Build Grafana Dashboards

Design + deploy Grafana dashboards w/ best practices for maintainability, reusability, version control.

Use When

• Visual reps of Prometheus, Loki, other data source metrics
• Operational dashboards for SRE teams + incident responders
• Exec-level SLO compliance reporting
• Migrate manual creation → version-controlled provisioning
• Standardize layouts across teams w/ template vars
• Drill-down experiences: high-level → detailed

In

• Required: Data source config (Prometheus, Loki, Tempo, etc.)
• Required: Metrics or logs to visualize w/ query patterns
• Optional: Template vars for multi-service or multi-env views
• Optional: Existing dashboard JSON for migration/mod
• Optional: Annotation queries for event correlation (deploys, incidents)

Do

See Extended Examples for complete config files + templates.

Step 1: Design Dashboard Structure

Plan layout + organization before building panels.

Create dashboard spec doc:

# Service Overview Dashboard

## Purpose
Real-time operational view for on-call engineers monitoring the API service.

## Rows
1. High-Level Metrics (collapsed by default)
   - Request rate, error rate, latency (RED metrics)
   - Service uptime, instance count
2. Detailed Metrics (expanded by default)
   - Per-endpoint latency breakdown
   - Error rate by status code
   - Database connection pool status
3. Resource Utilization
   - CPU, memory, disk usage per instance
   - Network I/O rates
4. Logs (collapsed by default)
   - Recent errors from Loki
   - Alert firing history

## Variables
- `environment`: production, staging, development
- `instance`: all instances or specific instance selection
- `interval`: aggregation window (5m, 15m, 1h)

## Annotations
- Deployment events from CI/CD system
- Alert firing/resolving events

Design principles:

• Most important first: Critical at top, details below
• Consistent time ranges: Sync time across panels
• Drill-down paths: Link high-level → detailed
• Responsive layout: Rows + panel widths work on various screens

→ Clear structure documented, stakeholders aligned on metrics + layout priorities.

If err:

• Conduct design review w/ end users (SREs, devs)
• Benchmark vs industry standards (USE method, RED method, Four Golden Signals)
• Review existing dashboards for consistency patterns

Step 2: Dashboard w/ Template Vars

Foundation w/ reusable vars for filtering.

Dashboard JSON structure (or UI → export):

{
  "dashboard": {
    "title": "API Service Overview",
    "uid": "api-service-overview",
    "version": 1,
    "timezone": "browser",
    "editable": true,
    "graphTooltip": 1,
    "time": {
      "from": "now-6h",
      "to": "now"
    },
    "refresh": "30s",
    "templating": {
      "list": [
        {
          "name": "environment",
          "type": "query",
          "datasource": "Prometheus",
          "query": "label_values(up{job=\"api-service\"}, environment)",
          "multi": false,
          "includeAll": false,
          "refresh": 1,
          "sort": 1,
          "current": {
            "selected": false,
            "text": "production",
            "value": "production"
          }
        },
        {
          "name": "instance",
          "type": "query",
          "datasource": "Prometheus",
          "query": "label_values(up{job=\"api-service\",environment=\"$environment\"}, instance)",
          "multi": true,
          "includeAll": true,
          "refresh": 1,
          "allValue": ".*",
          "current": {
            "selected": true,
            "text": "All",
            "value": "$__all"
          }
        },
        {
          "name": "interval",
          "type": "interval",
          "options": [
            {"text": "1m", "value": "1m"},
            {"text": "5m", "value": "5m"},
            {"text": "15m", "value": "15m"},
            {"text": "1h", "value": "1h"}
          ],
          "current": {
            "text": "5m",
            "value": "5m"
          },
          "auto": false
        }
      ]
    },
    "annotations": {
      "list": [
        {
          "name": "Deployments",
          "datasource": "Prometheus",
          "enable": true,
          "expr": "changes(app_version{job=\"api-service\",environment=\"$environment\"}[5m]) > 0",
          "step": "60s",
          "iconColor": "rgba(0, 211, 255, 1)",
          "tagKeys": "version"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Var types + use cases:

• Query vars: Dynamic lists from data source (label_values(), query_result())
• Interval vars: Aggregation windows for queries
• Custom vars: Static lists for non-metric selections
• Constant vars: Shared values across panels (data source names, thresholds)
• Text box vars: Free-form in for filtering

→ Vars populate from data source, cascading filters work (env filters instances), default selections appropriate.

