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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.chartcastr.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Overview

Use Grafana as a data source for Chartcastr. Connect your Grafana host (self-hosted or Grafana Cloud) with a service-account token and Chartcastr will execute queries against your existing datasources — Prometheus, Loki, MySQL, Postgres, InfluxDB, and more — and chart the result. Each Chartcastr source can pulse up to two metrics rendered as a line or bar chart. When two metrics have very different scales (say request rate at 5,000/s and error percentage at 0–5%), flip on the split Y-axis option to keep both legible.
Grafana metrics are user-defined — there is no preset metric list like Plausible or PostHog. You supply the query expression that Grafana itself would run.

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Setup

1

Create a service account

In your Grafana Cloud stack, go to Administration → Users and access → Service accounts. You can find it quickly by pressing Cmd+K (or Ctrl+K) and searching for “service”.
Grafana command palette with 'service' typed, showing Service accounts result under Administration > Users and access
Click Add service account, give it a name (e.g. chartcastr-integration), and set the role to Viewer. Viewer access is all Chartcastr needs — it only reads metric data.
Grafana Create service account screen with Display name field and Role set to Viewer
2

Generate a service account token

Click into the service account you just created, then click Add service account token.
Grafana Add service account token dialog showing display name and expiration options
Give the token a display name and set an expiration date. We recommend 1 year — long enough to avoid frequent rotation, short enough to limit exposure if the token is ever compromised. Copy the generated glsa_... token; you won’t be able to view it again.
Store the token somewhere safe before closing the dialog. Grafana only shows it once.
3

Connect in Chartcastr

In Chartcastr, go to New Source and select Grafana. Enter:
  • Grafana host — the full URL of your Grafana instance
Your Grafana Cloud URL looks like https://yourorg.grafana.net. Find it in the Grafana Cloud portal under your stack details.
  • Service account token — the glsa_... token from the previous step
Click Test & Connect to validate the connection.
4

Pick a datasource

Chartcastr loads the list of datasources available to your service account. Pick the one your metric lives in (Prometheus, Loki, your SQL database, etc.).
5

Enter a query

Paste the query expression for your metric — PromQL for Prometheus, LogQL for Loki, raw SQL for SQL datasources. Add an optional label to use in the legend.Example PromQL:
sum(rate(http_requests_total{job="api"}[5m]))
Example LogQL:
sum(count_over_time({app="api"} |= "ERROR"[5m]))
6

(Optional) Add a second metric

Click Add second metric to overlay a second series on the same chart. If the two metrics have very different ranges, enable Split Y-axis so each gets its own scale.
7

Pick chart type + window

Choose Line or Bar, then pick how far back to look (1 hour, 6 hours, 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days).
8

Preview and save

Click Preview chart to see what the rendered chart looks like with live data. Save the source, then create a connection to your Slack channel or email destination.

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Supported datasource types

Chartcastr’s Grafana integration runs queries via Grafana’s /api/ds/query endpoint, which supports any datasource installed in your Grafana — including:
  • Prometheus (PromQL)
  • Loki (LogQL)
  • MySQL / Postgres / MSSQL (SQL)
  • InfluxDB (InfluxQL / Flux)
  • ClickHouse
  • Any community datasource plugin that accepts a query field

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Notes

  • Only integer metrics: values are rounded to integers. This is fine for counts and rates but means decimal-precision metrics (e.g. 0.823 ratios) will lose precision.
  • Time-series only: queries must return a time-series shape. Single-value (instant) queries are not yet supported.
  • Service-account token is encrypted: stored AES-256-GCM-encrypted at rest, never exposed back to the client.
  • Self-hosted reachability: Chartcastr’s servers must be able to reach your Grafana host over HTTPS. If your Grafana is behind a private network or VPN, use Grafana Cloud or expose it via a reverse proxy with a valid TLS certificate.