feat(tools): Update dashboards with jsonpath

README.md

@@ -21,10 +21,21 @@ _The following features are currently available in MCP server. This list is for
 ### Dashboards
 
 - **Search for dashboards:** Find dashboards by title or other metadata
-- **Get dashboard by UID:** Retrieve full dashboard details using its unique identifier
-- **Update or create a dashboard:** Modify existing dashboards or create new ones. _Note: Use with caution due to context window limitations; see [issue #101](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-grafana/issues/101)_
+- **Get dashboard by UID:** Retrieve full dashboard details using its unique identifier. _Warning: Large dashboards can consume significant context window space._
+- **Get dashboard summary:** Get a compact overview of a dashboard including title, panel count, panel types, variables, and metadata without the full JSON to minimize context window usage
+- **Get dashboard property:** Extract specific parts of a dashboard using JSONPath expressions (e.g., `$.title`, `$.panels[*].title`) to fetch only needed data and reduce context window consumption
+- **Update or create a dashboard:** Modify existing dashboards or create new ones. _Warning: Requires full dashboard JSON which can consume large amounts of context window space._
+- **Patch dashboard:** Apply specific changes to a dashboard without requiring the full JSON, significantly reducing context window usage for targeted modifications
 - **Get panel queries and datasource info:** Get the title, query string, and datasource information (including UID and type, if available) from every panel in a dashboard
 
+#### Context Window Management
+
+The dashboard tools now include several strategies to manage context window usage effectively ([issue #101](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-grafana/issues/101)):
+
+- **Use `get_dashboard_summary`** for dashboard overview and planning modifications
+- **Use `get_dashboard_property`** with JSONPath when you only need specific dashboard parts
+- **Avoid `get_dashboard_by_uid`** unless you specifically need the complete dashboard JSON
+
 ### Datasources
 
 - **List and fetch datasource information:** View all configured datasources and retrieve detailed information about each.
@@ -148,6 +159,8 @@ Scopes define the specific resources that permissions apply to. Each action requ
 | `get_dashboard_by_uid`            | Dashboard   | Get a dashboard by uid                                             | `dashboards:read`                       | `dashboards:uid:abc123`                             |
 | `update_dashboard`                | Dashboard   | Update or create a new dashboard                                   | `dashboards:create`, `dashboards:write` | `dashboards:*`, `folders:*` or `folders:uid:xyz789` |
 | `get_dashboard_panel_queries`     | Dashboard   | Get panel title, queries, datasource UID and type from a dashboard | `dashboards:read`                       | `dashboards:uid:abc123`                             |
+| `get_dashboard_property`          | Dashboard   | Extract specific parts of a dashboard using JSONPath expressions   | `dashboards:read`                       | `dashboards:uid:abc123`                             |
+| `get_dashboard_summary`           | Dashboard   | Get a compact summary of a dashboard without full JSON             | `dashboards:read`                       | `dashboards:uid:abc123`                             |
 | `list_datasources`                | Datasources | List datasources                                                   | `datasources:read`                      | `datasources:*`                                     |
 | `get_datasource_by_uid`           | Datasources | Get a datasource by uid                                            | `datasources:read`                      | `datasources:uid:prometheus-uid`                    |
 | `get_datasource_by_name`          | Datasources | Get a datasource by name                                           | `datasources:read`                      | `datasources:*` or `datasources:uid:loki-uid`       |

go.mod

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ toolchain go1.24.2
 
 require (
 	connectrpc.com/connect v1.18.1
+	github.com/PaesslerAG/gval v1.2.2
+	github.com/PaesslerAG/jsonpath v0.1.1
 	github.com/go-openapi/runtime v0.28.0
 	github.com/go-openapi/strfmt v0.23.0
 	github.com/google/uuid v1.6.0
@@ -105,6 +107,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.16.1 // indirect
 	github.com/rivo/uniseg v0.4.7 // indirect
 	github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0 // indirect
+	github.com/shopspring/decimal v1.3.1 // indirect
 	github.com/smartystreets/assertions v1.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/smartystreets/goconvey v0.0.0-20190731233626-505e41936337 // indirect
 	github.com/spf13/cast v1.7.1 // indirect

