--- keywords: - Infrastructure as Code - Quickstart - Grafana Cloud - Grafana Operator - ArgoCD title: Manage Dashboards with GitOps Using ArgoCD weight: 110 canonical: https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/as-code/infrastructure-as-code/grafana-operator/manage-dashboards-argocd/ --- # Managing Grafana Dashboards with GitOps Using ArgoCD This guide will walk you through setting up a continuous deployment pipeline using ArgoCD to synchronize your Grafana dashboards with a Git repository. We'll use the Grafana Dashboard Custom Resource provided by the Grafana Operator to manage dashboard configurations declaratively. ## Prerequisites - An existing Grafana Cloud stack - A Kubernetes cluster with Grafana Operator installed, as shown in [Grafana Operator Installation](/docs/grafana-cloud/as-code/infrastructure-as-code/grafana-operator/#installing-the-grafana-operator). - ArgoCD installed on your Kubernetes cluster. Refer the [Installation Guide](https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/en/stable/getting_started/). - Git repository to store your dashboard configurations. ## Set Up Your Git Repository Within the repository, create a directory structure to organize your grafana and dashboard configurations. For this tutorial, lets create a folder named `grafana`. ## Grafana Operator Setup The Grafana Operator allows us to authenticate with the Grafana instance using the Grafana Custom Resource (CR). 1. **Create the Grafana API Token Secret:** Store the Grafana API Token in a secret with the following content in a file named `grafana-token.yml` in the `grafana` folder in your Git repo: ```yaml apiVersion: v1 kind: Secret metadata: name: grafana-cloud-credentials namespace: <grafana-operator-namespace> stringData: GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_TOKEN: <Grafana-API-Key> type: Opaque ``` Replace the following field values: - `<Grafana-API-Key>` with API key from the Grafana instance. To create an API key, refer [Grafana API Key Documentation](/docs/grafana/latest/administration/api-keys/). - `<grafana-operator-namespace>` with the namespace where the grafana-operator is deployed in Kubernetes Cluster. 2. **Configure the Grafana Custom Resource:** Set up connection to your Grafana Cloud instance by creating a file named `grafana-cloud.yml` in the `grafana` folder in your Git repo with the following contents: ```yaml apiVersion: grafana.integreatly.org/v1beta1 kind: Grafana metadata: name: <Grafana-cloud-stack-name> namespace: <grafana-operator-namespace> labels: dashboards: <Grafana-cloud-stack-name> spec: external: url: https://<Grafana-cloud-stack-name>.grafana.net/ apiKey: name: grafana-cloud-credentials key: GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_TOKEN ``` Replace the following field values: - `<Grafana-API-Key>` with API key from the Grafana instance. - `<Grafana-cloud-stack-name>` with the name of your Grafana Cloud Stack. - `<grafana-operator-namespace>` with the namespace where the grafana-operator is deployed in Kubernetes Cluster. ## Add Dashboards to a Git repository In your `grafana` directory, Create a sub-folder called `dashboards`. For this tutorial, we will create 3 seperate dashboards. 1. Under `dashboards` folder, Create a file named `simple-dashboard.yaml` with the following content for the first dashboard: ```yaml apiVersion: grafana.integreatly.org/v1beta1 kind: GrafanaDashboard metadata: name: grafanadashboard-sample namespace: <grafana-operator-namespace> spec: resyncPeriod: 30s instanceSelector: matchLabels: dashboards: <Grafana-cloud-stack-name> json: > { "id": null, "title": "Simple Dashboard", "tags": [], "style": "dark", "timezone": "browser", "editable": true, "hideControls": false, "graphTooltip": 1, "panels": [], "time": { "from": "now-6h", "to": "now" }, "timepicker": { "time_options": [], "refresh_intervals": [] }, "templating": { "list": [] }, "annotations": { "list": [] }, "refresh": "5s", "schemaVersion": 17, "version": 0, "links": [] } ``` Replace the following field values: - `<Grafana-cloud-stack-name>` with the name of your Grafana Cloud Stack. - `<grafana-operator-namespace>` with the namespace where the grafana-operator is deployed in Kubernetes Cluster. 