grafana-dashboard-optimize

Grafana Dashboard Content Optimization (Observability / SRE)

Audit and optimize dashboard content for observability best practices. Apply RED/USE/Golden Signals methodology, improve diagnostic value, and reduce cognitive load for on-call teams.

Not suitable for: Code structure refactoring (use grafana-jsonnet-refactor), initial JSON conversion (use grafana-json-to-jsonnet), or code style formatting.

Workflow with progress tracking

Copy this checklist and track your progress:

Optimization Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Understand context (purpose, audience, strategy)
- [ ] Step 2: Run seven-dimensional content audit
- [ ] Step 3: Produce prioritized recommendations report
- [ ] Step 4: Apply changes (if requested)
- [ ] Step 5: Validate improvements

Step 1: Understand context

Before any edits, document:

• Dashboard purpose and target audience (SRE/on-call/management)
• Current monitoring strategy and key questions it should answer
• Datasources, variables, time range settings
• Row structure and panel organization
• Annotations, dashboard metadata (__inputs, __requires, schemaVersion, graphTooltip, version), and pluginVersion

See references/full-optimization-playbook.md for detailed context gathering. If optimizing dashboards in a specific repo or stack, review local Jsonnet defaults and docs in the working directory for current conventions.

Step 2: Run seven-dimensional content audit

Audit across these dimensions:

1. Panel semantics: Missing/duplicated views, diagnostic coverage
2. Query optimization: rate/increase usage, aggregation, cardinality
3. Variable design: Names, defaults, cascading relationships
4. Visualization: Panel types, units, thresholds, legends, table field pruning
5. Layout: Overview → symptoms → root cause flow
6. Titles/descriptions: Unified title style, clarity, context, troubleshooting hints, every panel has a description
7. Proactive additions: SLO/SLI, annotations, comparisons, runbooks, dashboard metadata parity

For the full audit checklist and visualization/layout guidance, see references/full-optimization-playbook.md. For observability strategies (RED/USE/Golden Signals), see references/observability-strategies.md. For color, thresholds, and table styling aligned with local repo conventions, see references/visual-style-guides.md.

Step 3: Produce prioritized recommendations

Create structured assessment report with:

• Critical: Missing essential metrics, broken queries, misleading visualizations
• Recommended: Important improvements with clear ROI
• Optional: Nice-to-have enhancements

Include rationale and expected impact for each recommendation. Use template in references/report-template.md.

Step 4: Apply changes (if requested)

If user approves changes:

• Use available unified libraries when present (commonly panels, standards, themes)
• Keep code structure changes minimal (content-only optimization)
• Include Jsonnet snippets for high-impact changes
• Preserve datasource selection patterns and any __inputs / __requires blocks if present
• Preserve schemaVersion, graphTooltip, version, and pluginVersion when present
• Add or improve panel descriptions so every panel has a clear, actionable description
• Match existing repo/dashboard structure (imports → config → constants → helpers → panels → rows → variables → dashboard)
• For table panels, use the panels lib (no raw Grafonnet) and follow the detailed table guidance in references/full-optimization-playbook.md.

For query optimization patterns, see references/query-optimization.md.

Step 5: Validate improvements

Run the quality checklist below against the improved dashboard. If any check fails, return to Step 4, fix, and verify again.

Quality checklist

• RED/USE/Golden Signals coverage is complete
• Queries are efficient and bounded
• Units and thresholds use standards.*
• Panel titles are consistent and every panel has a clear, actionable description
• Layout follows overview → symptoms → root cause
• Table panels remove unused fields (overrides/thresholds, colors, widths, cell types applied)
• Variables return values and have no duplicates/extras
• Regex filters preserved or added where needed
• Row membership is correct (panels align to row gridPos.y)
• __inputs / __requires, annotations, and dashboard metadata remain valid and intentional

Guardrails

• Do not refactor code structure; use grafana-jsonnet-refactor for that.
• Avoid broad rewrites; focus on content quality and observability value.
• Keep deep guidance in references/ instead of bloating this file.
• Do not run jsonnetfmt / jsonnet fmt on generated Jsonnet files.

References (load as needed)

• references/visual-style-guides.md
• references/full-optimization-playbook.md for the complete framework
• references/observability-strategies.md for RED/USE/Golden Signals
• references/query-optimization.md for PromQL/SQL guidance
• references/report-template.md for the assessment report format