If err:

• Test var queries independently in Prometheus UI
• Check circular deps (A depends on B depends on A)
• Verify regex in allValue for multi-select vars
• Review var refresh settings (on dashboard load vs time range change)

Step 3: Visualization Panels

Create panels per metric w/ appropriate viz types.

Time series panel (request rate):

{
  "type": "timeseries",
  "title": "Request Rate",
  "gridPos": {"h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 0},
  "targets": [
    {
      "expr": "sum(rate(http_requests_total{job=\"api-service\",environment=\"$environment\",instance=~\"$instance\"}[$interval])) by (method)",
      "legendFormat": "{{method}}",
      "refId": "A"
    }
  ],
  "fieldConfig": {
    "defaults": {
      "unit": "reqps",
      "color": {
        "mode": "palette-classic"
      },
      "custom": {
        "drawStyle": "line",
        "lineInterpolation": "smooth",
        "fillOpacity": 10,
        "spanNulls": true
      },
      "thresholds": {
        "mode": "absolute",
        "steps": [
          {"value": null, "color": "green"},
          {"value": 1000, "color": "yellow"},
          {"value": 5000, "color": "red"}
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "options": {
    "tooltip": {
      "mode": "multi",
      "sort": "desc"
    },
    "legend": {
      "displayMode": "table",
      "placement": "right",
      "calcs": ["mean", "max", "last"]
    }
  }
}

Stat panel (error rate):

{
  "type": "stat",
  "title": "Error Rate",
  "gridPos": {"h": 4, "w": 6, "x": 12, "y": 0},
  "targets": [
    {
# ... (see EXAMPLES.md for complete configuration)

Heatmap panel (latency distribution):

{
  "type": "heatmap",
  "title": "Request Duration Heatmap",
  "gridPos": {"h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 8},
  "targets": [
    {
# ... (see EXAMPLES.md for complete configuration)

Panel selection guide:

• Time series: Trends over time (rates, counts, durations)
• Stat: Single current value w/ threshold coloring
• Gauge: Pct values (CPU, mem, disk usage)
• Bar gauge: Compare many values at point in time
• Heatmap: Distribution over time (latency percentiles)
• Table: Detailed breakdown of many metrics
• Logs: Raw log lines from Loki w/ filtering

→ Panels render w/ data, viz matches intended types, legends descriptive, thresholds highlight problems.

If err:

• Test queries in Explore view w/ same time range + vars
• Check metric name typos or incorrect label filters
• Verify aggregation fns match metric type (rate for counters, avg for gauges)
• Review unit configs (bytes, sec, req/sec)
• Enable "Show query inspector" to debug empty results

Step 4: Rows + Layout

Organize into collapsible rows for logical grouping.

{
  "panels": [
    {
      "type": "row",
      "title": "High-Level Metrics",
      "collapsed": false,
# ... (see EXAMPLES.md for complete configuration)

Layout best practices:

• Grid 24 units wide, each panel specifies w + h
• Rows group related panels, collapse less critical by default
• Most critical in first visible area (y=0-8)
• Consistent panel heights w/in rows (typically 4, 8, 12 units)
• Full width (24) for time series, half (12) for comparisons

→ Layout organized logically, rows collapse/expand correctly, panels align w/o gaps.

If err:

• Validate gridPos coords don't overlap
• Check row panels array contains panels (not null)
• Verify y-coords increment logically down page
• Use Grafana UI "Edit JSON" to inspect grid positions

Step 5: Links + Drill-Downs

Navigation paths between related dashboards.

