`docker run -d -p 3000:3000 grafana/grafana`	Run with Docker
`brew install grafana`	Install on macOS
`sudo apt-get install grafana`	Install on Ubuntu
`grafana-server`	Start server
`grafana-cli plugins install grafana-piechart-panel`	Install plugin
`grafana-cli plugins list-remote`	List available plugins

Keyboard Shortcuts

`Esc`	Exit edit mode / Close modal
`Ctrl+S`	Save dashboard
`E`	Edit panel
`V`	View panel fullscreen
`P S`	Share panel
`D S`	Dashboard settings
`Ctrl+F`	Search dashboards
`Ctrl+H`	Toggle all rows
`T Z`	Zoom out time range
`T Left`	Move time back
`T Right`	Move time forward

Provisioning

Data Sources

datasources.yml

# /etc/grafana/provisioning/datasources/datasources.yml
apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: Prometheus
    type: prometheus
    access: proxy
    url: http://prometheus:9090
    isDefault: true
    editable: false

  - name: Loki
    type: loki
    access: proxy
    url: http://loki:3100

  - name: InfluxDB
    type: influxdb
    access: proxy
    url: http://influxdb:8086
    database: mydb
    user: admin
    secureJsonData:
      password: secret

  - name: PostgreSQL
    type: postgres
    url: postgres:5432
    database: grafana
    user: grafana
    secureJsonData:
      password: secret
    jsonData:
      sslmode: disable

Dashboard Provisioning

dashboards.yml

# /etc/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/dashboards.yml
apiVersion: 1

providers:
  - name: "Default"
    orgId: 1
    folder: ""
    type: file
    disableDeletion: false
    updateIntervalSeconds: 10
    options:
      path: /var/lib/grafana/dashboards
      foldersFromFilesStructure: true

Dashboard JSON

{
  "dashboard": {
    "title": "My Dashboard",
    "tags": ["production"],
    "timezone": "browser",
    "refresh": "5s",
    "time": {
      "from": "now-6h",
      "to": "now"
    },
    "panels": [
      {
        "id": 1,
        "title": "CPU Usage",
        "type": "graph",
        "gridPos": { "x": 0, "y": 0, "w": 12, "h": 8 },
        "targets": [
          {
            "expr": "100 - (avg(rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{mode=\"idle\"}[5m])) * 100)",
            "legendFormat": "{{instance}}"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Panel Types

Common Panels

Time series: Line/area charts for time-based data
Stat: Single value with optional sparkline
Gauge: Value with min/max thresholds
Bar chart: Categorical comparisons
Table: Tabular data display
Heatmap: Distribution over time
Logs: Log line display (Loki)
Alert list: Current alerts display

Variables

Variable Types

Query variable

# In Dashboard Settings > Variables

# Prometheus label values
Name: instance
Type: Query
Data source: Prometheus
Query: label_values(up, instance)

# Prometheus label values with filter
Query: label_values(up{job="$job"}, instance)

# Loki label values
Query: label_values({job="$job"}, level)

Custom variable

# Custom static values
Name: environment
Type: Custom
Values: dev, staging, prod

# Or comma-separated
Values: dev : Development, staging : Staging, prod : Production

Interval variable

# Auto interval based on time range
Name: interval
Type: Interval
Values: 1m, 5m, 10m, 30m, 1h, 6h, 12h, 1d
Auto option: enabled
Min interval: 1m

Using variables

# In queries
rate(http_requests_total{instance="$instance"}[$interval])

# Multiple selection
rate(http_requests_total{instance=~"$instance"}[$interval])

# In panel titles
CPU Usage - $instance

# Special variables
$__interval      # Auto interval
$__interval_ms   # Auto interval in ms
$__range         # Time range
$__range_s       # Time range in seconds
$__from          # From timestamp (ms)
$__to            # To timestamp (ms)

Transformations

Common Transformations

Reduce: Aggregate series to single value (last, mean, max, etc.)
Merge: Combine multiple queries into one table
Filter by name: Show only matching series
Organize fields: Reorder, rename, or hide columns
Group by: Group rows by field values
Join by field: Outer join on common field
Add field from calculation: Create calculated columns
Sort by: Order rows by field value

Alerting

Alert Rules

Creating alerts

# Alert rule structure
1. Query and condition
   - Query: rate(http_errors_total[5m]) / rate(http_requests_total[5m])
   - Condition: IS ABOVE 0.05

2. Evaluation behavior
   - Evaluate every: 1m
   - For: 5m (pending period)

3. Add details
   - Rule name: High Error Rate
   - Folder: Production
   - Group: HTTP Alerts
   - Summary: Error rate is {{ $values.A }}%
   - Description: Check the application logs

4. Notifications
   - Contact point: Slack, Email, PagerDuty, etc.

Alert annotations

# Available template variables in annotations
{{ $labels }}           # All labels
{{ $labels.instance }}  # Specific label
{{ $values }}           # All values
{{ $values.A }}         # Specific value (query refId)
{{ $value }}            # Alert value
{{ humanize $value }}   # Human readable value
{{ humanizePercentage $value }}  # As percentage
{{ humanizeDuration $value }}    # As duration

Contact Points

Notification templates

# Custom template example
{{ define "slack.message" }}
{{ range .Alerts }}
*Alert:* {{ .Labels.alertname }}
*Severity:* {{ .Labels.severity }}
*Instance:* {{ .Labels.instance }}
*Summary:* {{ .Annotations.summary }}
*Value:* {{ .Values.A }}
{{ end }}
{{ end }}

HTTP API

API Examples

`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" http://localhost:3000/api/org`	Get current org
`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" http://localhost:3000/api/dashboards/db/my-dashboard`	Get dashboard
`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" http://localhost:3000/api/search?query=cpu`	Search dashboards
`curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @dashboard.json http://localhost:3000/api/dashboards/db`	Create dashboard
`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" http://localhost:3000/api/datasources`	List data sources
`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" http://localhost:3000/api/alerts`	List alerts

Configuration

grafana.ini

Common settings

[server]
http_port = 3000
domain = grafana.example.com
root_url = https://grafana.example.com/

[database]
type = postgres
host = localhost:5432
name = grafana
user = grafana
password = secret

[auth]
disable_login_form = false
disable_signout_menu = false

[auth.anonymous]
enabled = true
org_role = Viewer

[auth.github]
enabled = true
client_id = xxx
client_secret = xxx
allowed_organizations = my-org

[smtp]
enabled = true
host = smtp.gmail.com:587
user = alerts@example.com
password = secret
from_address = alerts@example.com

[log]
mode = console file
level = info