Explore data in Chronograf

Explore and visualize your data in the Data Explorer. For both InfluxQL and Flux, Chronograf allows you to move seamlessly between using the builder or templates and manually editing the query; when possible, the interface automatically populates the builder with the information from your raw query. Choose between visualization types for your query.

To open the Data Explorer, click the Explore icon in the navigation bar:

Select local time or UTC (Coordinated Universal Time)

• In the upper-right corner of the page, select the time to view metrics and events by clicking one of the following:
  • UTC for Coordinated Universal Time
  • Local for the local time reported by your browser

{{% note %}} Note: If your organization spans multiple time zones, we recommend using UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) to ensure that everyone sees metrics and events for the same time. {{% /note %}}

Explore data with InfluxQL

InfluxQL is a SQL-like query language you can use to interact with data in InfluxDB. For detailed tutorials and reference material, see our InfluxQL documentation.

{{% note %}}

Limited InfluxQL support in InfluxDB Cloud and OSS 2.x

Chronograf interacts with InfluxDB Cloud and InfluxDB OSS 2.x through the v1 compatibility API. The v1 compatibility API provides limited InfluxQL support. For more information, see InfluxQL support. {{% /note %}}

1. Open the Data Explorer and click Add a Query.
2. To the right of the source dropdown above the graph placeholder, select InfluxQL as the source type.
3. Use the builder to select from your existing data and allow Chronograf to format the query for you. Alternatively, manually enter and edit a query.
4. You can also select from the dropdown list of Metaquery Templates that manage databases, retention policies, users, and more. See Metaquery templates.
5. To display the templated values in the query, click Show template values.
6. Click Submit Query.

Explore data with Flux

Flux is InfluxData's new functional data scripting language designed for querying, analyzing, and acting on time series data. The Script Builder lets you build a complete Flux script scoped to a selected time range. View new tag keys and tag values based on already selected tag keys and tag values. Search for key names and values. To learn more about Flux, see Getting started with Flux.

1. Open the Data Explorer by clicking Explore in the left navigation bar.
2. Select Flux as the source type.
3. Click Script Builder.
4. The Schema, Script, and Flux Functions panes appear.
   • Use the Schema pane to explore your available data. Click the {{< icon "plus" >}} sign next to a bucket name to expand its content.
   • Use the Script pane to enter and view your Flux script.
   • Use the Flux Functions pane to view details about the available Flux functions.
5. To get started building a new script, click Script Builder. Using the Flux script builder, you can select a bucket, measurements and tags, fields and an aggregate function. Click {{< icon "plus" >}} Load More to expand any truncated lists. You can also choose a variety of time ranges on your schema data.
6. When you are finished creating your script, click Submit.
7. Click Script Editor to view and edit your query.
8. If you make changes to the script using the Script Builder, you will receive a message when clicking Submit warning you that submitting changes will override the script in the Flux editor, and that the script cannot be recovered.

Visualize your query

Select the Visualization tab at the top of the Data Explorer. For details about all of the available visualization options, see Visualization types in Chronograf.

Add queries to dashboards

To add your query and graph to a dashboard:

1. Click Send to Dashboard in the upper right.
2. In the Target Dashboard(s) dropdown, select at least one existing dashboard to send the cell to, or select Send to a New Dashboard.
3. Enter a name for the new cell and, if you created a new dashboard, the new dashboard.
4. If using an InfluxQL data source and you have multiple queries in the Data Explorer, select which queries to send:
   • Active Query: Send the currently viewed query.
   • All Queries: Send all queries.
5. Click Send to Dashboard(s).

Metaquery templates

Metaquery templates provide templated InfluxQL queries manage databases, retention policies, users, and more. Choose from the following options in the Metaquery Templates dropdown list:

Manage databases

• Show Databases
• Create Database
• Drop Database

Measurements, Tags, and Fields

• Show Measurements
• Show Tag Keys
• Show Tag Values
• Show Field Keys

Cardinality

• Show Field Key Cardinality
• Show Measurement Cardinality
• Show Series Cardinality
• Show Tag Key Cardinality
• Show Tag Values Cardinality

Manage retention policies

• Show Retention Polices
• Create Retention Policy
• Drop Retention Policy

Manage continuous queries

• Show Continuous Queries
• Create Continuous Query
• Drop Continuous Query

Manage users and permissions

• Show Users
• Show Grants
• Create User
• Create Admin User
• Drop User

Delete data

• Drop Measurement
• Drop Series
• Delete

Analyze queries

• Explain
• Explain Analyze

Inspect InfluxDB internal metrics

• Show Stats
• Show Diagnostics
• Show Subscriptions
• Show Queries
• Show Shards
• Show Shard Groups