Description:
Hi Grafana team,
I’m working on synthetic trace generation and visualization using Tempo and Grafana, and I’ve encountered a limitation that I believe could benefit from a new feature or enhancement.
The Problem
Currently, when sending multiple spans that:
- Share the same trace ID
- Have the same operation name
- Are siblings (i.e., share the same parent span)
- Or even reuse the same span ID (non-spec-compliant, but tested)
…Grafana still renders them as separate rows in the trace view, even when they are clearly part of the same logical operation or timeline.
I’ve also tried using events within a single span to simulate multiple durations or phases. While this keeps everything in one row, the events are visually clustered and don’t clearly show gaps or inactive periods between phases. This makes it difficult to represent operations that have multiple active windows separated by idle time.
What I’m Hoping For
A way to visually group multiple spans or phases into a single row, such that:
- They appear sequentially on the same timeline
- Gaps between them are preserved
- They are clearly distinguishable as separate durations or phases
- Grouping could be based on span name, a custom attribute, or a shared parent
Possible Approaches
- Allow grouping spans by a custom attribute (operation name or service name) (e.g.,
"timeline.group": "buffer-phase") - Support visual segmentation of a single span using structured events with gaps
- Provide a layout option to collapse sibling spans into a single row
- Introduce a “timeline mode” that prioritizes visual continuity over strict span hierarchy
Example Use Case
Imagine a buffer that activates for 30 seconds, pauses for 15 seconds, and then runs again for 1 minute. I’d like to represent this as a single logical operation with two active phases — ideally shown on the same row in Grafana.
Would love to hear your thoughts on whether this is feasible or already on the roadmap. Thanks for all the amazing work on Grafana and Tempo!