Introduction to Grafana CLI on Grafana Labs

Install Grafana CLI

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Install Grafana CLI

You can install the project using one of the following supported methods:

1. Download a pre-built binary

Download the latest binary for your platform from the Releases page.

Prebuilt binaries are available for a variety of operating systems and architectures. Visit the latest release page, and scroll down to the Assets section.

To install the binary, follow the instructions below:

Download the archive for the desired operating system and architecture
Extract the archive
Move the executable to the desired directory
Ensure this directory is included in the PATH environment variable
Verify that you have execute permission on the file

2. Build from source

To build grafanactl from source you must:

Have git installed
Have go v1.24 (or greater) installed

go install github.com/grafana/grafanactl/cmd/grafanactl@latest

Set up Grafana CLI

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:35:46 -0500

Set up Grafana CLI

You can configure Grafana CLI in two ways: using environment variables or through a configuration file.

Environment variables are ideal for CI environments and support a single context. A full list of supported environment variables is available in the reference documentation.
Configuration files can manage multiple contexts, making it easier to switch between different Grafana instances.

Note
Configuration items may change depending on your set-up. For example, use org-id for Grafana on-prem, but use stack-id for Grafana Cloud.

Configure Grafana CLI with environment variables

Grafana CLI communicates with Grafana via its REST API, which requires authentication credentials.

At a minimum, set the URL of your Grafana instance and the organization ID:

GRAFANA_SERVER='http://localhost:3000' GRAFANA_ORG_ID='1' grafanactl config check

Depending on your authentication method, you may also need to set:

A token for a Grafana service account (recommended)
A username and password for basic authentication

To persist your configuration, consider creating a context.

Use configuration contexts

Contexts allow you to easily switch between multiple Grafana instances.

By default, the CLI uses a context named default. To configure it use:

grafanactl config set contexts.default.grafana.server http://localhost:3000
grafanactl config set contexts.default.grafana.org-id 1

# Authenticate with a service account token
grafanactl config set contexts.default.grafana.token service-account-token

# Or use basic authentication
grafanactl config set contexts.default.grafana.user admin
grafanactl config set contexts.default.grafana.password admin

You can define additional contexts in the same way:

grafanactl config set contexts.staging.grafana.server https://staging.grafana.example
grafanactl config set contexts.staging.grafana.org-id 1

Note
In these examples, default and staging are the names of the contexts.

Configure Grafana CLI with configuration files

Grafana CLI stores its configuration in a YAML file. The CLI determines the configuration file location in the following order:

If the --config flag is provided, the specified file is used.
If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/grafanactl/config.yaml
If $HOME is set: $HOME/.config/grafanactl/config.yaml
If $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS is set: $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/grafanactl/config.yaml

Note
Use grafanactl config check to display the configuration file currently in use.

Useful commands

Check the current configuration:

grafanactl config check

Note
This command is useful to troubleshoot your configuration.

List all available contexts:

grafanactl config list-contexts

Switch to a specific context:

grafanactl config use-context staging

View the full configuration:

grafanactl config view

Manage resources with Grafana CLI

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:35:46 -0500

Manage resources with Grafana CLI

Note
grafanactl is under active development. Command-line flags and subcommands described here may change. This document outlines the target workflows the tool is expected to support. You can find a full list of supported commands in this page.

Migrate resources between environments

Using the config and resources options, you can migrate Grafana resources from one environment to another, for example, from a development to production environment. The config option lets you define the configuration context. Using resources with pull, push, and serve lets you pull a defined resource from one instance, and push that resource to another instance. Serve allows you to preview changes locally before pushing.

Use these steps to migrate resources between environments:

Note
Currently, the serve command only works with dashboards.

Use these steps to migrate resources between environments:

Note
Resources are pulled and pushed from the ./resources directory by default. This can be configured with the -p, --path flags to specify custom paths on disk.

Make changes to dashboards and other resources using the Grafana UI in your development instance.

