Try One Source Dashboard

Try one of my dashboards (single end-to-end migration)

Goal: take one dashboard the user already owns, migrate it all the way into Kibana, and set up a side-by-side so they can judge fidelity before committing to a bulk migration. This is the "prove it on something real" step — narrower than a full migration, higher-signal than inventory or a readiness verdict.

This skill writes exactly one dashboard to the target. It is otherwise read-only on the source.

Which command form to use (package vs. repo)

Assume the user installed the package (obs-migrate, grafana-migrate, datadog-migrate on PATH); prefix .venv/bin/ only for a repo checkout. Every artifact and command below ships in the installed wheel — no scripts/, infra/, or examples/ directory is required.

Step 1 — Scope to a single dashboard

How you pin to one dashboard differs by source. This is the most common place to get it wrong, so be explicit with the user about which path applies.

Datadog — by dashboard id (live API)

Datadog exposes a dashboard id selector. Pass exactly one id:

export DD_API_KEY="..." DD_APP_KEY="..." DD_SITE="datadoghq.com"
obs-migrate migrate \
  --source datadog \
  --input-mode api \
  --dashboard-ids abc-def-123 \
  --output-dir try_one_out \
  --assets dashboards \
  --field-profile otel \
  --data-view "metrics-*"

The --dashboard-ids selector scopes the live Datadog API run to the one dashboard you want to try. The dedicated datadog-migrate --source api --dashboard-ids <id> form also works, but prefer the unified obs-migrate migrate command in new package-first guidance.

Grafana — by single-dashboard export (no API id selector)

Grafana API mode has no --dashboard-ids selector. To migrate exactly one Grafana dashboard, point a files run at a directory that contains only that one dashboard's exported JSON:

# Put just the one dashboard export in its own directory first.
obs-migrate migrate \
  --source grafana \
  --input-mode files \
  --input-dir ./one_dashboard \
  --output-dir try_one_out \
  --assets dashboards \
  --data-view "metrics-*"

If the user only has live Grafana access, have them export the single dashboard's JSON (Grafana UI: Share → Export → Save to file, or the /api/dashboards/uid/<uid> endpoint) into an otherwise empty directory, then run the files command above. Do not pretend an API id selector exists for Grafana.

Use --assets dashboards here — a single-dashboard trial is about the dashboard. (Alerts are a separate Phase D skill.)

Step 2 — Add the target and upload

For a real side-by-side you want the dashboard in Kibana, ideally validated against live data. Add the target endpoints you have, then upload.

export ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT="https://...es..." KIBANA_ENDPOINT="https://...kbn..." KEY="<api-key>"

# Re-run Step 1 with live target discovery / query validation:
#   ...append: --es-url "$ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT" --es-api-key "$KEY"
#   (Grafana uses native PromQL by default; with --es-url it verifies target
#    support and downgrades to ES|QL translation if unsupported)

# Then upload the one migrated dashboard:
obs-migrate upload \
  --yaml-dir try_one_out/dashboards \
  --kibana-url "$KIBANA_ENDPOINT" \
  --kibana-api-key "$KEY"

• obs-migrate upload recompiles the YAML internally via kb-dashboard-cli and accepts either the yaml/ directory or the dashboard artifacts directory that contains a sibling yaml/ (so try_one_out/dashboards works).
• Adding --es-url during Step 1 turns on live target field discovery and emitted-query validation; without it the run stays in offline analysis and panels may look empty for lack of data, not because the translation is wrong.
• Custom-CA / self-signed clusters: all CLIs accept --ca-cert <path> (env OBS_MIGRATE_CA_CERT) to verify against a private CA, or --insecure (env OBS_MIGRATE_INSECURE) to skip verification for testing only. These apply to source, Elasticsearch, Kibana, and the Node upload step.

Step 3 — Do the side-by-side

1. Read the verdict first: try_one_out/dashboards/migration_summary.md — human-readable verdict, scorecard, per-panel table, and must-fix worklist for the one dashboard.
2. Drill per panel: try_one_out/dashboards/migration_manifest.json → panels[].status, panels[].grafana_type (Datadog: widget type), panels[].reasons, and panels[].verification_packet.semantic_gate.
3. Open both dashboards: the original in Grafana/Datadog and the uploaded one in Kibana, panel by panel. Compare numbers, series count, and shape.
4. For any panel that looks wrong or empty in Kibana, hand off to the debug-uploaded-kibana-dashboard skill — it captures the exact ES|QL Kibana is running and classifies the failure (real translator bug vs. missing data vs. Kibana visual mapping).

Honest limits (tell the user)

• Grafana single-dashboard = a one-file export. There is no Grafana API id selector; scope by --input-dir containing only that dashboard.
• Empty panels are often missing data, not a bug. A clean translation can still render empty if the target cluster has no matching telemetry. Lighting panels up with synthetic data is a separate capability (the "preview with sample data" skill / engine flow); say so rather than blaming the translator.
• No --es-url ⇒ no live validation. Treat an offline run as directional; it does not prove panels render against real data.
• Degrade gracefully: unsupported panels are surfaced as requires_manual / not_feasible with reasons — relay those, never hide them.

Do NOT

• Do not invent a Grafana API --dashboard-ids flag — it does not exist; use a single-dashboard files export.
• Do not claim panels are validated when the run had no --es-url and no upload smoke.
• Do not bulk-migrate here. Selecting many dashboards (by folder/tag/datasource/team) or migrating everything is the Phase D "migrate selected / every supported dashboard" skill.
• Do not cite manifest fields you have not confirmed (e.g. grafana_type exists on Grafana manifest panels; open the JSON when unsure).

See also

• scan-o11y-environment skill — inventory of what exists (pick the dashboard to try from here).
• assess-migration-readiness skill — feasibility verdict and evidence level before trying.
• debug-uploaded-kibana-dashboard skill — diagnose a single broken uploaded panel.
• Revert: the dedicated "revert the migration" skill removes generated assets once it lands; until then, obs-migrate cluster delete-dashboards --dashboard-ids <id> clears the one uploaded dashboard.
• obs-migrate upload --help, datadog-migrate --help, grafana-migrate --help — confirm flags for the installed version.
• docs/command-contract.md — upload, cluster, and live-extraction flags and artifacts (online docs / repo).