grafana-helper

name	grafana-helper
description	Complete Grafana operations via REST API - dashboards, Prometheus/Loki queries, alerting, annotations, Sift When user mentions Grafana, dashboards, Prometheus, Loki, metrics, logs, alerts, PromQL, LogQL

Grafana Helper Agent

Overview

Complete Grafana operations via REST API. This skill replaces Grafana MCP server functionality, providing API equivalents for all operations.

MCP Tool Equivalents Reference

MCP Tool	API Equivalent
search_dashboards	curl "$URL/api/search?query=..."
get_dashboard_by_uid	curl "$URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}"
get_dashboard_summary	Parse dashboard JSON response
get_dashboard_property	jq on dashboard JSON
get_dashboard_panel_queries	Extract from dashboard JSON
update_dashboard	curl -X POST "$URL/api/dashboards/db"
list_datasources	curl "$URL/api/datasources"
get_datasource_by_uid	curl "$URL/api/datasources/uid/{uid}"
get_datasource_by_name	curl "$URL/api/datasources/name/{name}"
query_prometheus	curl "$URL/api/ds/query"
list_prometheus_metric_names	curl "$URL/api/datasources/proxy/{id}/api/v1/label/__name__/values"
list_prometheus_label_names	curl "$URL/api/datasources/proxy/{id}/api/v1/labels"
list_prometheus_label_values	curl "$URL/api/datasources/proxy/{id}/api/v1/label/{name}/values"
list_prometheus_metric_metadata	curl "$URL/api/datasources/proxy/{id}/api/v1/metadata"
query_loki_logs	curl "$URL/api/ds/query"
query_loki_stats	curl "$URL/api/datasources/proxy/{id}/loki/api/v1/index/stats"
list_loki_label_names	curl "$URL/api/datasources/proxy/{id}/loki/api/v1/labels"
list_loki_label_values	curl "$URL/api/datasources/proxy/{id}/loki/api/v1/label/{name}/values"
list_alert_rules	curl "$URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules"
get_alert_rule_by_uid	curl "$URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules/{uid}"
create_alert_rule	curl -X POST "$URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules"
update_alert_rule	curl -X PUT "$URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules/{uid}"
delete_alert_rule	curl -X DELETE "$URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules/{uid}"
list_contact_points	curl "$URL/api/v1/provisioning/contact-points"
get_annotations	curl "$URL/api/annotations"
create_annotation	curl -X POST "$URL/api/annotations"
update_annotation	curl -X PUT "$URL/api/annotations/{id}"
patch_annotation	curl -X PATCH "$URL/api/annotations/{id}"
create_graphite_annotation	curl -X POST "$URL/api/annotations/graphite"
get_annotation_tags	curl "$URL/api/annotations/tags"
create_folder	curl -X POST "$URL/api/folders"
search_folders	curl "$URL/api/search?type=dash-folder"
list_sift_investigations	curl "$URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations"
get_sift_investigation	curl "$URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations/{id}"
get_sift_analysis	curl "$URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations/{id}/analyses/{id}"
find_error_pattern_logs	Via Sift plugin API
find_slow_requests	Via Sift plugin API
get_assertions	Via Asserts plugin API

Configuration

# Set environment variables
export GRAFANA_URL="https://your-grafana.com"
export GRAFANA_API_KEY="your-api-key"

# Service account tokens also use GRAFANA_API_KEY
# export GRAFANA_API_KEY="glsa_..."

# Auth header helper
AUTH="Authorization: Bearer $GRAFANA_API_KEY"

# Test connection
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/health"

---

Dashboard Operations

Search Dashboards

# Search all dashboards
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/search?type=dash-db"

# Search by query
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/search?query=kubernetes"

# Search by tag
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/search?tag=monitoring"

# Search in folder
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/search?folderIds=1,2"

# Search starred dashboards
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/search?starred=true"

# JSON output with jq
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/search?query=api" | \
  jq '.[] | {uid, title, folderTitle}'

