gcx

name	gcx
description	Manages Grafana Cloud resources via the gcx CLI. Trigger when the user wants to inspect, create, update, delete, query, or automate any Grafana resource - dashboards, datasources, alerts, SLOs, synthetic checks, oncall, incidents, fleet, k6, knowledge graph, or adaptive telemetry.
user-invocable	true
disable-model-invocation	false
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, Agent, AskUserQuestion

gcx — Grafana Cloud CLI

gcx is a unified CLI for Grafana Cloud, organized like kubectl: named contexts, structured output, and a consistent verb model across all resource types.

Discover Before You Act

gcx has a built-in command catalog. Never guess a command — discover it first. Use progressive disclosure to minimize token cost:

Step 1 — Orient (30 lines, all top-level groups):

gcx help-tree --depth 1 -o text

Step 2 — Drill down (5-20 lines per group):

gcx help-tree <group> -o text      # full subtree for one group
gcx <group> <subcommand> --help    # exact flags and args

Build payloads:

gcx resources schemas <kind>        # JSON schema for a resource type
gcx resources examples <kind>       # example manifest

Only fall back to gcx commands --flat -o json when you need structured metadata for automation - the output is hundreds of kilobytes and unsuitable for orientation.

Intent-to-Group Quick Reference

When you already know the user's intent, skip discovery and go straight to the right group:

Intent	Group	Example
Dashboards, folders, K8s resources	resources	gcx resources get dashboards
SLO definitions and reports	slo	gcx slo definitions list
Alert rules and groups	alert	gcx alert rules list
Synthetic Monitoring checks	synthetic-monitoring	gcx synthetic-monitoring checks list
IRM (OnCall + Incidents)	irm	gcx irm oncall schedules list, gcx irm incidents list
k6 load tests, projects, runs	k6	gcx k6 load-tests list
PromQL / Adaptive Metrics	metrics	gcx metrics query -d <uid> 'up'
LogQL / Adaptive Logs	logs	gcx logs query -d <uid> '{app="foo"}'
Profiling (Pyroscope)	profiles	gcx profiles query
Tracing (Tempo)	traces	gcx traces query -d <uid> '{ status = error }' (see Tempo LLM-friendly output below)
Datasource info and queries	datasources	gcx datasources list
Fleet pipelines, collectors	fleet	gcx fleet pipelines list
Knowledge Graph (Asserts)	kg	gcx kg entities list
Frontend Observability	frontend	gcx frontend apps list
App Observability	appo11y	gcx appo11y overrides get

If no command exists for the requested operation, say so and propose the nearest supported flow.

Avoid Raw API Passthrough

Do not use gcx api when a dedicated command exists. gcx api is a low-level fallback for endpoints not yet covered by dedicated commands. Dedicated commands provide proper output formatting, pagination, error handling, and token-efficient output. Check the intent-to-group table above first.

Similarly, prefer gcx metrics query over gcx datasources query <prometheus-uid> for PromQL queries — the signal-specific command handles datasource resolution automatically.

Verify Context First

Before any operation, confirm which environment is targeted:

• gcx config check — validates the active context and tests connectivity
• gcx config view — shows full config (secrets redacted; use --raw to reveal)
• gcx config current-context — shows just the active context name
• gcx config use-context <name> — switch contexts
• --context <name> flag on any command — target a specific context without switching

Output Control

Intent	Flag
Structured output for parsing	-o json
Field selection	--json <field1,field2> (use --json list or --json ? to discover fields)
Full table output (no truncation)	--no-truncate
YAML output	-o yaml
Wide table with extra columns	-o wide

Default to -o json when working programmatically.

Safe Mutation Workflow

Follow this sequence for any change. Skip steps only when the user explicitly asks for speed.

1. Verify context — confirm which environment is targeted
2. Read current state — list or get the resource first
3. Build from template — use schemas/examples output, not hand-crafted payloads
4. Preview — use --dry-run where available before applying
5. Apply — create, update, or delete
6. Verify — re-read the resource to confirm the change landed

Key Flags for Operations

Intent	Flag
Preview without changing anything	--dry-run
Target a specific context	--context <name>
Continue on errors vs stop	--on-error fail|ignore|abort
Control concurrency	--max-concurrent <n> (default 10)

Resource Operations

The gcx resources group handles CRUD for Grafana's K8s-tier resources:

• get — list or fetch resources
• push — create or update from local files
• pull — export resources to local files
• delete — remove resources
• edit — edit resources interactively
• validate — validate local files against a live instance
• schemas — discover available resource types and their schemas
• examples — get example manifests for resource types

All resource commands accept selectors: gcx resources get dashboards, gcx resources get dashboards/my-dash, gcx resources get dashboards folders.