Dashboard-level links in JSON:

{
  "links": [
    {
      "title": "Service Details",
      "type": "link",
      "icon": "external link",
# ... (see EXAMPLES.md for complete configuration)

Panel-level data links:

{
  "fieldConfig": {
    "defaults": {
      "links": [
        {
          "title": "View Logs for ${__field.labels.instance}",
# ... (see EXAMPLES.md for complete configuration)

Link vars:

• $service, $environment: Dashboard template vars
• ${__field.labels.instance}: Label value from clicked point
• ${__from}, ${__to}: Current dashboard time range
• $__url_time_range: Encoded time range for URL

→ Click elements or links navigates to related views w/ ctx preserved (time range, vars).

If err:

• URL encode special chars in query params
• Test links w/ various var selections (All vs specific)
• Verify target dashboard UIDs exist + accessible
• Check includeVars + keepTime flags work

Step 6: Dashboard Provisioning

Version control dashboards as code for reproducible deploys.

Provisioning dir structure:

mkdir -p /etc/grafana/provisioning/{dashboards,datasources}

Datasource provisioning (/etc/grafana/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml):

apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: Prometheus
    type: prometheus
    access: proxy
# ... (see EXAMPLES.md for complete configuration)

Dashboard provisioning (/etc/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/default.yml):

apiVersion: 1

providers:
  - name: 'default'
    orgId: 1
    folder: 'Services'
    type: file
    disableDeletion: false
    updateIntervalSeconds: 30
    allowUiUpdates: true
    options:
      path: /var/lib/grafana/dashboards
      foldersFromFilesStructure: true

Store JSON in /var/lib/grafana/dashboards/:

/var/lib/grafana/dashboards/
├── api-service/
│   ├── overview.json
│   └── details.json
├── database/
│   └── postgres.json
└── infrastructure/
    ├── nodes.json
    └── kubernetes.json

Docker Compose:

version: '3.8'
services:
  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana:10.2.0
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./grafana/provisioning:/etc/grafana/provisioning
      - ./grafana/dashboards:/var/lib/grafana/dashboards
    environment:
      - GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin
      - GF_USERS_ALLOW_SIGN_UP=false
      - GF_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_ENABLED=true
      - GF_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_ORG_ROLE=Viewer

→ Dashboards auto-loaded on Grafana startup, JSON changes reflected after update interval, VC tracks dashboard changes.

If err:

• Check Grafana logs: docker logs grafana | grep -i provisioning
• Verify JSON syntax: python -m json.tool dashboard.json
• File perms: chmod 644 *.json
• Test allowUiUpdates: false to prevent UI mods
• Validate provisioning: curl http://localhost:3000/api/admin/provisioning/dashboards/reload -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $GRAFANA_API_KEY"

Check

• Dashboard loads w/o errs in Grafana UI
• All template vars populate w/ expected values
• Cascading works (env filters instances)
• Panels display data for configured time ranges
• Queries use vars correctly (no hardcoded)
• Thresholds highlight problem states
• Legend formatting descriptive, not cluttered
• Annotations appear for relevant events
• Links navigate to correct dashboards w/ ctx preserved
• Dashboard provisioned from JSON (version controlled)
• Responsive layout works on diff screen sizes
• Tooltip + hover provide useful ctx

Traps

• Var not updating panels: Queries must use $variable syntax, not hardcoded. Check var refresh settings
• Empty panels w/ correct query: Verify time range includes data. Check scrape interval vs aggregation window (5m rate needs >5m of data)
• Legend verbose: Use legendFormat for relevant labels only, not full metric name. {{method}} - {{status}} vs default
• Inconsistent time ranges: Set dashboard time sync → all panels share window. "Sync cursor" for correlated investigation
• Perf issues: Avoid queries returning high cardinality (>1000). Use recording rules or pre-aggregation. Limit time ranges for expensive queries
• Dashboard drift: No provisioning → manual UI changes create VC conflicts. allowUiUpdates: false in prod
• Missing data links: Need exact label names. ${__field.labels.labelname} carefully, verify label exists in query result
• Annotation overload: Too many → clutter. Filter by importance or separate tracks

→

• setup-prometheus-monitoring — config Prometheus data sources feeding Grafana
• configure-log-aggregation — set up Loki for log panel queries + log-based annotations
• define-slo-sli-sla — viz SLO compliance + error budgets w/ Grafana stat + gauge panels
• instrument-distributed-tracing — add trace ID links from metrics panels to Tempo trace views