Query tracing data

The Tempo data source’s query editor helps you query and display traces from Tempo in Explore.

This topic explains configuration and queries specific to the Tempo data source. For general documentation on querying data sources in Grafana, see Query and transform data.

To add TraceQL panels to your dashboard, refer to the Traces panel documentation.

To learn more about Grafana dashboards, refer to the Use dashboards documentation.

Write TraceQL queries in Grafana

You can compose TraceQL queries in Grafana and Grafana Cloud using Explore and a Tempo data source. You can use either the Query type > Search (the TraceQL query builder) or the TraceQL tab (the TraceQL query editor). Both of these methods let you build queries and drill-down into result sets.

To learn more about how to query by TraceQL, refer to the TraceQL documentation.

TraceQL query builder

The TraceQL query builder, located on the Explore > Query type > Search in Grafana, provides drop-downs and text fields to help you write a query.

Refer to the Search using the TraceQL query builder documentation to learn more about creating queries using convenient drop-down menus.

TraceQL query editor

The TraceQL query editor, located on the Explore > TraceQL tab in Grafana, lets you search by trace ID and write TraceQL queries using autocomplete.

Refer to the TraceQL query editor documentation to learn more about constructing queries using a code-editor-like experience.

Query by search (deprecated)

Caution
Starting with Grafana v10.2, this query type has been deprecated. It will be removed in Grafana v10.3.

Use this to search for traces by service name, span name, duration range, or process-level attributes that are included in your application’s instrumentation, such as HTTP status code and customer ID.

To configure Tempo and the Tempo data source for search, refer to Configure the data source.

To search for traces:

Select Search from the Query type selector.
Fill out the search form:

Name	Description
Service Name	Returns a list of services.
Span Name	Returns a list of span names.
Tags	Sets tags with values in the logfmt format, such as `error=true db.statement="select * from User"`.
Min Duration	Filters all traces with a duration higher than the set value. Possible values are `1.2s`, `100ms`, `500us`.
Max Duration	Filters all traces with a duration lower than the set value. Possible values are `1.2s`, `100ms`, `500us`.
Limit	Limits the number of traces returned.