. We always recommend using the remote service if possible, as this is how we deploy the service in Grafana Cloud, and thus gets the most attention in bug handling.

I deploy Grafana in Docker/Kubernetes/...: Use the Docker image.

I deploy Grafana as a user/in systemd/...:

  • Prefer the Docker image with --networking=host passed to the Docker container.
  • If that is not fitting, prefer the standalone server.
  • If that is not fitting, use the plugin.

If you want to run the service as a Docker container, use the Docker image we publish to DockerHub.

With docker run:

$ docker network create grafana
$ docker run --network grafana --name renderer --rm --detach grafana/grafana-image-renderer:latest
# The following is not a production-ready Grafana instance, but shows what env vars you should set:
$ docker run --network grafana --name grafana --rm --detach --env GF_RENDERING_SERVER_URL=http://renderer:8081/render --env http://grafana:3000/ --port 3000:3000 grafana/grafana-enterprise:latest

With docker compose:

services:
  renderer:
    image: grafana/grafana-image-renderer:latest

grafana:
image: grafana/grafana-enterprise:latest
ports:
- ‘3000:3000’
environment:
GF_RENDERING_SERVER_URL: http://renderer:8081/render
GF_RENDERING_CALLBACK_URL: http://grafana:3000/

With Kubernetes, see our k3s setup.

Run as standalone Node.js application

The following example describes how to build and run the remote HTTP rendering service as a standalone Node.js application and configure Grafana appropriately.

  1. Clone the Grafana image renderer plugin Git repository.

  2. Install dependencies and build:

    yarn install --pure-lockfile
yarn run build

  3. Run the server:

    • Using default configuration: node build/app.js server
    • Using custom configuration: node build/app.js server --config=dev.json
    • Using environment variables: HTTP_PORT=8085 LOG_LEVEL=debug node build/app.js server

  4. Update Grafana configuration:

    [rendering]
server_url = http://localhost:8081/render
callback_url = http://localhost:3000/

  5. Restart Grafana.

Plugin: Grafana CLI

You can install the plugin with Grafana CLI:

$ grafana cli plugins install grafana-image-renderer
# alternatively, if you want to install a specific version:
$ grafana cli plugins install grafana-image-renderer $VERSION

Please run this as the same user that Grafana runs as, otherwise the plugin may not work!

Security

Access to the rendering endpoints is restricted to requests providing an auth token. This token should be configured in the Grafana configuration file and the renderer configuration file. This token is important when you run the plugin in remote rendering mode to avoid unauthorized file disclosure (see CVE-2022-31176).

See Grafana Image Rendering documentation to configure this secret token. The default value - is configured on both Grafana and the image renderer when you get started but we strongly recommend you to update this to a more secure value.

Configuration

For available configuration settings, please refer to Grafana Image Rendering documentation.

Troubleshooting

For troubleshooting help, refer to Grafana Image Rendering troubleshooting documentation.

The Grafana Image Renderer is seamlessly integrated into Grafana Cloud, eliminating the need for manual installation.

For more information, visit the docs on plugin installation.

4.0.11 (2025-09-01)

4.0.10 (2025-07-31)

  • Docker: Update Chromium (CVE-2025-8292), #695, macabu
  • Tests: Add Docker image test suite, #693, Proximyst
  • Docker: Inherit permissions from user, #697, Proximyst
    • This fixes #694, which applies to RedHat OpenShift users. It was reported by @mcapala. Thanks!

4.0.9 (2025-07-28)

  • Docker: Use numeric UID, #686, Proximyst
    • This fixes #686, which is useful for some Kubernetes users. It was reported by @mhulscher. Thanks!
    • The bug only manifests if you use securityContext.runAsNonRoot in your Deployment.

4.0.8 (2025-07-28)

4.0.7 (2025-07-25)

  • Docker: Install locales and use en_US.UTF-8 to save non-ASCII files, #683, macabu
    • This fixes #680

4.0.6 (2025-07-24)

  • Docker: Update Chromium (CVE-2025-8010, CVE-2025-8011), #682, macabu

4.0.5 (2025-07-23)

4.0.1, 4.0.2, 4.0.3 & 4.0.4 (2025-07-22)

This release only touches the build process of the plugin, as v4.0.0, .1, .2, and .3 did not release on the plugin catalog. There is no difference from v4.0.0 for Docker users.

