Grafana import Tool

Export and import Grafana dashboards using the Grafana HTTP API and grafana-client.

Features

• Export dashboards into JSON format.
• Import dashboards into Grafana, both in native JSON format, or emitted by dashboard builders, supporting dashboard-as-code workflows.
  • Supported builders are Grafonnet, grafana-dashboard, grafanalib, and any other executable program which emits Grafana Dashboard JSON on STDOUT.
  • The import action preserves the version history of dashboards.
• Watchdog: For a maximum of authoring and editing efficiency, the watchdog monitors the input dashboard for changes on disk, and re-uploads it to the Grafana API, when changed.
• Remove dashboards.

Installation

pip install --upgrade 'grafana-import[builder]'

The command outlined above describes a full installation of grafana-import, including support for dashboard builders, aka. dashboard-as-code.

Ad Hoc Usage

You can use grafana-import in ad hoc mode without a configuration file.

Getting started

In order to do some orientation flights, start a Grafana instance using Podman or Docker.

docker run --rm -it --name=grafana --publish=3000:3000 \
  --env='GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin' grafana/grafana:latest

If you don't have any Grafana dashboard representations at hand, you can acquire some from the examples directory within the grafana-import repository, like this.

wget https://github.com/grafana-toolbox/grafana-snippets/raw/main/dashboard/native-play-influxdb.json
wget https://github.com/grafana-toolbox/grafana-snippets/raw/main/dashboard/gd-prometheus.py

Define Grafana endpoint.

export GRAFANA_URL=http://admin:admin@localhost:3000

Import from JSON

Import a dashboard from a JSON file.

grafana-import import -i native-play-influxdb.json

Import using a builder

Import a dashboard emitted by a dashboard builder, overwriting it when a dashboard with the same name already exists in the same folder.

grafana-import import --overwrite -i gd-prometheus.py

Import using reloading

Watch the input dashboard for changes on disk, and re-upload it, when changed.

grafana-import import --overwrite --reload -i gd-prometheus.py

Import dashboards from a directory

Import all dashboards from provided directory

grafana-import import -i "./dashboards_folder"

Export

Export the dashboard titled my-first-dashboard to the default export directory.

grafana-import export --pretty -d "my-first-dashboard"

Delete

Delete the dashboard titled my-first-dashboard from folder Applications.

grafana-import remove -f Applications -d "my-first-dashboard"

Usage with Configuration File

You can also use grafana-import with a configuration file. In this way, you can manage and use different Grafana connection profiles, and also use presets for application-wide configuration settings.

The configuration is stored in a YAML file. In order to use it optimally, build a directory structure like this:

grafana-import/
- conf/grafana-import.yml
  Path to your main configuration file.
- exports/
  Path where exported dashboards will be stored.
- imports/
  Path where dashboards are imported from.

Then, enter into your directory, and type in your commands.

The configuration file uses two sections, general, and grafana.

general section

Configure program directories.

• debug: enable verbose (debug) trace (for dev only...)
• export_suffix: when exporting a dashboard, append that suffix to the file name. The suffix can contain plain text and pattern that is translated with strftime command.
• export_path: where to store the exported dashboards.
• import_path: where to load the dashboards before to import then into grafana server.

grafana section

Grafana authentication settings. You can define multiple Grafana access configuration sections using different settings for api_key or Grafana server URL.

• label: A label to refer this Grafana server, e.g. default
  • protocol, host, port: use to build the access url
  • verify_ssl: to check ssl certificate or not
  • token: APIKEY with admin right from Grafana to access the REST API.
  • search_api_limit: the maximum element to retrieve on search over API.

---

  general:
    debug: false
    import_folder: test_import

  grafana:
    default:
      protocol: http
      host: localhost
      port: 3000
      token: "____APIKEY____"
      search_api_limit: 5000
      verify_ssl: true

Authentication

In order to connect to Grafana, you can use either vanilla credentials (username/password), or an authentication token. Because grafana-import uses grafana-client, the same features for defining authentication settings can be used. See also grafana-client authentication variants.

Vanilla credentials can be embedded into the Grafana URL, to be supplied using the --grafana_url command line argument, or the GRAFANA_URL environment variable. For specifying a Grafana authentication token without using a configuration file, use the GRAFANA_TOKEN environment variable.

