feat: add grafana dashboarding and promql agent skills
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Moritz Graf
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# Grafana Dashboards - Detailed Reference
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## What is a Dashboard?
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A Grafana dashboard is a set of one or more panels organized into rows, providing an at-a-glance view of related information. Dashboards connect to data sources, display data through panels, and support interactive filtering via variables.
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## Core Components
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- **Panels**: Containers that display visualizations; each combines a query + a visualization type
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- **Rows**: Horizontal groupings of panels; can be collapsed for organization
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- **Data Sources**: Connections to databases, APIs, or services that panels query
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- **Variables**: Dropdown selectors at the top of a dashboard for dynamic filtering
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- **Annotations**: Markers overlaid on graphs to indicate events
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---
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## Creating Dashboards
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### From scratch
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1. Click **Dashboards** in the left sidebar
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2. Click **New > New dashboard**
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3. Click **Add visualization** to add your first panel
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4. Select a data source, write a query, choose visualization type
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5. Click **Apply** to save the panel to the dashboard
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6. Click the save icon (or Ctrl+S) to save the dashboard
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### From a template / Import
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- Click **Dashboards > New > Import**
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- Paste a dashboard JSON, enter a Grafana.com dashboard ID, or upload a JSON file
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- Grafana.com hosts thousands of community dashboards (grafana.com/grafana/dashboards)
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---
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## Dashboard Settings
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Access via the gear icon at the top-right of any dashboard.
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| Setting | Description |
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|---------|-------------|
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| General | Name, description, tags, folder, editable flag |
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| Annotations | Configure annotation queries that overlay events on panels |
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| Variables | Add/edit template variables (dropdowns at top) |
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| Links | Add links to other dashboards or external URLs |
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| JSON Model | View/edit raw JSON for the entire dashboard |
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| Versions | Browse and restore prior versions |
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| Time options | Default time range, auto-refresh intervals, timezone |
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---
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## Time Range Controls
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- **Time picker** (top-right): Select absolute or relative ranges (Last 6 hours, Last 7 days, etc.)
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- **Auto-refresh**: Set to Off, 5s, 10s, 30s, 1m, 5m, etc.
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- **Zoom**: Click-drag on any time series to zoom in
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### Common relative time shortcuts
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```
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now-5m last 5 minutes
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now-1h last 1 hour
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now-24h last 24 hours
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now-7d last 7 days
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now/d today so far
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now-1d/d yesterday
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```
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---
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## Annotations
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Annotations are event markers overlaid on time series panels.
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### Types
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- **Native annotations**: Manually add a note to a specific time directly in the dashboard
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- **Query annotations**: Pull events from a data source and display as markers
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### Adding a manual annotation
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- Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) and click a time series panel
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- Type a description; optionally set a time range
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---
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## Library Panels
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Library panels are reusable panel definitions shared across multiple dashboards.
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- **Create**: Panel menu (3-dot) > "Create library panel"
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- **Use**: Add a panel > "Add from panel library"
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- **Update**: Edit the source panel; all dashboards using it reflect the change
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- **Unlink**: Detach to make it independent in a specific dashboard
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---
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## Panel Layout
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- Drag panel corners to resize
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- Drag panel header to move
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- **Add > Row** to insert collapsible rows
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- Panel menu > **Duplicate** to clone within the same dashboard
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---
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## Dashboard Versions
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- Access via Dashboard Settings > Versions
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- See who saved what and when
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- Compare two versions (diff view)
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- Restore any previous version
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---
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## JSON Model
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Every dashboard is stored as a JSON document.
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Key top-level JSON fields:
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```json
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{
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"title": "My Dashboard",
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"uid": "abc123",
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"tags": ["production", "infrastructure"],
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"time": { "from": "now-6h", "to": "now" },
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"refresh": "30s",
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"panels": [],
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"templating": { "list": [] },
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"annotations": { "list": [] }
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}
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```
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---
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## Sharing Dashboards
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### Share link
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- Click **Share** icon > **Link** tab
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- Toggle "Lock time range" to embed the current time window
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- Toggle "Include template variable values"
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### Snapshot
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- **Share > Snapshot**: Creates a read-only, public snapshot
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- Contains rendered data at share time - no live data source access needed
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- Can expire (1 hour, 1 day, 7 days, or never)
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### Export / Import JSON
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- **Share > Export**: Download the dashboard JSON
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- Import at **Dashboards > New > Import**
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- Useful for version control, migration, sharing with the community
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### Embed
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- **Share > Embed**: Generates an iframe HTML snippet
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- Requires anonymous access in Grafana config (OSS/Enterprise only)
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### Public dashboards (Grafana 10+)
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- Make a dashboard publicly accessible with no login
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- Enable per-dashboard in Share > Public dashboard
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---
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## Playlists
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Playlists cycle through dashboards automatically at a configurable interval.
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- Create at **Dashboards > Playlists > New playlist**
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- Add dashboards by name or tag
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- Set interval (e.g., 5 minutes)
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- Append `?kiosk=1` to URL for kiosk/TV mode
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---
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## Best Practices
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1. **Organize with folders**: Use folders as RBAC permission boundaries
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2. **Use variables**: Make dashboards reusable across environments/services
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3. **Limit panels per dashboard**: Aim for <20 panels for performance
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4. **Use library panels**: Standardize common panels across teams
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5. **Tag dashboards**: Consistent tags for searchability
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6. **Version control**: Export JSON and store in Git
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7. **Use rows**: Collapse related panels to organize complex dashboards
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8. **Template your queries**: Use variables so one dashboard covers many targets
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---
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## Keyboard Shortcuts
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| Key | Action |
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|-----|--------|
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| `Ctrl+S` | Save dashboard |
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| `e` | Open panel editor (when panel focused) |
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| `v` | Toggle panel fullscreen |
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| `d r` | Refresh all panels |
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| `d s` | Dashboard settings |
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| `d k` | Toggle kiosk mode |
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| `?` | Show all shortcuts |
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---
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## Provisioning Dashboards (as Code)
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```yaml
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# /etc/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/default.yaml
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apiVersion: 1
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providers:
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- name: default
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orgId: 1
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folder: Infrastructure
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type: file
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disableDeletion: false
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updateIntervalSeconds: 10
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allowUiUpdates: false
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options:
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path: /var/lib/grafana/dashboards
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foldersFromFilesStructure: true
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```
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Place dashboard JSON files in `/var/lib/grafana/dashboards/`. Subdirectories become folders when `foldersFromFilesStructure: true`.
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