1. Under `dashboards` folder, Create a file named `dashboard-from-cm.yaml` with the following content for the second dashboard: ```yaml apiVersion: v1 kind: ConfigMap metadata: name: dashboard-definition namespace: <grafana-operator-namespace> spec: resyncPeriod: 30s instanceSelector: matchLabels: dashboards: <Grafana-cloud-stack-name> json: > { "id": null, "title": "Simple Dashboard from ConfigMap", "tags": [], "style": "dark", "timezone": "browser", "editable": true, "hideControls": false, "graphTooltip": 1, "panels": [], "time": { "from": "now-6h", "to": "now" }, "timepicker": { "time_options": [], "refresh_intervals": [] }, "templating": { "list": [] }, "annotations": { "list": [] }, "refresh": "5s", "schemaVersion": 17, "version": 0, "links": [] } --- apiVersion: grafana.integreatly.org/v1beta1 kind: GrafanaDashboard metadata: name: grafanadashboard-from-configmap namespace: <grafana-operator-namespace> spec: instanceSelector: matchLabels: dashboards: <Grafana-cloud-stack-name> configMapRef: name: dashboard-definition key: json ``` Replace the following field values: - `<Grafana-cloud-stack-name>` with the name of your Grafana Cloud Stack. - `<grafana-operator-namespace>` with the namespace where the grafana-operator is deployed in Kubernetes Cluster. 1. Under `dashboards` folder, Create a file named `dashboard-from-id.yaml` with the following content for the third dashboard: ```yaml apiVersion: grafana.integreatly.org/v1beta1 kind: GrafanaDashboard metadata: name: node-exporter-latest namespace: <grafana-operator-namespace> spec: instanceSelector: matchLabels: dashboards: <Grafana-cloud-stack-name> grafanaCom: id: 1860 ``` Replace the following field values: - `<Grafana-cloud-stack-name>` with the name of your Grafana Cloud Stack. - `<grafana-operator-namespace>` with the namespace where the grafana-operator is deployed in Kubernetes Cluster. ## Configure Argo CD to Sync the Git Repository Once all changes are committed to Git, Log in to the Argo CD user interface or use the CLI. 2. Create an Argo CD application to manage the synchronization: **Using UI**: - Navigate to 'New App' and fill out the form with your Git repository details and the path to your `grafana` folder. - Make sure to tick mark directory Recurse. - Set the sync policy to `Automatic`. **Using CLI**: - Prepare an application manifest named `argo-application.yaml` with the configuration pointing to your Git repository: ```yaml apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1 kind: Application metadata: name: Grafana namespace: <argocd-namespace> spec: destination: name: '' namespace: '' server: 'https://kubernetes.default.svc' source: path: <Path-to-grafana-folder> repoURL: '<Git-repo-url>' targetRevision: HEAD directory: recurse: true sources: [] project: default syncPolicy: automated: prune: true selfHeal: true syncOptions: - CreateNamespace=true retry: limit: 2 backoff: duration: 5s maxDuration: 3m0s factor: 2 ``` Replace the following field values: - `<Git-repo-url>` with the URL of your GIT Repository. - `<Path-to-grafana-folder>` with the path to the `grafana` folder. - `<argocd-namespace>` with the namespace where ArgoCD is deployed in Kubernetes Cluster. - Create the application in Argo CD: ```shell kubectl apply -f argo-application.yaml ``` ## Verify Sync Status in Argo CD 1. Monitor the newly created Argo CD application, ensuring that it successfully syncs your dashboard configuration. 2. Visit the Argo CD dashboard and check the sync status. If it's successful, your Grafana dashboard should be up to date with the configuration from your Git repository. ## Updating the Dashboards To update an existing dashboard: 1. Make changes to the dashboard JSON configuration in your Git repository. 2. Commit and push the changes. 3. Argo CD will detect the update and synchronize the changes to your Cutom Resource. 4. Grafana Operator will then sync changes to the Grafana Instance. ## Validating the Grafana Dashboard Update Log in to your Grafana dashboard and confirm that the changes have been applied. You should see the dashboard update reflected in the Grafana UI. ## Additional Tips - You can also install the Grafana Operator's Helm Chart using ArgoCD to manage your setup with GitOps. - You can follow a similar setup for Grafana Dashboards and Folders. ## Conclusion You've set up a GitOps workflow to manage Grafana dashboards using Argo CD and the Grafana Operator. Your dashboards are now version-controlled and can be consistently deployed across environments. This approach provides a reliable and auditable way to manage observability dashboards and scale your operations. To learn more about managing Grafana using Grafana Operator, see the [Grafana Operator documentation](https://grafana.github.io/grafana-operator/docs/).