Builders

grafana-import provides support for dashboard-as-code builders.

To get inspired what you can do, by reading more examples, please also visit grafonnet examples, grafana-dashboard examples, and grafanalib examples.

Grafonnet

Grafonnet is a Jsonnet library for generating Grafana dashboards.

The library is generated from JSON Schemas generated by Grok. In turn, these schemas are generated directly from the Grafana repository, in order to ensure Grafonnet is always synchronized with the development of Grafana without much friction.

Install

Install Jsonnet, and its jsonnet-bundler package manager.

brew install go-jsonnet jsonnet-bundler

Install Grafonnet into a Jsonnet project.

git clone https://github.com/grafana-toolbox/grafana-snippets
cd grafana-snippets/dashboard/grafonnet-simple
jb install github.com/grafana/grafonnet/gen/grafonnet-latest@main

Usage

Render dashboard defined in Grafonnet/Jsonnet.

grafana-import import --overwrite -i ./path/to/faro.jsonnet

grafana-dashboard

Render dashboard defined using grafana-dashboard.

grafana-import import --overwrite -i ./path/to/gd-dashboard.py

grafanalib

Render dashboard defined using grafanalib.

grafana-import import --overwrite -i ./path/to/gl-dashboard.py

Help

grafana-import --help

usage: grafana-import [-h] [-a] [-b BASE_PATH] [-c CONFIG_FILE]
                      [-d DASHBOARD_NAME] [-g GRAFANA_LABEL]
                      [-f GRAFANA_FOLDER] [-i DASHBOARD_FILE] [-o] [-p] [-v] [-k]
                      [-V]
                      [ACTION]

play with grafana dashboards json files.

positional arguments:
  ACTION                action to perform. Is one of 'export', 'import'
                        (default), or 'remove'.
                        export: lookup for dashboard name in Grafana and dump
                          it to local file.
                        import: import a local dashboard file (previously 
                          exported) to Grafana.
                        remove: lookup for dashboard name in Grafana and remove
                          it from Grafana server.


optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -a, --allow_new       if a dashboard with same name exists in an another
                        folder, allow to create a new dashboard with same name
                        it that folder.
  -b BASE_PATH, --base_path BASE_PATH
                        set base directory to find default files.
  -c CONFIG_FILE, --config_file CONFIG_FILE
                        path to config files.
  -d DASHBOARD_NAME, --dashboard_name DASHBOARD_NAME
                        name of dashboard to export.
  -u GRAFANA_URL, --grafana_url GRAFANA_URL
                        Grafana URL to connect to.
  -g GRAFANA_LABEL, --grafana_label GRAFANA_LABEL
                        label in the config file that represents the grafana to
                        connect to.
  -f GRAFANA_FOLDER, --grafana_folder GRAFANA_FOLDER
                        the folder name where to import into Grafana.
  -i DASHBOARD_FILE, --dashboard_file DASHBOARD_FILE
                        path to the dashboard file to import into Grafana.
  -k  --keep_uid        keep uid defined in dashboard file to import into Grafana. When dashboard is overriden, the uid is also overriden.
  -o, --overwrite       if a dashboard with same name exists in folder,
                        overwrite it with this new one.
  -r, --reload          Watch the input dashboard for changes on disk, and
                        re-upload it, when changed.
  -p, --pretty          use JSON indentation when exporting or extraction of
                        dashboards.
  -v, --verbose         verbose mode; display log message to stdout.
  -V, --version         display program version and exit.

Prior Art

• https://grafana.com/blog/2020/02/26/how-to-configure-grafana-as-code/
• https://grafana.com/blog/2022/12/06/a-complete-guide-to-managing-grafana-as-code-tools-tips-and-tricks/
• https://grafana.github.io/grizzly/ https://grafana.github.io/grizzly/what-is-grizzly/
• https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/grafana/grafana/dashboard_module.html#ansible-collections-grafana-grafana-dashboard-module
• https://blog.kevingomez.fr/2023/03/07/three-years-of-grafana-dashboards-as-code/
• https://github.com/K-Phoen/grabana
• https://github.com/K-Phoen/dark
• https://github.com/grafana/scenes

Contributing

Contributions are welcome, and they are greatly appreciated. You can contribute in many ways, and credit will always be given.

For learning more how to contribute, see the contribution guidelines and learn how to set up a development sandbox.