Build Your Own Dashboard

Your readings live in one table per crate, and Grafana reads it with SQL. If you can write a SELECT, you can build any panel you like.

tip

Not sure how to write the query? Ask the AI analyst. Every answer shows the SQL it ran, and you can paste it into a panel.

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The table

Every crate has a table called readings.

Column	What it holds
time	When the reading was taken (UTC)
device	The device
metric	The metric
value	The number

The database is TimescaleDB (PostgreSQL), so functions like time_bucket, first and last work.

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Make a panel

01

Step 1: New dashboard

In Grafana, open Dashboards, then New, then New dashboard, and add a visualization.

02

Step 2: Pick the crate

Choose the crate's data source, named Crate - crate_….

03

Step 3: Write the query

Switch the query editor to Code and paste a query, like the ones below.

04

Step 4: Save

Save the dashboard.

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Example queries

One metric over time

SELECT time, device, value
FROM readings
WHERE $__timeFilter(time)
  AND metric = 'temperature'
ORDER BY time;

Averages per 5 minutes

SELECT time_bucket('5 minutes', time) AS time, device, AVG(value) AS temperature
FROM readings
WHERE $__timeFilter(time)
  AND metric = 'temperature'
GROUP BY 1, device
ORDER BY 1;

Latest value from each device

SELECT device, last(value, time) AS battery
FROM readings
WHERE $__timeFilter(time)
  AND metric = 'battery'
GROUP BY device;

$__timeFilter(time) limits the query to the time range picked at the top of the dashboard.

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Dropdowns for devices and metrics

Add dashboard variables so viewers can pick a device or a metric:

Variable	Type	Query
device	Query	SELECT DISTINCT device FROM readings ORDER BY 1
metric	Query	SELECT DISTINCT metric FROM readings ORDER BY 1

Turn on Multi-value and Include All option, then use them in a query:

SELECT time, device, metric, value
FROM readings
WHERE $__timeFilter(time)
  AND device IN (${device:sqlstring})
  AND metric IN (${metric:sqlstring})
ORDER BY time;