Data Sources

Data sources and queries

The panel is datasource-independent. It consumes the standard Grafana data frames delivered to panel plugins and does not contain datasource-specific query logic.

Preferred data contract

A query should return:

• At least one field with Grafana type Time.
• At least one field with Grafana type Number.
• Optional string or label fields used by Grafana to identify series.

The time field can have any name when the datasource correctly marks it as a Grafana time field. Every numeric field becomes a plotted series, and the field name or display name becomes its legend label.

Example wide result:

_time                metric_a  metric_b
2026-08-01 20:00:00  123456    543222
2026-08-01 21:00:00  234567    654333

The panel also accepts multiple independently typed frames, which is common for Prometheus-style and other metric queries. Datasource-provided labels, units, links, metadata, and field configuration are preserved.

Untyped table fallback

For table-like results that are not fully typed, the panel can:

• Recognize a column named time or _time, ignoring case and surrounding spaces.
• Parse common date strings, timezone offsets, and numeric epoch values.
• Convert numeric-looking string columns into numeric series.
• Preserve nonnumeric string columns as strings.
• Sort converted rows chronologically and omit rows with invalid time values.

This fallback is a convenience, not a replacement for correct datasource query configuration. Prefer typed Grafana fields whenever the datasource supports them.

CSV

Selecting a CSV datasource alone may not define the returned schema. In the query editor:

1. Add the CSV time column under Fields and set its type to Time.
2. Leave Ignore unknown fields disabled when data-series column names can change.
3. Optionally declare known data columns as Number.
4. Set the timezone that applies to timestamps without an explicit offset.

The development helper scripts/prepare-csv.ps1 accepts time or _time followed by one or more dynamically named numeric columns.

Splunk

Splunk normally returns _time plus result fields. If the datasource marks _time as Time and measurements as Number, no special panel configuration is required. Splunk epoch seconds and common exported timestamp strings are also supported by the fallback converter.

SQL and other table datasources

Alias or convert the timestamp column to Grafana type Time and measurement columns to Number. Keep identifier or category columns as strings. If necessary, use Grafana's Convert field type, Organize fields, or Prepare time series transformations before the visualization.

Dynamic field names and colors

No series names or business domains are hardcoded. New numeric fields returned by a query are discovered automatically. Use Grafana field overrides with Fields with name or a regular-expression matcher to assign stable per-series colors, units, decimals, or display names.