go.sum

@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@ connectrpc.com/connect v1.18.1/go.mod h1:0292hj1rnx8oFrStN7cB4jjVBeqs+Yx5yDIC2pr
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v0.3.1/go.mod h1:xHWCNGjB5oqiDr8zfno3MHue2Ht5sIBksp03qcyfWMU=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v1.4.0 h1:kuoIxZQy2WRRk1pttg9asf+WVv6tWQuBNVmK8+nqPr0=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v1.4.0/go.mod h1:ukJfTF/6rtPPRCnwkur4qwRxa8vTRFBF0uk2lLoLwho=
+github.com/PaesslerAG/gval v1.0.0/go.mod h1:y/nm5yEyTeX6av0OfKJNp9rBNj2XrGhAf5+v24IBN1I=
+github.com/PaesslerAG/gval v1.2.2 h1:Y7iBzhgE09IGTt5QgGQ2IdaYYYOU134YGHBThD+wm9E=
+github.com/PaesslerAG/gval v1.2.2/go.mod h1:XRFLwvmkTEdYziLdaCeCa5ImcGVrfQbeNUbVR+C6xac=
+github.com/PaesslerAG/jsonpath v0.1.0/go.mod h1:4BzmtoM/PI8fPO4aQGIusjGxGir2BzcV0grWtFzq1Y8=
+github.com/PaesslerAG/jsonpath v0.1.1 h1:c1/AToHQMVsduPAa4Vh6xp2U0evy4t8SWp8imEsylIk=
+github.com/PaesslerAG/jsonpath v0.1.1/go.mod h1:lVboNxFGal/VwW6d9JzIy56bUsYAP6tH/x80vjnCseY=
 github.com/andybalholm/brotli v1.1.1 h1:PR2pgnyFznKEugtsUo0xLdDop5SKXd5Qf5ysW+7XdTA=
 github.com/andybalholm/brotli v1.1.1/go.mod h1:05ib4cKhjx3OQYUY22hTVd34Bc8upXjOLL2rKwwZBoA=
 github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18 v18.3.0 h1:Xq4A6dZj9Nu33sqZibzn012LNnewkTUlfKVUFD/RX/I=
@@ -248,6 +254,8 @@ github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.13.1/go.mod h1:uMEvuHeurkdAXX61udpOXGD/AzZDWN
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.0.1/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0 h1:JIOH55/0cWyOuilr9/qlrm0BSXldqnqwMsf35Ld67mk=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
+github.com/shopspring/decimal v1.3.1 h1:2Usl1nmF/WZucqkFZhnfFYxxxu8LG21F6nPQBE5gKV8=
+github.com/shopspring/decimal v1.3.1/go.mod h1:DKyhrW/HYNuLGql+MJL6WCR6knT2jwCFRcu2hWCYk4o=
 github.com/shurcooL/sanitized_anchor_name v1.0.0/go.mod h1:1NzhyTcUVG4SuEtjjoZeVRXNmyL/1OwPU0+IJeTBvfc=
 github.com/smartystreets/assertions v0.0.0-20180927180507-b2de0cb4f26d/go.mod h1:OnSkiWE9lh6wB0YB77sQom3nweQdgAjqCqsofrRNTgc=
 github.com/smartystreets/assertions v0.0.0-20190116191733-b6c0e53d7304/go.mod h1:OnSkiWE9lh6wB0YB77sQom3nweQdgAjqCqsofrRNTgc=

tests/dashboards_test.py

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import json
 import pytest
 from langevals import expect
 from langevals_langevals.llm_boolean import (
@@ -42,3 +43,74 @@ async def test_dashboard_panel_queries_tool(model: str, mcp_client: ClientSessio
     )
     print("content", content)
     expect(input=prompt, output=content).to_pass(panel_queries_checker)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("model", models)
+@pytest.mark.flaky(max_runs=3)
+async def test_dashboard_update_with_patch_operations(model: str, mcp_client: ClientSession):
+    """Test that LLMs naturally use patch operations for dashboard updates"""
+    tools = await get_converted_tools(mcp_client)
+
+    # First, create a non-provisioned test dashboard by copying the demo dashboard
+    # 1. Get the demo dashboard JSON
+    demo_result = await mcp_client.call_tool("get_dashboard_by_uid", {"uid": "fe9gm6guyzi0wd"})
+    demo_data = json.loads(demo_result.content[0].text)
+    dashboard_json = demo_data["dashboard"]
+
+    # 2. Remove uid and id to create a new dashboard
+    if "uid" in dashboard_json:
+        del dashboard_json["uid"]
+    if "id" in dashboard_json:
+        del dashboard_json["id"]
+
+    # 3. Set a new title
+    title = f"Test Dashboard"
+    dashboard_json["title"] = title
+    dashboard_json["tags"] = ["python-integration-test"]
+
+    # 4. Create the dashboard in Grafana
+    create_result = await mcp_client.call_tool("update_dashboard", {
+        "dashboard": dashboard_json,
+        "folderUid": "",
+        "overwrite": False
+    })
+    create_data = json.loads(create_result.content[0].text)
+    created_dashboard_uid = create_data["uid"]
+
+    # 5. Update the dashboard title
+    updated_title = f"Updated {title}"
+    title_prompt = f"Update the title of the Test Dashboard to {updated_title}. Search for the dashboard by title first."
+
+    messages = [
+        Message(role="system", content="You are a helpful assistant"),
+        Message(role="user", content=title_prompt),
+    ]
+
+    # 6. Search for the test dashboard
+    messages = await llm_tool_call_sequence(
+        model, messages, tools, mcp_client, "search_dashboards",
+        {"query": title}
+    )
+
+    # 7. Update the dashboard using patch operations
+    messages = await llm_tool_call_sequence(
+        model, messages, tools, mcp_client, "update_dashboard",
+        {
+            "uid": created_dashboard_uid,
+            "operations": [
+                {
+                    "op": "replace",
+                    "path": "$.title",
+                    "value": updated_title
+                }
+            ]
+        }
+    )
+
+    # 8. Final LLM response - just verify it completes successfully
+    response = await acompletion(model=model, messages=messages, tools=tools)
+    content = response.choices[0].message.content
+
+    # Test passes if we get here - the tool call sequence worked correctly
+    assert len(content) > 0, "LLM should provide a response after updating the dashboard"
+