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CompareQueries Datasource (Grafana Plugin)

CompareQueries is a Grafana datasource plugin that lets you compare the same query across multiple time shifts (for example: current vs yesterday, last week, or custom offsets) in a single panel.

• Plugin ID: leoswing-comparequeries-datasource
• Marketplace: https://grafana.com/grafana/plugins/leoswing-comparequeries-datasource/
• Repository: https://github.com/leoswing/comparequeries-datasource-rc
• License: Apache-2.0

What problem it solves

Grafana’s native time-shift is often panel-wide. CompareQueries enables query-level comparison workflows so you can:

• Compare baseline and shifted series in one view
• Keep native query editing for the target datasource
• Reuse the same logic in dashboards and Grafana Alerting

Typical use cases:

• Day-over-day and week-over-week analysis
• Release before/after verification
• Capacity and anomaly comparison
• Cross-datasource observation with -- Mixed -- panels

Compatibility

• Grafana 11 / 12 / 13+
• Works with Prometheus, Loki, Elasticsearch, SQL, and other datasources via target datasource query editor
• Backend execution for Grafana Alerting is supported

Important:

• For new dashboards (especially Grafana 13+), use Target Datasource flow.
• Legacy RefId flow is for existing Grafana 11/12 dashboards only.

Quick start (recommended flow)

1. Install plugin from Marketplace or Grafana CLI:

   grafana-cli plugins install leoswing-comparequeries-datasource
   

2. Add a CompareQueries datasource in Connections -> Data sources.
3. Create a panel and set panel datasource to -- Mixed --.
4. Add a query row and choose CompareQueries.
5. In CompareQueries editor:
   • Select Target Datasource
   • Build the target query inline
   • Add one or more Time shift rows (1d, 1w, 30m, etc.)
6. Optional: enable Process TimeShift to align shifted timestamps with current time window.

Datasource settings and auth

Default mode:

• Authentication (Optional): No Authentication

Only if backend/alerting requests fail authentication:

• Switch to Basic authentication
• Configure:
  • Service Account Token
  • optional Grafana URL (only if auto-detection is incorrect)

Grafana Alerting

CompareQueries supports alerting through backend query execution.

Minimal alerting setup:

1. Use CompareQueries datasource directly in alert rule query.
2. Configure target datasource + query + time shifts.
3. Add alert expressions (for example Reduce + Threshold).
4. If auth errors happen, configure Basic authentication as described above.

Migration from legacy RefId flow

For existing Grafana 11/12 dashboards:

1. Open old CompareQueries row (Reference Query refId set).
2. Click Migrate to Target Datasource.
3. Select original datasource.
4. Rebuild query in embedded editor.
5. Save dashboard.

Migration preserves time-shift rows and related options.

Links

• README: https://github.com/leoswing/comparequeries-datasource-rc/blob/main/README.md
• Developer guide: https://github.com/leoswing/comparequeries-datasource-rc/blob/main/developer-guide.md
• Releases: https://github.com/leoswing/comparequeries-datasource-rc/releases
• Issues: https://github.com/leoswing/comparequeries-datasource-rc/issues

Suggested Wiki structure (next pages)

• Installation
• Query Editor Guide
• Alerting Guide
• Migration Guide (RefId -> Target Datasource)
• Troubleshooting / FAQ
• Release Notes Highlights