Get Dashboard by UID

# Get full dashboard
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}"

# Extract just the dashboard JSON
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | jq '.dashboard'

# Get dashboard metadata
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | jq '.meta'

Get Dashboard Summary

# Get summary info (title, panel count, etc.)
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | \
  jq '{
    title: .dashboard.title,
    uid: .dashboard.uid,
    panelCount: (.dashboard.panels | length),
    tags: .dashboard.tags,
    folder: .meta.folderTitle,
    url: .meta.url
  }'

Get Dashboard Property (JSONPath)

# Get title
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | jq '.dashboard.title'

# Get all panel titles
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | jq '.dashboard.panels[].title'

# Get first panel
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | jq '.dashboard.panels[0]'

# Get templating variables
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | jq '.dashboard.templating.list'

# Get all queries from panels
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | \
  jq '.dashboard.panels[].targets[]?.expr // empty'

Get Dashboard Panel Queries

# Extract panel queries with datasource info
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}" | \
  jq '.dashboard.panels[] | {
    title: .title,
    type: .type,
    datasource: .datasource,
    queries: [.targets[]? | {expr: .expr, refId: .refId}]
  }'

Update/Create Dashboard

# Create/update dashboard
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/db" \
  -d '{
    "dashboard": {
      "title": "My Dashboard",
      "tags": ["monitoring"],
      "panels": [],
      "schemaVersion": 36,
      "version": 0
    },
    "folderUid": "folder-uid",
    "message": "Initial version",
    "overwrite": false
  }'

# Update existing (with overwrite)
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/db" \
  -d '{
    "dashboard": {...},
    "overwrite": true
  }'

Delete Dashboard

curl -X DELETE -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/{uid}"

---

Folder Operations

Search Folders

# List all folders
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/search?type=dash-folder"

# Get folder by UID
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/folders/{uid}"

# List folders
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/folders"

Create Folder

# Create folder
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/folders" \
  -d '{
    "title": "My Folder"
  }'

# Create with custom UID
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/folders" \
  -d '{
    "uid": "my-folder-uid",
    "title": "My Folder"
  }'

# Create nested folder (under parent)
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/folders" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Child Folder",
    "parentUid": "parent-folder-uid"
  }'

---

Datasource Operations

List Datasources

# List all datasources
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources"

# List with details
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources" | \
  jq '.[] | {id, uid, name, type, url, isDefault}'

# Filter by type
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources" | \
  jq '.[] | select(.type == "prometheus")'

Get Datasource by UID

curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/uid/{uid}"

Get Datasource by Name

curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/name/{name}"

Get Datasource by ID

curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/{id}"

---

Prometheus Queries

Query Prometheus

# Using unified query API (recommended)
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/ds/query" \
  -d '{
    "queries": [{
      "refId": "A",
      "datasource": {"type": "prometheus", "uid": "datasource-uid"},
      "expr": "up",
      "instant": false,
      "range": true,
      "intervalMs": 15000,
      "maxDataPoints": 1000
    }],
    "from": "now-1h",
    "to": "now"
  }'

# Instant query
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/ds/query" \
  -d '{
    "queries": [{
      "refId": "A",
      "datasource": {"type": "prometheus", "uid": "datasource-uid"},
      "expr": "up",
      "instant": true
    }],
    "from": "now",
    "to": "now"
  }'

# Via datasource proxy
DATASOURCE_ID=1
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode "query=up" \
  --data-urlencode "start=$(date -d '1 hour ago' +%s)" \
  --data-urlencode "end=$(date +%s)" \
  --data-urlencode "step=60" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/query_range"

List Prometheus Metric Names

# Get all metric names
curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/label/__name__/values"

# Filter by regex (use match[] param)
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode 'match[]={__name__=~"http.*"}' \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/label/__name__/values"

List Prometheus Label Names

# All label names
curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/labels"

# Labels for specific metric
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode 'match[]={__name__="http_requests_total"}' \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/labels"

List Prometheus Label Values

# Values for specific label
curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/label/job/values"

# Values with filter
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode 'match[]={__name__="http_requests_total"}' \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/label/status/values"

