Looker data source plugin for Grafana

The Looker data source plugin for Grafana allows you to visualize data from Looker in Grafana.

Project status

Note: This plugin is in public preview. Refer Grafana Labs release life cycle documentation for further details. If you notice any issues or having feature request, create a support ticket with your Grafana Enterprise support channel.

Pre-Requisites

Valid Grafana Enterprise License. Visit Grafana pricing for more details
Valid Looker account and API credentials. Visit Looker docs for more details

Getting Looker API credentials

In order to connect Grafana Looker data source instance with Looker, you need details about your Looker environment and credentials. You can generate the Looker API credentials (client_id and client_secret) by following the guidelines specified in the Looker documentation.

Typically the workflow wil be, Looker -> Admin -> User -> Select user -> Edit keys (API keys) -> New API key

Configure the data source in Grafana

Add a Looker data source by filling the following information.

Field	Description	Example value
Looker URL	Looker instance base URL	`https://00001234-1234-1ab2-1234-a1b2c3d4.looker.app`
Looker Client ID	Looker client ID	`1234abcdXyZ567`
Looker Client Secret	Looker client secret	`EAiHBw4ngGLQidMtWeH4U8cE1`

More details about data source configuration can be found here.

Configure the Looker data source with provisioning

It is possible to configure data sources using configuration files with Grafana’s provisioning system. To learn more, read about how it works and about all the settings for data sources at Provisioning Grafana.

apiVersion: 1
datasources:
  - name: Looker Prod
    type: grafana-looker-datasource
    jsonData:
      base_url: https://00001234-1234-1ab2-1234-a1b2c3d4.looker.app
      client_id: 1234abcdXyZ567
    secureJsonData:
      client_secret: EAiHBw4ngGLQidMtWeH4U8cE1

More details about provisioning data sources can be found here

Querying Looker

With Looker data source for Grafana, you can query Looker in following ways. These are referred as Query Type in the looker data source query editor.

LookML

You can execute a LookML Query via the LookML query type. You have a option to build a basic LookML query json via the builder, or you can enter the advanced raw LookML JSON. Under the hood, the data source uses the Looker RunInlineQuery API.

Field	Description
Model	LookML model name
Explore Name	LookML view name
Dimensions & Measures	LookML fields. Supports dimensions and measures
Pivots	LookML pivot fields.
Custom measures	Custom measures on fields
Filter Expression	Custom filter expression

Run Look

Instead building a new LookML Query, you can choose Run Look to run the saved Look.

Field	Description
Look ID	ID of the look

Macros in queries

You can use following macros in the query to filter the data. When used with LookML JSON mode, you can use the macro anywhere within the JSON. When used with LookML Builder mode, you can use the macro in filter expression only.

Macro Syntax	Description	Example	Expands to
`$__timeFilter(<Field Name>)`	This macro is useful when you want to restrict the results based on a time field and dashboard time range	`$__timeFilter(basic_users.created_at_time)`	`${basic_users.created_at_time} >= date_time(2022,12,31,13,59,59) AND ${basic_users.created_at_time} <= date_time(2023,12,31,13,59,59)`
`$__timeFrom()`	Replace with dashboard from time	`$__timeFrom()`	`date_time(2022,12,31,13,59,59)`
`$__timeTo()`	Replace with dashboard to time	`$__timeTo()`	`date_time(023,12,31,13,59,59)`

Templates and variables

To add a new Looker query variable, refer to Add a query variable. Use your Looker data source as your data source for the following available queries.