Could a Grafana plugin support write requests?

[jomag]

I’m using Grafana to monitor some automation systems. I’ve been using it for years in many different types of applications and I’m very content with it: easy to setup, easy to configure, easy for end users to monitor, and nice visual design.

However, for my current application, I need a few input fields: some numeric input, some toggle, perhaps some sliders. They should reflect key values in Redis.

I’ve seen a few similar requests, and the general answer is that Grafana is a pure monitoring tool, and Node-RED dashboard is often recommended as an alternative. However, I’m not at all as content with Node-RED dashboard as I am with Grafana, except for this single feature. And I don’t really see why Grafana could not support simple writes like this? Would it be possible to write a plugin to do it? As I’ve searched and not found any, I’m guessing it’s not as easy as I think.

[marcusolsson]

Like you say, writing data back to a data source is not what Grafana was originally designed to do. That being said, it’s possible.

If you build a backend data source with a resource handler that that accepts write operations, you could either build a custom control panel plugin, or find a panel plugin that lets you make requests to arbitrary endpoints.

To start with, you probably want to read the post on How to add a resource handler for your data source.