Query management in Explore

To help with debugging queries, Explore allows you to investigate query requests and responses, as well as query statistics, via the Query inspector. This functionality is similar to the panel inspector tasks Inspect query performance and Inspect query request and response data.

Screenshot of the query inspector button in Explore
Figure 1. Screenshot of the query inspector button in Explore

Query history

Query history is a list of queries that you used in Explore. The history is stored in the Grafana database and it is not shared with other users. The retention period for queries in history is two weeks. Queries older than two weeks are automatically deleted. To open and interact with your history, click the Query history button in Explore.

NOTE: Starred queries are not subject to the two weeks retention period and they are not deleted.

View query history

Query history lets you view the history of your querying. For each individual query, you can:

  • Run a query.

  • Create and/or edit a comment.

  • Copy a query to the clipboard.

  • Copy a shortened link with the query to the clipboard.

  • Star a query.

Manage favorite queries

All queries that have been starred in the Query history tab are displayed in the Starred tab. This allows you to access your favorite queries faster and to reuse these queries without typing them from scratch.

Sort query history

By default, query history shows you the most recent queries. You can sort your history by date or by data source name in ascending or descending order.

  1. Click the Sort queries by field.

  2. Select one of the following options:

    • Newest first

    • Oldest first

Filter query history

Filter query history in Query history and Starred tab by data source name:

  1. Click the Filter queries for specific data source(s) field.

  2. Select the data source for which you would like to filter your history. You can select multiple data sources.

Note: Queries ran using the Mixed data source will appear only when filtering for Mixed and not when filtering by their individual data sources.

In Query history tab it is also possible to filter queries by date using the slider:

  • Use vertical slider to filter queries by date.

  • By dragging bottom handle, adjust start date.

  • By dragging top handle, adjust end date.

Search in query history

You can search in your history across queries and your comments. Search is possible for queries in the Query history tab and Starred tab.

  1. Click the Search queries field.

  2. Type the term you are searching for into search field.

Query history settings

You can customize the query history in the Settings tab. Options are described in the table below.

Setting Default value

Change the default active tab

Query history tab

Note: Query history settings are global, and applied to both panels in split mode.