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Classic dashboards have their own panels and methods of configuring them. For details about panels in classic dashboards, see Classic dashboard panels.
A stat chart visualizes statistic numbers returned by a query. The chart depicts a value based on the results of the defined query. You can optionally add a sparkline chart that displays under the value, in addition to displaying a message when the value hits a defined threshold. To create a Stat chart or learn more about the configuration options common to all panels, see Panels.

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Stat chart queries

Stat charts use one or more queries to retrieve data to visualize. Stat charts use the following query Options to refine the displayed information, depending on your Datasource:
  • Series naming: Select a method to filter for metrics:
    • Labels require a Naming pattern. Use {{ label_name }} to include a label value. For example, {{ env }} will be replaced with values like staging-1, prod-1.
    • Regex: Use a regular expression in the Regex text field to match a time series. You can also use a Naming pattern to rename series using capture groups.
  • Query type: In the collapsible Options at the bottom of the Query tab, select the PromQL query type:
    • Instant: Query for the latest value in the time range.
    • Range: Query for values across the time range. When you select Range, also set Reduce values in time range to to choose how Observability Platform reduces each series to a single value:
      • Avg: The series’ mean value, excluding null values.
      • First: The series’ first value.
      • First *: The series’ first numeric value.
      • Last: The series’ last value.
      • Last *: The series’ last numeric value.
      • Min: The series’ minimum value.
      • Max: The series’ maximum value.
      • Total: The total of all values in the series.
  • Min step: The minimum step for the PromQL query. This option appears when Query type is Range.
  • Truncation strategy: Truncation strategy to apply to the query. This modifies the raw query. Observability Platform selects the best strategy for fit when possible, and displays Auto as the selected strategy. Available strategies are:
    • Auto
    • Off
    • Avg
    • Min
    • Max
    Changing your truncation strategy adds truncation information as additional bands or bars on your chart and details into the legend.
When a stat chart’s sparkline is enabled, the Min step option is always available, not only when Query type is Range.

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Configure a stat chart

You can configure a stat chart by modifying its Settings. See Modify a stat chart’s properties for a list of the settings you can modify. Observability Platform doesn’t fully support directly editing a panel’s JSON representation. To configure a panel, edit it and modify individual fields. Use the JSON representation only for managing your configuration as code with tools such as Chronoctl and Terraform.

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Modify a stat chart’s properties

The Visual section in a stat chart’s Settings tab defines how the stat interprets and displays the panel’s query results.
  • Layout: Controls how the panel arranges its series. Choose Cards to display an individual stat for each series, with optional sparklines, or Hexagons to pack the series into a threshold-colored honeycomb grid. See Display a stat chart as a honeycomb grid.
  • Sparkline: Enables a sparkline visualization that displays under the value generated by the defined query.
  • Value font size: Sets the font size of the displayed value. Defaults to Default, which sizes the value automatically.
  • Series name font size: Sets the font size of the series name. Defaults to Default, which sizes the name automatically.
  • Message font size: Sets the font size of a threshold message. Defaults to Default, which sizes the message automatically.
  • Series name: Controls when the series name displays. Choose Auto Show to display the series name when there’s enough space, Always Show to always display it, or Never Show to hide it.
  • Sort: Determines the order in which the panel arranges its series:
    • Default: Original data order.
    • Ascending (value): Lowest to highest value.
    • Descending (value): Highest to lowest value.
    • Ascending (A→Z): Series name from A to Z.
    • Descending (Z→A): Series name from Z to A.
When Layout is set to Hexagons, the Sparkline and font size options don’t apply and are hidden, because hex cells auto-size their text and never draw sparklines.

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Display a stat chart as a honeycomb grid

Set Layout to Hexagons to render the panel’s series as a dense honeycomb grid instead of individual stat cards. Each series becomes a single hexagonal cell, filled with the threshold color that matches its current value, so you can scan the state of a large number of series at once. In the Hexagons layout:
  • Each cell displays its value and, depending on the available space and the Series name setting, its series name. Hover over a cell to see its details in a tooltip.
  • Cell text scales automatically to fit, so the Sparkline and font size settings don’t apply and are hidden. Any sparkline you previously configured is removed when you switch to this layout.
  • Cells are colored by threshold. The panel background isn’t tinted and threshold messages aren’t displayed. Define the colors used for the cells in the Thresholds section.
In the panel’s JSON representation, the Hexagons layout is stored as layout: Hexagon. The default Cards layout omits the layout field.