List Prometheus Metric Metadata

# All metadata
curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/metadata"

# Specific metric
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode "metric=http_requests_total" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/metadata"

---

Loki Queries

Query Loki Logs

# Using unified query API
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/ds/query" \
  -d '{
    "queries": [{
      "refId": "A",
      "datasource": {"type": "loki", "uid": "loki-uid"},
      "expr": "{job=\"app\"} |= \"error\"",
      "queryType": "range",
      "maxLines": 100
    }],
    "from": "now-1h",
    "to": "now"
  }'

# Via datasource proxy
LOKI_ID=2
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode 'query={job="app"} |= "error"' \
  --data-urlencode "start=$(date -d '1 hour ago' +%s)000000000" \
  --data-urlencode "end=$(date +%s)000000000" \
  --data-urlencode "limit=100" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$LOKI_ID/loki/api/v1/query_range"

Query Loki Stats

# Get stream stats
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode 'query={job="app"}' \
  --data-urlencode "start=$(date -d '1 hour ago' +%s)000000000" \
  --data-urlencode "end=$(date +%s)000000000" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$LOKI_ID/loki/api/v1/index/stats"

List Loki Label Names

curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$LOKI_ID/loki/api/v1/labels"

# With time range
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode "start=$(date -d '1 hour ago' +%s)000000000" \
  --data-urlencode "end=$(date +%s)000000000" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$LOKI_ID/loki/api/v1/labels"

List Loki Label Values

# Values for label
curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$LOKI_ID/loki/api/v1/label/job/values"

# With time range
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode "start=$(date -d '1 hour ago' +%s)000000000" \
  --data-urlencode "end=$(date +%s)000000000" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$LOKI_ID/loki/api/v1/label/job/values"

---

Alerting

List Alert Rules

# All alert rules
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules"

# Legacy alerting API
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/ruler/grafana/api/v1/rules"

# By folder
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/ruler/grafana/api/v1/rules/{folderName}"

Get Alert Rule by UID

curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules/{uid}"

Create Alert Rule

curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules" \
  -d '{
    "title": "High CPU Usage",
    "ruleGroup": "my-group",
    "folderUID": "folder-uid",
    "condition": "A",
    "data": [{
      "refId": "A",
      "datasourceUid": "prometheus-uid",
      "model": {
        "expr": "avg(rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{mode!=\"idle\"}[5m])) > 0.8",
        "instant": true
      }
    }],
    "noDataState": "NoData",
    "execErrState": "Error",
    "for": "5m",
    "labels": {"severity": "warning"},
    "annotations": {"summary": "CPU usage above 80%"}
  }'

Update Alert Rule

curl -X PUT -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules/{uid}" \
  -d '{...}'

Delete Alert Rule

curl -X DELETE -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/v1/provisioning/alert-rules/{uid}"

List Contact Points

curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/v1/provisioning/contact-points"

# Filter by name
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/v1/provisioning/contact-points?name=slack"

---

Annotations

Get Annotations

# All annotations
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations"

# With filters
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode "dashboardUID=dashboard-uid" \
  --data-urlencode "from=$(date -d '24 hours ago' +%s)000" \
  --data-urlencode "to=$(date +%s)000" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations"

# By tags
curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode "tags=deployment" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations"

# Limit results
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations?limit=100"

Create Annotation

# Dashboard annotation
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations" \
  -d '{
    "dashboardUID": "dashboard-uid",
    "panelId": 1,
    "time": 1234567890000,
    "timeEnd": 1234567900000,
    "text": "Deployment started",
    "tags": ["deployment", "v1.2.0"]
  }'

# Global annotation (no dashboard)
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations" \
  -d '{
    "time": '$(date +%s)000',
    "text": "System maintenance",
    "tags": ["maintenance"]
  }'

Update Annotation

curl -X PUT -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations/{id}" \
  -d '{
    "text": "Updated annotation text",
    "tags": ["updated", "tag"]
  }'

Patch Annotation

curl -X PATCH -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations/{id}" \
  -d '{
    "text": "Partially updated text"
  }'

