Query management in Explore
This documentation topic is designed for Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 9.x.
For Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 10.x, see Working in Grafana version 10.
For Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 8.x, see Working in Grafana version 8.
To help with debugging queries, Explore allows you to investigate query requests and responses, as well as query statistics, via the Query inspector. This functionality is similar to the panel inspector tasks Inspect query performance and Inspect query request and response data.
Query history
Query history is a list of queries that you used in Explore. The history is stored in the Grafana database and it is not shared with other users. The retention period for queries in history is two weeks. Queries older than two weeks are automatically deleted. To open and interact with your history, select the Query history button in Explore.
Note
Starred (favorited) queries are not subject to the two weeks retention period and they are not deleted.
View query history
Query history lets you view the history of your querying. For each individual query, you can:
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Run a query.
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Create and/or edit a comment.
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Copy a query to the clipboard.
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Copy a shortened link with the query to the clipboard.
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Star (favorite) a query.
Manage favorite queries
All queries that have been starred in the Query history tab are displayed in the Starred list. This allows you to access your favorite queries faster and to reuse these queries without typing them from scratch.
Sorting query history
By default, query history shows you the most recent queries. You can sort your history by date or by data source name in ascending or descending order.
To sort your query history
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Select the Sort queries by field.
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Select one of the following options:
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Newest first
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Oldest first
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Filtering query history
You can filter your query history in Query history and Starred tab to a specific data source.
Filtering history to a data source
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Select the Filter queries for specific data source(s) field.
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Select the data source for which you would like to filter your history. You can select multiple data sources.
In the Query history tab it is also possible to filter queries by date using the slider:
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Use the vertical slider to filter queries by date.
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Adjust the start date by dragging the top handle.
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Adjust the end date by dragging the top handle.
Searching in query history
You can search in your history across queries and your comments. Search is possible for queries in the Query history tab and Starred tab.
To search in query history
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Select the Search queries field.
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Enter the term you are searching for into search field.
Query history settings
You can customize the query history in the Settings tab. Options are described in the table below.
| Setting | Default value |
|---|---|
| Change the default active tab | Query history tab |
Note
Query history settings are global, and applied to both panels in split mode.
Prometheus-specific Features
Explore features a custom querying experience for Prometheus. When a query is run, it actually runs two queries, a normal Prometheus query for the graph and an Instant Query for the table. An Instant Query returns the last value for each time series which shows a good summary of the data shown in the graph.
Metrics explorer
On the left side of the query field, choose Metrics to open the Metric Explorer. This shows a hierarchical
menu with metrics grouped by their prefix. For example, all Alertmanager metrics
are grouped under the alertmanager prefix. This
is a good starting point if you just want to explore which metrics are
available.
Query field
The Query field supports autocomplete for metric names and functions, comparable to the standard Prometheus query editor. You can press the Enter key to create a new line and Shift+Enter to run a query.
The autocomplete menu can be triggered by pressing Ctrl+Space. The Autocomplete menu contains a new History section with a list of recently run queries.
Suggestions can appear under the query field - select on them to update your query with the suggested change.
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For counters (monotonically increasing metrics), a rate function will be suggested.
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For buckets, a histogram function will be suggested.
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For recording rules, possible to expand the rules.
Table filters
Select the filter button in the label column of a Table panel to add filters to the query expression. You can add filters for multiple queries as well - the filter is added for all the queries.