4.0.0 (2025-07-22)

  • Build: Update all dependencies, #663, Proximyst
  • Docker: Update Chromium (CVE-2025-6558, CVE-2025-7656, CVE-2025-7657), #667, Proximyst

Breaking changes:

  • Build: Bump minimum Node.js version from v20 to v22 (LTS), #663, Proximyst
    • If you use the Docker image, you will not have to update anything.
    • If you run grafana-image-renderer yourself, you may need to update Node.js.
  • Plugin: Update minimum Grafana version to 11.3.8, #663, Proximyst
    • If you use any Grafana version newer than 11.3.8 (incl. 11.4.x, 11.5.x, 11.6.x, 12.x), you will not have to do anything.
    • If you are not in that group, you must update Grafana before updating.
  • Docker: Move to distroless Debian, #661, Proximyst
    • In practice, this SHOULD come with no changes for most users.
    • If you are building a new Docker image on top of us, you will have to adapt to distroless Debian instead of Alpine.

3.12.9 (2025-07-01)

  • Docker: Update Chromium in Alpine (CVE-2025-6554), #655, Proximyst

3.12.8 (2025-06-25)

  • Chore: Update base Docker image to latest (CVE-2025-6191, CVE-2025-6192), #654, Proximyst

3.12.7 (2025-06-19)

3.12.6 (2025-05-23)

3.12.5 (2025-04-22)

3.12.4 (2025-03-27)

3.12.3 (2025-03-12)

  • 3.12.2 does not work due to Image Render: Support Tracing #586. Revert "Image Render: Support Tracing (#586)" #609, lucychen-grafana

3.12.2 (2025-03-06) (DEPRECATED)

3.12.1 (2025-02-10)

3.12.0 (2025-01-14)

3.11.6 (2024-10-17)

3.11.5 (2024-09-12)

3.11.4 (2024-08-30)

3.11.3 (2024-08-13)

  • Full page image: Fix blank page screenshot when scenes is turned on #554, juanicabanas

3.11.2 (2024-08-08)

  • Properly support dashboards where the scrollable element is the document #552, ashharrison90

3.11.1 (2024-07-15)

3.11.0 (2024-06-13)

3.10.5 (2024-05-23)

3.10.4 (2024-05-06)

3.10.3 (2024-04-16)

3.10.2 (2024-04-08)

3.10.1 (2024-03-07)

3.10.0 (2024-02-20)

  • WaitingForPanels: Change waiting logic for Scenes #496, torkelo
  • Experimental: Support PDF rendering #487, ryantxu

3.9.1 (2024-01-29)

3.9.0 (2023-12-04)

3.8.4 (2023-10-17)

3.8.3 (2023-09-29)

3.8.2 (2023-09-21)

  • Browser: Revert to old headless mode to fix usage with Kubernetes #459, AgnesToulet

3.8.1 (2023-09-18)

3.8.0 (2023-08-22)

3.7.2 (2023-07-27)

3.7.1 (2023-05-15)

3.7.0 (2023-04-17)

3.6.4 (2023-02-10)

3.6.3 (2023-01-11)

3.6.2 (2022-10-22)

  • Log errors related to JSHandle@object as debug #376, spinillos
  • Chore: Update Puppeteer deprecated functions #375, spinillos
  • Fix: Update _client with _client() to avoid to fail when creating a CSV #372, spinillos
  • Chore: Update all dependencies #369, DanCech

3.6.1 (2022-08-30)

3.6.0 (2022-08-16)

3.5.0 (2022-07-18)

3.4.2 (2022-03-23)

3.4.1 (2022-02-23)

  • Fix: replace sharp with jimp to resolve issues with installing native dependencies #325, ArturWierzbicki

3.4.0 (2022-02-17)

3.3.0 (2021-11-18)

3.2.1 (2021-10-07)

3.2.0 (2021-09-17)

  • Docs: Update documentation to improve visibility and avoid duplicates with Grafana documentation #277, AgnesToulet
  • Instrumentation: Update grafana_image_renderer_step_duration_seconds buckets #287, AgnesToulet
  • Security: Bump chokidar from 3.5.1 to 3.5.2 #284, AgnesToulet
  • Instrumentation: Add gauge of total number of requests in flight #281, AgnesToulet
  • Security: Bump axios from 0.21.1 to 0.21.4 #283, dependabot[bot]
  • Chore: Add self-contained setup for load test #275, pianohacker

3.1.0 (2021-09-01)

Important change

The default Chromium flags have been updated to include --disable-gpu as it fixes memory leaks issues when using the default rendering mode. If you don't want to use this flag, you need to update your service configuration, either through the service configuration file, the environment variables or the Grafana configuration file (if you're using the plugin mode).

