Grafana

grafana-skill

Programmatically manage Grafana resources using TypeScript tools and HTTP API workflows.

Workflow Routing

Tools

DashboardCrud CLI

# Set environment variables
export GRAFANA_URL="https://grafana.example.com"
export GRAFANA_TOKEN="your-service-account-token"

# List dashboards
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts list
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts list --query production --tag monitoring

# Get dashboard by UID
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts get abc123

# Export dashboard to JSON
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts export abc123 --output dashboard.json

# Create dashboard from JSON file
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts create --file dashboard.json --folder my-folder

# Update dashboard
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts update abc123 --file updated.json --message "Updated panels"

# Clone dashboard
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts clone abc123 --title "Production Copy" --folder prod-folder

# View version history
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts versions abc123

# Restore to previous version
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts restore abc123 --version 5

# Delete dashboard
bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts delete abc123

GrafanaClient TypeScript Library

import { GrafanaClient, createGrafanaClient } from './Tools/GrafanaClient';

// Initialize from environment variables
const client = createGrafanaClient();

// Or with explicit config
const client = new GrafanaClient({
  baseUrl: 'https://grafana.example.com',
  token: 'your-service-account-token',
  orgId: 1, // optional
});

// Dashboard operations
const dashboards = await client.searchDashboards({ query: 'production', tag: 'monitoring' });
const dashboard = await client.getDashboardByUid('abc123');
const saved = await client.saveDashboard({ dashboard: myDashboard, folderUid: 'folder-uid' });
await client.deleteDashboard('abc123');

// Version management
const versions = await client.getDashboardVersions('abc123');
await client.restoreDashboardVersion('abc123', 5);

// Folders, Data sources, Alerting, Annotations also available

Authentication

# Service Account Token (Recommended)
export GRAFANA_TOKEN="glsa_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

# Multi-Organization Header
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $GRAFANA_TOKEN" \
     -H "X-Grafana-Org-Id: 2" \
     https://grafana.example.com/api/org

Quick API Reference

Reference Documentation

• Dashboards: Complete dashboard CRUD, versions, permissions
• DataSources: Data source management, queries, health checks
• Alerting: Alert rules, contact points, notification policies
• Folders: Folder management and permissions
• Annotations: Create, query, update annotations
• UsersTeams: User management, team operations
• CommonPatterns: Error handling, pagination, utilities

Examples

Example 1: List and export dashboards

User: "List all production dashboards and export them"
→ bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts list --tag production
→ For each: bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts export <uid>
→ Returns list of exported JSON files

Example 2: Create dashboard from JSON

User: "Create a new dashboard from this JSON file"
→ bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts create --file dashboard.json --folder monitoring
→ Returns new dashboard UID and URL

Example 3: Clone dashboard to another folder

User: "Clone the CPU dashboard to the production folder"
→ bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts clone cpu-uid --title "CPU Prod" --folder prod-folder
→ Returns cloned dashboard details

Example 4: Restore dashboard version

User: "Restore dashboard abc123 to version 5"
→ bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts versions abc123
→ bun run Tools/DashboardCrud.ts restore abc123 --version 5
→ Dashboard restored, new version created

Example 5: Programmatic bulk update

User: "Write TypeScript to bulk update dashboard tags"
→ Uses GrafanaClient library:
   const client = createGrafanaClient();
   const dashboards = await client.searchDashboards({ tag: 'old-tag' });
   for (const dash of dashboards) {
     const full = await client.getDashboardByUid(dash.uid);
     full.dashboard.tags = full.dashboard.tags.filter(t => t !== 'old-tag');
     full.dashboard.tags.push('new-tag');
     await client.saveDashboard({ dashboard: full.dashboard, message: 'Updated tags' });
   }

Error Handling

Tips

1. Use UIDs over IDs: UIDs are portable across Grafana instances
2. Include version for updates: Prevents overwriting concurrent changes
3. Use overwrite: true carefully: Only when you want to force-update
4. Service accounts over API keys: API keys are deprecated in newer Grafana versions

Gotchas

• Datasource permission: viewers can see the panel but get "query forbidden" if the datasource has explicit per-team permissions — confusing for non-admin users.
• Variable interpolation: $__interval and $__name are interpreted differently in legacy vs newer query backends; same dashboard JSON behaves differently.
• Provisioning datasources via YAML under /etc/grafana/provisioning: edits via UI are silently reverted on file re-read; pick one source of truth.
• API tokens are per-org — multi-org Grafana setups need separate tokens; a global "admin" token doesn't span orgs.
• Annotation queries with missing time-field return zero annotations without error — debug by checking the raw query response, not the panel.
• Alert rule state lives in the Grafana DB, not in Prometheus — rolling Grafana back loses alert state history.