Create Graphite Annotation

curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations/graphite" \
  -d '{
    "what": "Deployment",
    "tags": ["deploy", "production"],
    "when": 1234567890,
    "data": "v1.2.0"
  }'

Get Annotation Tags

curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations/tags"

# Filter by tag prefix
curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations/tags?tag=deploy"

Delete Annotation

curl -X DELETE -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations/{id}"

---

Sift Investigations (Grafana Cloud)

List Sift Investigations

curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations"

# With limit
curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations?limit=10"

Get Sift Investigation

curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations/{id}"

Get Sift Analysis

curl -H "$AUTH" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations/{investigationId}/analyses/{analysisId}"

Find Error Pattern Logs

# Create investigation for error patterns
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Error Pattern Analysis",
    "type": "error-patterns",
    "labels": {"app": "my-app", "env": "production"},
    "start": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "end": "2024-01-01T01:00:00Z"
  }'

Find Slow Requests

# Create investigation for slow requests
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/plugins/grafana-sift-app/resources/investigations" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Slow Request Analysis",
    "type": "slow-requests",
    "labels": {"service": "api-gateway"},
    "start": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "end": "2024-01-01T01:00:00Z"
  }'

---

Asserts (Grafana Cloud)

Get Assertions

curl -G -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode "entityType=Service" \
  --data-urlencode "entityName=my-service" \
  --data-urlencode "startTime=2024-01-01T00:00:00Z" \
  --data-urlencode "endTime=2024-01-01T01:00:00Z" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/plugins/grafana-asserts-app/resources/assertions"

---

Common Workflows

Dashboard Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p dashboards-backup

curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/search?type=dash-db" | \
  jq -r '.[] | .uid' | \
  while read uid; do
    echo "Backing up: $uid"
    curl -H "$AUTH" "$GRAFANA_URL/api/dashboards/uid/$uid" | \
      jq '.dashboard' > "dashboards-backup/${uid}.json"
  done

Metrics Health Check

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== System Health ==="

# CPU usage
curl -sG -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode 'query=100 - (avg(rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{mode="idle"}[5m])) * 100)' \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/query" | \
  jq -r '.data.result[0].value[1] | "CPU: \(.)%"'

# Memory usage
curl -sG -H "$AUTH" \
  --data-urlencode 'query=100 * (1 - node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes / node_memory_MemTotal_bytes)' \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/datasources/proxy/$DATASOURCE_ID/api/v1/query" | \
  jq -r '.data.result[0].value[1] | "Memory: \(.)%"'

Deployment Annotation

#!/bin/bash
VERSION=$1
curl -X POST -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$GRAFANA_URL/api/annotations" \
  -d "{
    \"time\": $(date +%s)000,
    \"text\": \"Deployed version $VERSION\",
    \"tags\": [\"deployment\", \"$VERSION\"]
  }"

---

PromQL Examples

# CPU usage
rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{mode!="idle"}[5m])

# Memory usage
node_memory_MemTotal_bytes - node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes

# HTTP request rate
rate(http_requests_total[5m])

# Error rate percentage
rate(http_requests_total{status=~"5.."}[5m]) / rate(http_requests_total[5m]) * 100

# Latency p95
histogram_quantile(0.95, rate(http_request_duration_seconds_bucket[5m]))

# Up/down status
up{job="my-service"}

LogQL Examples

# Errors in last hour
{job="app"} |= "error"

# JSON parsing
{job="app"} | json | level="error"

# Regex match
{job="app"} |~ "failed.*connection"

# Count by service
sum by (service) (count_over_time({job="app"}[1h]))

# Rate of errors
rate({job="app"} |= "error" [5m])

# Label filtering
{namespace="production", app=~"api-.*"}

---

When to Ask for Help

Ask the user for clarification when:

• Grafana URL or API key is not specified
• Datasource UID or ID is ambiguous
• Dashboard UID or folder location is unclear
• PromQL/LogQL query syntax needs validation
• Time range format or timezone considerations are uncertain
• Sift/Asserts features require Grafana Cloud