3.0.1 (2021-06-10)

  • Browser: Fix panel timezone when the timezone query parameter is specified #224, Bujupah
  • Docker: Fix version endpoint for Docker images #248, mbentley

3.0.0 (2021-06-07)

3.0.0-beta2 (2021-05-26)

3.0.0-beta1 (2021-05-19)

2.1.1 (2021-05-18)

2.1.0 (2021-05-11)

  • Chore/Security: Upgrade dependencies and bump Node to LTS (14.16.1) #218, AgnesToulet

2.0.1 (2021-01-26)

  • Browser: Use timeout parameter for initial navigation to the dashboard being rendered #171,

2.0.0 (2020-05-16)

  • Plugin: Migrate to @grpc/grpc-js to resolve problems when IPv6 is disabled #135, aknuds1
  • Adds support for new Grafana backend plugin system #128, marefr
  • Browser: Adds support for setting viewport device scale factor #128, marefr
  • Browser: Adds support for attaching Accept-Language header to support render is name locale as Grafana user #128, marefr
  • Browser: Fail render if the URL has socket protocol #127, aknuds1
  • Chore: Upgrade typescript dependencies #129, marefr

2.0.0-beta1 (2020-04-22)

  • Adds support for new Grafana backend plugin system #128, marefr
  • Browser: Adds support for setting viewport device scale factor #128, marefr
  • Browser: Adds support for attaching Accept-Language header to support render is name locale as Grafana user #128, marefr
  • Browser: Fail render if the URL has socket protocol #127, aknuds1
  • Chore: Upgrade typescript dependencies #129, marefr

1.0.12 (2020-03-31)

  • Remote rendering: Delete temporary file after serving it to client #120, marefr
  • Remote rendering: More configuration options #123, marefr

1.0.12-beta1 (2020-03-30)

  • Remote rendering: More configuration options #123, marefr

1.0.11 (2020-03-20)

  • Render: Add support for enabling verbose logging using environment variable #105, marefr
  • Render: Fix panel titles should not be focused when rendering #114, AgnesToulet
  • Security: Upgrade minimist dependency to v1.2.5 #118, marefr

1.0.10 (2020-02-18)

  • Plugin: Fix unable to start Grafana (Windows) with version 1.0.8 and 1.0.9 #103, marefr

1.0.9 (2020-01-30)

  • Remote rendering: Improve error handling, logging and metrics #92, marefr
    • Service: Don't swallow exceptions and fix logging of parameters
    • Metrics: Use status 499 when client close the connection
    • Docker: Set NODE_ENV=production
    • Changed request logging to use debug level if status < 400 and error if >= 400
  • Plugin: Adds icon #95, marefr

1.0.8 (2020-01-20)

  • Build: Upgrade Node.js requirement to LTS (v12) #57, marefr
  • Docker: Add unifont font to support rendering other language, like Chinese/Japanese #75, okhowang
  • Subscribing to page events to catch errors from browser #88, marefr
  • Plugin: Automatically assign grpc port per default #87, marefr
  • Plugin: Support configuring default timezone thru environment variable #86, marefr
  • Remote rendering: Support configuring default timezone thru config file and environment variable #86, marefr
  • Remote rendering: Support configuring HTTP host and port thru config and environment variables #40, marefr
  • Remote rendering: Support reading config from file #73, marefr
  • Remote rendering: Collect and expose Prometheus metrics #71, marefr

Breaking changes

  • Plugin now automatically assigns gPRC port not in use. Before port 50059 was used. You can change this by using the GF_RENDERER_PLUGIN_GRPC_PORT environment variable.

1.0.8-beta1 (2019-12-17)

  • Remote rendering: Collect and expose Prometheus metrics #71, marefr
  • Build: Upgrade Node.js requirement to LTS (v12) #57, marefr

1.0.7 (2019-12-03)

  • Provide correctly named config parameter to Chromium when overriding to skip https errors using environment variable GF_RENDERER_PLUGIN_IGNORE_HTTPS_ERRORS and/or IGNORE_HTTPS_ERRORS #62, marefr

1.0.6 (2019-11-25)

  • Wait until all network connections to be idle before rendering #24, d1ff
  • Support ignoring https errors using environment variable #59, marefr
  • Docker: Update dependencies to remove vulnerabilities #53, marefr
  • Fix typo in log statement #39, ankon
  • Updated documentation

1.0.5 (2019-09-11)

  • Include md5 checksums in release artifacts

1.0.4 (2019-09-11)

  • Update readme and docs

1.0.3 (2019-09-10)

  • Automate docker release

1.0.2 (2019-09-10)

  • Don't include dist directory in archive (zip) files

1.0.1 (2019-09-09)

  • Switch docker base image from node:10 to node:alpine-10 #36, marefr
  • Updated the panel render wait function to account for Grafana version 6 #26, bmichaelis
  • Updated dependencies

1.0.0 (2019-08-16)

Initial release containing prebuilt binaries available for download. Right now the binaries themselves should be considered alpha as they need more testing.

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