Pull those resources from the development environment to your local machine:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "dev"
grafanactl resources pull --path ./resources/ -o yaml # or json

(Optional) Preview the resources locally before pushing:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "prod"
grafanactl resources serve ./resources/

Switch to the production instance and push the resources:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "prod"
grafanactl resources push -p ./resources/

Back up Grafana resources

This workflow helps you back up all Grafana resources from one instance and later restore them. This is useful to replicate a configuration or perform disaster recovery.

Use grafanactl to pull all resources from your target environment:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "prod"
grafanactl resources pull --path ./resources/ -o yaml # or json

Save the exported resources to version control or cloud storage.

Restore Grafana resources

(Optional) Preview the backup locally:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "prod"
grafanactl resources serve ./resources/

To restore the resources later or restore them on another instance, push the saved resources:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "prod"
grafanactl resources push -p ./resources/

Manage dashboards as code

With this workflow, you can define and manage dashboards as code, saving them to a version control system like Git. This is useful for teams that want to maintain a history of changes, collaborate on dashboard design, and ensure consistency across environments.

Use a dashboard generation script (for example, with the Foundation SDK). You can find an example implementation in the Grafana as code hands-on lab repository.

Serve and preview the output of the dashboard generator locally:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "dev"
grafanactl resources serve --script 'go run scripts/generate-dashboard.go' --watch './scripts'

When the output looks correct, generate dashboard manifest files:

go run scripts/generate-dashboard.go --generate-resource-manifests --output './resources'

Push the generated resources to your Grafana instance:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "dev"
grafanactl resources push -p ./resources/

Explore and modify resources from the terminal

This section describes how to use the Grafana CLI to interact with Grafana resources directly from your terminal. These commands allow you to browse, inspect, update, and delete resources without using the Grafana UI. This approach is useful for advanced users who want to manage resources more efficiently or integrate Grafana operations into automated workflows.

Find and delete dashboards using invalid data sources

Use this workflow to identify dashboards that reference incorrect or outdated data sources, and remove them if necessary.

Set the context to the appropriate environment:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "prod"

Find dashboards using specific data sources:

grafanactl resources get dashboards -ojson | jq '.items | map({ uid: .metadata.name, datasources: .spec.panels | map(.datasource.uid)  })'
[
   {
      "uid": "important-production-dashboard",
      "datasources": [
         "mimir-prod"
      ]
   },
   {
      "uid": "test-dashboard-from-dev",
      "datasources": [
         "mimir-prod",
         "mimir-dev"
      ]
   },
   {
      "uid": "test-dashboard-from-stg",
      "datasources": [
         "mimir-prod",
         "mimir-stg",
         "mimir-dev"
      ]
   }
]

This command lists dashboard UIDs along with the data source UIDs used in their panels. You can then identify the dashboards that are using invalid or unexpected data sources.

Delete the identified dashboards directly:

grafanactl resources delete dashboards/test-dashboard-from-stg,test-dashboard-from-dev
✔ 2 resources deleted, 0 errors

Find and deprecate dashboards using the old API version

Use this workflow to locate dashboards using a deprecated API version and mark them accordingly.

Set the context to the appropriate environment:

grafanactl config use-context YOUR_CONTEXT  # for example "prod"

List all available resources types and versions:

grafanactl resources list

This command returns a list of resources, including their versions, types, and quantities:

GROUP                               VERSION   KIND
folder.grafana.app                  v1        folder
dashboard.grafana.app               v1        dashboard
dashboard.grafana.app               v1        librarypanel
dashboard.grafana.app               v2        dashboard
dashboard.grafana.app               v2        librarypanel
playlist.grafana.app                v1        playlist

Find dashboards that are still using a deprecated API version:

grafanactl resources get dashboards.v1.dashboard.grafana.app

This command returns a table displaying the resource type, resource name, and associated namespace:

KIND         NAME                                   NAMESPACE
dashboards   really-old-dashboard                   default

Edit each of these dashboards to add a deprecated tag:

grafanactl resources edit dashboards.v1.dashboard.grafana.app/really-old-dashboard -p '{"spec":{"tags":["deprecated"]}}'

Tip
You can get help by using the grafanactl --help command.