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Group honeycomb cells into sections

When a stat chart uses the Hexagons layout, Observability Platform automatically arranges the honeycomb into labeled sections. This layout produces a view that keeps related series together without having to configure a setting. The grouping isn’t stored in the panel’s JSON representation. Observability Platform groups cells automatically from the panel’s query results:
  • If the panel’s queries share a grouping dimension, such as chronosphere_k8s_cluster, cells are grouped by that dimension. When every query agrees on an ordered set of dimensions, Observability Platform groups by more dimensions only when the additional levels reveal more structure.
  • If the queries don’t provide grouping dimensions, the panel groups by a single shared label when one label is an unambiguous choice.
Each section is a labeled card, and sections are arranged in a responsive, multicolumn layout. A section heading shows each grouping label and its value in the form label: value, such as chronosphere_k8s_cluster: prod. When grouping uses multiple dimensions, the heading joins each label: value pair with a slash, such as chronosphere_k8s_cluster: prod / namespace: web. When a series has no value for a grouping label, that label’s value displays as (none), such as chronosphere_k8s_cluster: (none). The Sort option applies within each section. When grouping isn’t possible or wouldn’t be readable, the panel displays a single flat honeycomb grid instead due to one of the following conditions:
  • The queries disagree on their dimensions or provide no clear grouping.
  • Grouping would produce fewer than two sections.
  • Grouping would produce more than 12 sections.
  • Grouping would produce many very small sections. Grouping requires roughly two or more cells per section on average.

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Modify a stat chart’s units and formatting

The Unit and formatting section changes the display of units on the chart.
  • Unit: Defines the unit used to render the Y-axis. This has the most significant effect when you enable Abbreviate. Defaults to Decimal.
    • Decimal: Base 10 values. Observability Platform renders a value of 1000000 as 1M.
    • Bytes: As decimal multiple-byte units. Observability Platform renders a value of 1000000 as 1MB.
    • Time: Determines the unit of time that Observability Platform uses to interpret a numeric value.
    • Percent: Interprets the value as a percentile, representing 0% to 100% in a range of either 0.0 to 1.0 (Percent (0.0-1.0)) or 0 and 100 (Percent (0-100)). For example, Observability Platform renders a value of 1.0 in Percent (0.0-1.0) as 100%, and in Percent (0-100) as 1%.
  • Decimals: Defines how many decimal places Observability Platform renders for values. Default renders decimal places only if necessary and rounds to the nearest value. Numeric values from 0 to 4 render the corresponding number of decimal places.
  • Abbreviate: Toggles whether to abbreviate units on the Y-axis. For example, if enabled, Observability Platform renders a value of 100000000 as 100M. You can toggle this setting only if you set the Unit to Decimal or Bytes; Time units are always abbreviated and Percent values don’t require the toggle. Defaults to true.

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Modify a stat chart’s thresholds

The Thresholds section in a stat chart’s Settings tab defines values where Observability Platform renders each threshold range. You can define threshold values for stat charts as absolute numeric values. You can enter a message in the Base settings section to display in the panel, without defining a threshold. You’re able to enter an independent message for each threshold you define. To create a new threshold value:
  1. Click the plus sign (+) in the Thresholds section header.
  2. In the field that displays, enter a value where you want Observability Platform to end the previous threshold range and begin the next range.
  3. Optional: Click the color indicator, depicted as a colored square with text, to open a color selector and choose a color for the threshold.
  4. Optional: Click the caret (>) to expand the threshold definition, and enter text in the Message field to display on the chart if the threshold is met. To display only the text from the Message field, click the Show only message toggle.
  5. In the Edit panel interface, click Apply to save your changes.
  6. After you’ve finished editing the panel, click Save on the dashboard to save your changes.
To delete a threshold value, click the caret (>) to expand the threshold definition, and then click the Delete icon on its corresponding row of the Thresholds section.

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Mark a query as a dynamic threshold

This feature isn’t available to all Chronosphere Observability Platform users and might not be visible in your app. For information about enabling this feature in your environment, contact Chronosphere Support.
In addition to static thresholds defined in the panel settings, mark an individual query as a dynamic threshold. Observability Platform draws the flagged query’s series as a dashed reference line over every tile’s sparkline instead of rendering it as its own stat. The flagged series doesn’t contribute to any tile’s value, color, or background. Because the reference line is drawn on the sparkline, it appears only when the stat chart has a sparkline enabled and the threshold query returns time series data. Use dynamic thresholds for reference values derived from a query, such as an SLO target, an error budget limit, or a baseline measurement computed from another metric. To mark a query as a dynamic threshold:
  1. In the Edit panel interface, click the Query tab.
  2. Next to the query you want to use as a threshold, click the Render query as threshold button. The query is marked as a threshold and its series render differently from regular data series.
  3. Optional: Click the colored circle icon that appears to open a color picker and choose a custom threshold color.
  4. Click Apply, and then click Save to save the dashboard.
To remove the threshold flag from a query, click the colored circle icon next to the query, and then click the Remove threshold from query icon in the color picker.