TopolearnMost queries start as an experiment; Explore is where you find the right expression before it earns a place on a dashboard.
Explore (the compass icon) is a scratchpad: choose a data source, write a query, run it and see a graph plus a table of the raw series, with no dashboard to save. It has the same time picker and the same query editor as the panel editor.
For Prometheus:
- Metrics browser (in Code mode) lists metric names and, after you pick one, its label names and values, so you can discover what is actually scraped before writing anything.
- Builder mode composes a query from a metric, label filters and operations such as rate and sum by; Code mode is plain PromQL with autocompletion and an Explain toggle that describes each step.
- Options below the query: range or instant type, legend, min step, and Format (time series, table, heatmap).
Split view opens a second Explore pane next to the first, with its own data source, sharing the time range by default (the link icon unlinks them). The classic use is metrics on the left and the matching Loki logs on the right. Each pane's state is encoded in the URL, so Explore links are shareable.
Query history keeps everything you ran, lets you star useful queries and add comments; Query inspector shows the exact request, the response and timing. When a query is right, Add to dashboard creates a panel in a new or existing dashboard.
Viewers can use Explore only if their role allows it; on busy production instances admins sometimes restrict it because an unbounded {__name__=~".+"} query hurts the data source.
Example
# A typical Explore session, Prometheus data source, Code mode
# 1. Discover: what does the api job expose? (metrics browser, or:)
{job="api"} # instant query, lists every series
# 2. Narrow down
rate(http_requests_total{job="api"}[5m])
# 3. Shape it, check the legend
sum by (status) (rate(http_requests_total{job="api"}[$__rate_interval]))
# 4. Split view: right pane -> Loki, same time range
{app="api"} |= "error"
# 5. Add to dashboard -> panel in "API overview"Remember
- Explore runs queries without a dashboard; Builder, Code and the metrics browser help find them
- Split view puts two data sources side by side on one time range
- Query history and Add to dashboard turn experiments into panels
Watch out for
- Running an unfiltered selector over a large range in Explore and taking Prometheus down with you.