Prometheus template variables

Template variables let you create dynamic, reusable dashboards by replacing hard-coded values (such as server names, namespaces, or job labels) with selectable variables. Grafana displays these variables as dropdown menus at the top of the dashboard, letting viewers change the displayed data without editing queries.

For an introduction to templating and template variables, refer to Templating and Add and manage variables.

Query variable types

Query variables query Prometheus to populate dropdown values. When creating a query variable, select a Prometheus data source and choose a query type:

For details on metric names, label names, and label values, refer to the Prometheus data model.

Query type examples

Label values — Populate a dropdown with all jobs:

1. Create a new variable with Type: Query.
2. Select your Prometheus data source.
3. Set Query type to Label values.
4. Set Label to job.
5. Leave Metric empty to query across all metrics.

The variable dropdown now shows all unique job label values.

Label values — Filtered by metric:

Set Label to instance and Metric to node_cpu_seconds_total to show only instances that report CPU metrics.

Metrics — Find available metrics by pattern:

Set Query type to Metrics and enter http_.*_total in the Metric field to populate the dropdown with all HTTP counter metrics.

Query result — Dynamic top-N filtering:

Set Query type to Query result and enter:

query_result(topk(5, sum(rate(http_requests_total[$__range])) by (instance)))

Set Regex to /"([^"]+)"/ to extract the instance values from the result.

Set Refresh to On time range change so the top 5 instances update as you change the dashboard time range.

Query options

Selection options

• Multi-value — Allows selecting multiple values at once. Grafana joins them with a pipe (|) for regular expression matching.
• Include All option — Adds an "All" option that selects every value. Combined with multi-value, this generates a regular expression like value1|value2|value3.

{{< admonition type="note" >}} When Multi-value or Include All is enabled, use =~ (regular expression match) instead of = (exact match) in your queries, since the variable value becomes a regex pattern. {{< /admonition >}}

Example with multi-value:

rate(http_requests_total{job=~"$job"}[$__rate_interval])

Use interval and range variables

You can use global built-in variables in query variable definitions:

For details, refer to Global built-in variables.

The label_values function (Classic query type) doesn't support these variables. Use Query result type with query_result() instead:

query_result(max_over_time(up{job="$job"}[${__range_s}s]) == 1)

Set the variable's Refresh to On time range change to update values when the time range changes.

Use $__rate_interval

$__rate_interval is a Grafana-specific variable designed for use with rate() and increase(). It guarantees a range window large enough to capture at least four scrape samples, preventing gaps or inaccuracies in results.

Always use $__rate_interval instead of a fixed interval or $__interval:

rate(http_requests_total[$__rate_interval])

Not:

rate(http_requests_total[5m])       # breaks at different zoom levels
rate(http_requests_total[$__interval])  # can be too small for rate()

How $__rate_interval is calculated

max($__interval + scrape_interval, 4 * scrape_interval)

Where scrape_interval is:

1. The per-query Min step setting, if set.
2. Otherwise, the data source's Scrape interval setting (under Interval behavior in the data source configuration).

The panel-level min interval is affected by the resolution setting and doesn't factor into this calculation.

Configure $__rate_interval correctly

For $__rate_interval to produce reliable results, the scrape interval must match your actual Prometheus scrape configuration:

1. Open the Prometheus data source configuration.
2. Under Interval behavior, set the Scrape interval to match the scrape_interval in your Prometheus configuration file (for example, 30s or 1m).
3. If different targets have different scrape intervals, set the data source scrape interval to the longest interval in use, or use the per-query Min step to override on specific panels.

Common pitfalls

• Missing or incorrect scrape interval setting: If the data source scrape interval is left at the default 15s but your actual Prometheus scrape interval is 60s, $__rate_interval calculates too small a window. This causes rate() to return no data because there aren't enough data points in the window.

• Different values in edit mode versus dashboard: When editing a query, the panel displays at full width. On the dashboard, the panel may be narrower, which increases $__interval and therefore $__rate_interval. Queries that work in edit mode may produce different results (or gaps) on the dashboard.

• LBAC-enabled data sources: Data sources using Label-Based Access Control (LBAC) may not inherit the scrape interval setting from the parent data source. Set the Min step explicitly on each query panel to ensure a correct $__rate_interval calculation.

• Recording rules with fixed intervals: If you use $__rate_interval in a recording rule query, the interval depends on the evaluation context. For recording rules, use a fixed interval (for example, [5m]) rather than $__rate_interval.

For troubleshooting $__rate_interval issues, refer to $__rate_interval returns no data or incorrect values.

For additional background, refer to $__rate_interval for Prometheus rate queries that just work.

Variable syntax

The Prometheus data source supports three variable syntaxes:

{{< admonition type="note" >}} If Multi-value or Include All is enabled, the variable value becomes a regular expression pattern (for example, value1|value2). Use =~ instead of = in your label matchers. {{< /admonition >}}

Filters variable

Prometheus supports the Filters variable type (formerly called "ad hoc filters"), which lets dashboard viewers dynamically add label filters without editing queries.

{{< admonition type="note" >}} The Filter and Group by feature extends the Filters variable by adding grouping support for Prometheus and Loki data sources. For more information, refer to Filter and Group by. {{< /admonition >}}

To set up a Filters variable:

1. Create a new variable with Type: Filters.
2. Select your Prometheus data source.
3. Save the dashboard.

After you add the variable, a filter bar appears at the top of the dashboard. Viewers can add filters by selecting a label, operator (=, !=, =~, !~), and value. Grafana automatically applies these filters to all Prometheus queries on the dashboard.

Example: A viewer adds the filter namespace = production. All queries on the dashboard now include {namespace="production"} without any query modifications.

{{< admonition type="note" >}} Filters are applied to all queries using the selected data source. You cannot selectively apply them to specific panels. {{< /admonition >}}

Related resources

• Query editor — Use variables in PromQL queries.
• Annotations — Use template variables in annotation queries.
• Troubleshooting — Resolve variable-related query issues.