---
title: "How to find and filter metrics | Grafana Labs"
description: "Navigate the metric hierarchy to find and filter"
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# How to find and filter metrics

Prometheus metrics have a name, labels, and label values. Metrics Drilldown lets you move through that structure.

## The structure

| Level            | What it is                                                      | Example                                   |
|------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| **Name**         | The metric you select                                           | `node_cpu_seconds_total`                  |
| **Labels**       | Label names on that metric                                      | `job`, `instance`, `mode`                 |
| **Label values** | One value of a label                                            | `mode="idle"`                             |
| **Time stamp**   | The visualization on the **Breakdown** tab for each label value | CPU time for server-01 with `mode="idle"` |

## How you move through it

1. Select a data source.
2. Optionally select **Add label** and choose a label name, an operator, and a value. You can also type keywords in the metric search bar.
3. Select the metric. The control on the metric panel is **Select**.
4. On the **Breakdown** tab, select **Select** on a label, then select **Add to filters** on the value you want.

The **Breakdown** tab shows a time series for each label-value pair of the metric you selected.

If a metric or its labels appear in Explore but not here, the data source **Series limit** may be hiding them. The default is 40,000, and it applies to metrics, labels, and values. Search with a name filter such as `__name__ = vm_http`, or raise **Series limit** in the Prometheus data source settings. Raising the limit can affect Metrics Drilldown performance.