Exploring Data in Grafana
The Explore view is your go-to tool for ad-hoc queries and investigations. It's designed for quick, interactive exploration of your observability data.
Opening Explore
- Click the Explore icon in the left sidebar (compass icon)
- Select your data source from the dropdown at the top
Querying Logs (Loki)
Select your Loki data source, then enter a LogQL query:
{namespace="my-namespace"} |= "error"
This finds all logs from my-namespace containing the word "error".
Common LogQL Patterns
| Pattern | Meaning |
|---|---|
{app="myapp"} | Logs from app labeled "myapp" |
|= "text" | Contains "text" |
|~ "regex" | Matches regex |
!= "text" | Does not contain "text" |
See LogQL Best Practices for query optimization tips.
Querying Metrics (Mimir)
Select your Mimir data source, then enter a PromQL query:
rate(http_requests_total{namespace="my-namespace"}[5m])
This shows the rate of HTTP requests over 5-minute windows.
Common PromQL Patterns
| Pattern | Meaning |
|---|---|
metric_name | Raw metric value |
rate(metric[5m]) | Per-second rate over 5 minutes |
sum by (label) (metric) | Aggregate by label |
For detailed PromQL documentation, see the Prometheus docs.
Viewing Traces (Tempo)
Select your Tempo data source. You can:
- Search by trace ID
- Search by service name and operation
- Find traces by duration or status
Traces show the full journey of a request across services, with timing information for each span.
Tips
- Time range: Adjust the time picker (top right) before running expensive queries
- Live tail: For logs, use the "Live" button to stream new logs in real-time
- Split view: Click "Split" to compare two queries side by side