Skill

import-dashboards

Name: import-dashboards
Author: Grafana

import Grafana dashboards as Go code

Published by Grafana Updated Jul 15

Covers Dashboards Grafana Code Analysis Go

Description

Imports existing Grafana dashboards as Go builder code via gcx. Use when the user wants to convert live dashboards to builder code, migrate dashboards to code, or reverse-engineer a dashboard from a Grafana instance. Triggers on "import dashboard", "convert to code", "dashboard as code", "export dashboard". For pulling dashboards as YAML/JSON resource files rather than Go code, use manage-dashboards instead.

SKILL.md

Import Dashboards as Code

Import existing dashboards from a Grafana instance and convert them to Go builder code using gcx dev import.

Prerequisites

gcx installed and configured with a Grafana connection (gcx config check should show a valid context)
The target Grafana instance must be reachable

Import Commands

Import All Dashboards

gcx dev import dashboards

Writes Go files to imported/ (default). Each dashboard becomes a function returning *resource.ManifestBuilder.

Import a Specific Dashboard

gcx dev import dashboards/my-dashboard-uid

Import to a Custom Directory

gcx dev import dashboards --path src/grafana

Import Multiple Resource Types

gcx dev import dashboards folders

How It Works

Grafana Instance
    │
    ▼
gcx dev import dashboards/foo
    │
    ├── 1. Fetches resource via K8s API (/apis endpoint)
    ├── 2. Detects the resource API version
    ├── 3. Runs version-specific converter (JSON → SDK builder code)
    ├── 4. Wraps in resource.NewManifestBuilder()
    └── 5. Writes to imported/<snake_case_name>.go

The converter produces Go code using the grafana-foundation-sdk builder pattern — the same pattern used by dev generate and dev scaffold.

Output Format

Each imported file looks like:

package dashboards

import (
    "github.com/grafana/grafana-foundation-sdk/go/dashboardv2beta1"
    "github.com/grafana/grafana-foundation-sdk/go/resource"
)

func MyDashboard() *resource.ManifestBuilder {
    // ... builder code generated from the live dashboard
}

Workflow: Import → Edit → Push

# 1. Import from Grafana
gcx dev import dashboards --path internal/dashboards

# 2. Review and edit the generated code
#    (fix up builder calls, add variables, etc.)

# 3. Render manifests from the builders. In a gcx-scaffolded project,
#    `go run .` writes JSON manifests to ./resources
go run .

# 4. Push back to Grafana
gcx resources push

Common Issues

Issue	Fix
"no converter found"	The resource's API version has no converter; the error message names the unsupported version
Auth error (401/403)	Run `gcx config check` to verify credentials
Empty import	The selector matched no resources; check UID with `gcx resources get dashboards`
Build fails with `undefined: cog` (or another lowercase SDK identifier)	Older gcx versions omit SDK imports from generated files. Add the missing import `github.com/grafana/grafana-foundation-sdk/go/<pkg>` for each undefined identifier — `variants` is nested at `go/cog/variants`. Newer gcx emits complete imports
Imported code doesn't compile for other reasons	Complex dashboards can produce converter output that needs manual fixup: build, read the first error, fix, repeat

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