JSON representation format

Panels are part of the JSON representation of the Chronosphere dashboard that contains them. In a JSON representation of a dashboard, Chronosphere models a time series chart panel as a plugin of "kind": "TimeSeriesChart".

This is the minimal representation of a time series chart panel, which results in an empty panel with no name, no defined query, and default settings:

{
  "kind": "Panel",
  "spec": {
    "display": {
      "name": ""
    },
    "plugin": {
      "kind": "TimeSeriesChart",
      "spec": {}
    },
    "queries": [],
    "links": []
  }
}

As an example, this is the panel representation for visualizing jobs in your Chronosphere instance by cardinality, as used by the Cardinality Overview Chronosphere-managed dashboard:

{
  "kind": "Panel",
  "spec": {
    "display": {
      "name": "Top $topX jobs by cardinality | Namespace: $namespace"
    },
    "plugin": {
      "kind": "TimeSeriesChart",
      "spec": {
        "legend": {
          "mode": "List",
          "position": "Bottom",
          "values": []
        },
        "visual": {},
        "y_axis": {
          "unit": {
            "abbreviate": true,
            "kind": "Decimal"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "queries": [
      {
        "kind": "DataQuery",
        "spec": {
          "plugin": {
            "kind": "PrometheusTimeSeriesQuery",
            "spec": {
              "query": "topk($topX, cardinality_estimate({namespace=~\"$namespace\", job!=\"\"}) by (job))",
              "series_name_format": "{{job}}"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    ],
    "links": []
  }
}

It uses dashboard variables to define how many jobs to render and from which namespace.

To summarize, this JSON representation:

• Defines a panel ("kind": "Panel").
• Defines the panel's name (spec.display.name), including dashboard variables ($topX, $namespace).
• Adds a legend (plugin.spec.legend) and defines it as a List oriented to the Bottom of the chart.
• Configures the Y axis (spec.plugin.spec.y_axis) to use abbreviated ("abbreviate": true) Decimal units.
• Defines a PrometheusTimeSeriesQuery and a series alias (series_name_format) for the returned time series, using dashboard variables.