Grafana Exporter

A Go application with a web UI to export Grafana dashboards and their linked libraries.

Features

• Web-based interface for selecting dashboards to export
• Multi-organization support — switch between Grafana organizations from the UI
• Dual authentication — Bearer token (API key) or Basic auth (username/password)
• Automatically exports linked library panels
• Preserves folder structure for dashboards and libraries
• Supports nested folder hierarchies (clicking a folder shows all sub-folder dashboards)
• Sort dashboards by name or last updated date with version tracking
• Export as individual JSON files or ZIP archive
• Alert rules export (modern and legacy Grafana API)
• Search and filter capabilities
• Works with Grafana v10.x / v11.x

Requirements

• Go 1.22 or higher
• Access to a Grafana instance
• Grafana API key with viewer permissions, or username/password with basic auth enabled

Installation

From Packages

Download the appropriate package for your system from the releases page:

• .deb package for Debian/Ubuntu
• .rpm package for RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
• .exe for Windows
• Binary files for other Linux distributions

From Source

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/grafana-exporter.git
cd grafana-exporter
go mod download
go build

Configuration

Create a .env file based on .env.example:

# Grafana connection
GRAFANA_URL=https://your-grafana-instance

# Authentication (choose one method):
# Option 1: API key (Bearer token) — single org
GRAFANA_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

# Option 2: Basic auth (username/password) — supports multi-org switching
GRAFANA_USER=admin
GRAFANA_PASSWORD=your-password

# General settings
SKIP_TLS_VERIFY=true
GRAFANA_VERSION=11.1
EXPORT_DIRECTORY=./exported
SERVER_HOST=127.0.0.1
SERVER_PORT=8080
FORCE_ENABLE_ZIP_EXPORT=false

Authentication Methods

Method	Env Vars	Multi-Org	Notes
API Key	GRAFANA_API_KEY	No	Default. Create via Grafana > Administration > Service accounts
Basic Auth	GRAFANA_USER + GRAFANA_PASSWORD	Yes	Auto-detected when both are set. Requires [auth.basic] enabled = true in Grafana config

When using basic auth, the organization selector appears in the UI allowing you to switch between orgs.

Usage

1. Start the application:

./grafana-exporter

2. Open your web browser and navigate to:

http://localhost:8080

3. Use the web interface to:
   • Switch between organizations (if using basic auth)
   • Browse folders and dashboards (clicking a folder includes subfolders)
   • Sort by name or last updated date
   • Select dashboards and alert rules to export
   • Export as JSON files or ZIP archive with linked library panels

Creating a Grafana API Key

1. In your Grafana instance, go to:

   • Configuration > API Keys (Grafana < v9)
   • Administration > API Keys (Grafana v9+)
   • Administration > Service accounts (Grafana v10+)

2. Add a new API key with Viewer role permission

3. Copy the generated API key to your .env file

Export Format

Exported files maintain the original folder structure:

exported/
  ├── 20240228_123045/          # Timestamp of export
  │   ├── dashboards/
  │   │   ├── General/          # General folder
  │   │   │   └── Dashboard1.json
  │   │   └── FolderName/       # Named folders
  │   │       └── Dashboard2.json
  │   └── libraries/
  │       ├── General/          
  │       │   └── Panel1.json
  │       └── FolderName/       
  │           └── Panel2.json

Docker Support

Building Locally

docker build -t grafana-exporter .
docker run -p 8080:8080 --env-file .env -v $(pwd)/exported:/app/exported grafana-exporter

Using GitHub Container Registry

You can pull the pre-built image from GitHub Container Registry:

docker pull ghcr.io/fulgerx2007/grafana-exporter:latest
docker run -p 8080:8080 --env-file .env -v $(pwd)/exported:/app/exported ghcr.io/fulgerx2007/grafana-exporter:latest

Or use a specific version:

docker pull ghcr.io/fulgerx2007/grafana-exporter:v1.0.0
docker run -p 8080:8080 --env-file .env -v $(pwd)/exported:/app/exported ghcr.io/fulgerx2007/grafana-exporter:v1.0.0

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.