Datasource Queries

The gcx datasources group provides typed query interfaces:

• list / get — discover available datasources (get -o yaml emits an apply-ready manifest)
• prometheus — PromQL queries (query, labels, metadata, targets)
• loki — LogQL queries (query, labels, series)
• pyroscope — profiling queries
• tempo — trace queries
• generic — auto-detect datasource type

Use gcx datasources <type> --help to discover type-specific flags.

Datasource lifecycle (declarative CRUD)

Manage datasource instances with Kubernetes-style manifests (file or stdin):

• create -f FILE / update UID -f FILE — apply a manifest; --dry-run previews a secret-redacted diff. Secrets go in the top-level secure block via {create: <value>}, {fromEnv: <VAR>}, or {fromFile: <path>} — never on argv.
• delete UID... — prompts unless --force/--yes (auto-approved in agent mode); batch-safe with partial-failure exit code 4.
• health [UID] — exit 0 healthy, 4 unhealthy (resource failure), 1/2/3 command failure.
• schemas get --type <plugin> — plugin configuration schema (when the server serves the datasource app-platform API).

Custom HTTP headers use the flat convention: name in jsonData.httpHeaderName{N}, value (secret) in secure.httpHeaderValue{N}.

Tempo LLM-friendly output for agents

When fetching Tempo tag values or full trace bodies for this agent to inspect, summarize, debug, or include in a prompt, prefer Tempo's compact LLM-friendly encoding:

# Attribute values grouped by type instead of repeated {type,value} objects.
gcx traces tags -d <tempo-uid> -l resource.service.name --llm -o json

# Full trace body in Tempo's LLM-friendly trace encoding.
gcx traces get -d <tempo-uid> <trace-id> --llm -o json
# equivalent legacy path:
gcx datasources tempo get -d <tempo-uid> <trace-id> --llm -o json

Use gcx traces labels -d <tempo-uid> to discover attribute names first. Use gcx traces query to find trace IDs, then gcx traces get --llm -o json to inspect a selected trace. Omit --llm only when the user explicitly needs raw Tempo/OTLP JSON or the standard tagValues: [{type, value}] shape for schema/debugging work.

Grafana Assistant

gcx provides direct access to the Grafana Assistant — use it for reasoning and exploration, not data retrieval. Deterministic commands are faster and cheaper for known queries; the Assistant adds value when you need intelligence.

Situation	Use	Example
You know the exact query	Deterministic command	gcx metrics query 'rate(http_requests_total[5m])'
You don't know which metrics/labels exist	gcx assistant prompt	"What metrics exist for the checkout service?"
You need cross-signal root cause analysis	gcx assistant investigations	Multi-agent parallel exploration across metrics, logs, traces, profiles
You need a precise, repeatable data point	Deterministic command	gcx slo definitions status, gcx alert instances list --state firing
You need to understand service dependencies	gcx assistant prompt	"How are services in namespace X connected?" — Assistant Memories know your stack topology

Commands

# Ask a question (Assistant uses Infrastructure Memories for context)
gcx assistant prompt "What services are unhealthy in namespace checkout?"

# Follow up on the previous conversation
gcx assistant prompt "Dig into the database connection issue" --continue

# Launch a deep investigation (multi-agent, parallel signal exploration)
gcx assistant investigations create --title="Checkout latency spike"

# Monitor and read results
gcx assistant investigations timeline <id>
gcx assistant investigations report <id>

Recommended Workflow: Interleave Both

1. Detect with deterministic commands — gcx alert instances list --state firing
2. Understand with the Assistant — gcx assistant prompt "Why is checkout-latency firing?"
3. Investigate if needed — gcx assistant investigations create --title="..."
4. Verify fix with deterministic commands — gcx slo definitions status <uuid>

Provider Commands

Product-specific providers register their own top-level command groups. Discover them with gcx providers, then explore with gcx <provider> --help.

Each provider adds domain-specific subcommands for managing that product's resources. The set of providers grows over time — always discover rather than hardcode.

Parallelism

gcx commands are stateless API calls. When multiple operations are independent (no output dependency between them), issue them as parallel Bash tool calls in a single message. This applies to:

• Multiple list/get calls across different resource types
• Multiple schema/example fetches
• Independent create/update operations
• Concurrent datasource queries

Only sequence commands when a later call needs output from an earlier one.

Secret Safety

Never read raw config files — they contain plaintext tokens. Use gcx config view (which redacts secrets) for inspection. When passing tokens to external tools, use shell variables rather than inline values.