Configure Grafana Logs Drilldown

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:19:28 +0000

Configure Grafana Logs Drilldown

You can use the Configuration page to configure the Grafana Logs Drilldown app like other apps or plugins in Grafana. By accessing the app’s Administration page, you can view the version history, changelog, configuration, landing page settings, and default fields.

Before you begin

To access the Configuration page, you need to be an Org Admin or Server Admin role.

Only Org Admins can save changes made to the configuration settings. Server Admin alone can’t configure app plugins; only install, uninstall, or update them.

In practice this means:

Org Admin only can view and configure, but can’t install or update the plugin.
Server Admin only can install/update the plugin, but the Configuration tab settings are read-only.
Both roles have full access: configure, install, update, and uninstall.

This is a Grafana-wide rule that applies to all app plugins, not specific to Logs Drilldown. If a Server Admin needs to change the configuration settings, they need to be granted the Org Admin role in the relevant organization.

Refer to Plugin management for more information.

Configuration tab

The Configuration tab has four settings, all aimed at an administrator setting up a consistent experience for their team:

Default data source: pick which Loki instance users land on when they first open the app
Default time range: override the built-in 15-minute default with a range that matches your team’s workflows
Maximum time picker interval: cap how far back users can query, typically to match your Loki retention period or protect query performance
Disable Loki patterns: turn off the Patterns tab and API calls if your Loki instance doesn’t have pattern ingestion enabled

Configure settings

To view the Configuration tab:

Open the Logs Drilldown app’s settings by navigating to Administration > Plugins and data > Plugins > Grafana Logs Drilldown.
Select the Configuration tab.

Note
Active users must reload the app for configuration changes to take effect.

Select a setting to configure it:

Default data source sets the Loki data source used when a new user opens Logs Drilldown for the first time. Individual users can override this by selecting a different data source inside the app. Only Loki data sources are supported.
Default time range controls the time range applied when a user opens Logs Drilldown without a time range already set in the URL. Select the Use custom default time range checkbox to enable this setting, which reveals From and To input fields. Both fields are required. Use relative time expressions such as now-15m, now-1h, or now-24h for the start, and now for the end. Absolute date-time values are also accepted. The From value must be earlier than the To value; if either value is missing or invalid, the Save settings button is disabled and an inline error is displayed. When disabled, the app uses its built-in default of the last 15 minutes.
Maximum time picker interval sets an upper bound on the time range interval that users can select in the time picker. The minimum accepted value is one hour (60m). Example values: 7d, 24h, 2w. If left empty, users can select any time range.
Disable Loki patterns controls whether the Patterns tab and the Loki Patterns API endpoint are used by Logs Drilldown.

After configuring a setting, click Save settings to apply the changes.

Default fields (Beta)

Note
Default fields is currently in public preview. Grafana Labs offers limited support, and breaking changes might occur prior to the feature being made generally available.

To use this feature, enable the kubernetesLogsDrilldown feature toggle in your Grafana configuration file or contact Support.

The Default fields tab lets administrators configure which fields appear by default in log visualizations instead of, or alongside, the full log line.

How Default fields work

Default field rules are scoped to a specific data source and one or more label and value pairs. When a user views logs for a service that matches all configured labels in a rule, the specified fields are displayed by default in the logs table view. The configured fields can replace the full log line or be displayed next to it.

When a rule stores multiple values for the same label, those values are matched as a regular expression, so a rule can apply to several label values at once.

Configure Default fields

To configure Default fields:

Navigate to Administration > Plugins and data > Plugins > Grafana Logs Drilldown.
Select the Default fields tab.
Select a Loki data source from the data source picker.
Click Add to create a new rule.
Select a label and label value to define which services this rule applies to. You can add multiple label and value pairs to a single rule by clicking Add label.
Add the columns you want to display for matching services by clicking Add column.
Click Create default columns to save a new configuration, or Update default columns to save changes to an existing one.

You can add multiple records to configure different columns for different label and value combinations. Each data source can have its own set of rules.

Landing Page default labels (Beta)

Note
Landing Page default labels is currently in public preview. Grafana Labs offers limited support, and breaking changes might occur prior to the feature being made generally available.

To use this feature, enable the kubernetesLogsDrilldown feature toggle in your Grafana configuration file or contact Support.

The Landing Page tab lets administrators configure which labels and label values appear by default on the Logs Drilldown landing page.

How Landing Page default labels work

By default, Logs Drilldown organizes the landing page by service_name. If your environment uses a different label to identify services, such as app, namespace, cluster, or a custom label, you can configure the landing page to show those labels instead. This ensures users see a meaningful service list immediately, without having to add labels manually.

Landing page label configuration is per data source. Each Loki data source can have independent default label settings.

When default labels are configured:

The configured labels appear as pinned tabs on the landing page. End users cannot remove these tabs.
The first label in the list becomes the default active tab when users open Logs Drilldown.
When specific values are pinned for a label, only those values appear on the landing page.
When no values are pinned for a label, all values from the volume API are displayed.
Default label values are excluded from the favorites toggle.
When no labels are configured, Logs Drilldown falls back to service_name.

Configure Landing Page default labels

To configure Landing Page default labels:

Navigate to Administration > Plugins and data > Plugins > Grafana Logs Drilldown.
Select the Landing Page tab.
Select a Loki data source from the data source picker. Each data source has independent configuration.
In the Select label name field, choose a label from the suggestions or type a custom label name.
(Optional) After selecting a label, a Select values (optional) multi-select field appears. Choose specific values to pin, or leave it empty to show all values for that label on the landing page.
Click Add label (or Add label and values if values were selected).
Repeat steps 4-6 to add more labels.
Drag and drop labels using the grip handle to reorder them. The first label in the list becomes the default active tab on the landing page.
To remove a label, click the trash icon next to it. To remove an individual pinned value, expand the label and click the trash icon next to the value.
Click Save changes to persist your configuration. Click Reset to discard unsaved changes (a confirmation prompt appears before resetting).

Access or install Grafana Logs Drilldown on Grafana Labs

Configure Grafana Logs Drilldown

Configure Grafana Logs Drilldown

Before you begin

Configuration tab

Configure settings

Default fields (Beta)

How Default fields work

Configure Default fields

Landing Page default labels (Beta)

How Landing Page default labels work

Configure Landing Page default labels

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