The Render URL API¶

The graphite webapp provides a /render endpoint for generating graphs and retrieving raw data. This endpoint accepts various arguments via query string parameters. These parameters are separated by an ampersand (&) and are supplied in the format:

&name=value

To verify that the api is running and able to generate images, open http://GRAPHITE_HOST:GRAPHITE_PORT/render in a browser. The api should return a simple 330x250 image with the text “No Data”.

Once the api is running and you’ve begun feeding data into carbon, use the parameters below to customize your graphs and pull out raw data. For example:

# single server load on large graph
http://graphite/render?target=server.web1.load&height=800&width=600

# average load across web machines over last 12 hours
http://graphite/render?target=averageSeries(server.web*.load)&from=-12hours

# number of registered users over past day as raw json data
http://graphite/render?target=app.numUsers&format=json

# rate of new signups per minute
http://graphite/render?target=summarize(derivative(app.numUsers),"1min")&title=New_Users_Per_Minute

Note

Most of the functions and parameters are case sensitive. For example &linewidth=2 will fail silently. The correct parameter in this case is &lineWidth=2

Graphing Metrics¶

To begin graphing specific metrics, pass one or more target parameters and specify a time window for the graph via from / until.

target¶

The target parameter specifies a path identifying one or several metrics, optionally with functions acting on those metrics. Paths are documented below, while functions are listed on the Functions page.

Paths and Wildcards¶

Metric paths show the “.” separated path from the root of the metrics tree (often starting with servers) to a metric, for example servers.ix02ehssvc04v.cpu.total.user.

Paths also support the following wildcards, which allows you to identify more than one metric in a single path.

Asterisk

The asterisk (*) matches zero or more characters. It is non-greedy, so you can have more than one within a single path element.

Example: servers.ix*ehssvc*v.cpu.total.* will return all total CPU metrics for all servers matching the given name pattern.

Character list or range

Characters in square brackets ([...]) specify a single character position in the path string, and match if the character in that position matches one of the characters in the list or range.

A character range is indicated by 2 characters separated by a dash (-), and means that any character between those 2 characters (inclusive) will match. More than one range can be included within the square brackets, e.g. foo[a-z0-9]bar will match foopbar, foo7bar etc..

If the characters cannot be read as a range, they are treated as a list - any character in the list will match, e.g. foo[bc]ar will match foobar and foocar. If you want to include a dash (-) in your list, put it at the beginning or end, so it’s not interpreted as a range.

Value list

Comma-separated values within curly braces ({foo,bar,...}) are treated as value lists, and match if any of the values matches the current point in the path. For example, servers.ix01ehssvc04v.cpu.total.{user,system,iowait} will match the user, system and I/O wait total CPU metrics for the specified server.

Note

All wildcards apply only within a single path element. In other words, they do not include or cross dots (.). Therefore, servers.* will not match servers.ix02ehssvc04v.cpu.total.user, while servers.*.*.*.* will.

Tagged Series¶

When querying tagged series, we start with the seriesByTag function:

# find all series that have tag1 set to value1
seriesByTag('tag1=value1')

See querying tagged series for more detail on using seriesByTag.

Examples¶

This will draw one or more metrics

Example:

&target=company.server05.applicationInstance04.requestsHandled
(draws one metric)

Let’s say there are 4 identical application instances running on each server.

&target=company.server05.applicationInstance*.requestsHandled
(draws 4 metrics / lines)

Now let’s say you have 10 servers.

&target=company.server*.applicationInstance*.requestsHandled
(draws 40 metrics / lines)

You can also run any number of functions on the various metrics before graphing.

&target=averageSeries(company.server*.applicationInstance.requestsHandled)
(draws 1 aggregate line)

Multiple function calls can be chained together either by nesting them or by piping the result into another function (it will be passed to the piped function as its first parameter):

&target=movingAverage(aliasByNode(company.server*.applicationInstance.requestsHandled,1),"5min")
&target=aliasByNode(company.server*.applicationInstance.requestsHandled,1)|movingAverage("5min")
&target=company.server*.applicationInstance.requestsHandled|aliasByNode(1)|movingAverage("5min")
&target=movingAverage(company.server*.applicationInstance.requestsHandled|aliasByNode(1),"5min")
(these are all equivalent)

The target param can also be repeated to graph multiple related metrics.

&target=company.server1.loadAvg&target=company.server1.memUsage

Note

If more than 10 metrics are drawn the legend is no longer displayed. See the hideLegend parameter for details.

from / until¶

These are optional parameters that specify the relative or absolute time period to graph. from specifies the beginning, until specifies the end. If from is omitted, it defaults to 24 hours ago. If until is omitted, it defaults to the current time (now).

There are multiple formats for these functions:

&from=-RELATIVE_TIME
&from=ABSOLUTE_TIME

RELATIVE_TIME is a length of time since the current time. It is always preceded by a minus sign ( - ) and followed by a unit of time. Valid units of time:

Abbreviation	Unit
s	Seconds
min	Minutes
h	Hours
d	Days
w	Weeks
mon	30 Days (month)
y	365 Days (year)

ABSOLUTE_TIME is in the format HH:MM_YYYYMMDD, YYYYMMDD, MM/DD/YY, or any other at(1)-compatible time format.

Abbreviation	Meaning
HH	Hours, in 24h clock format. Times before 12PM must include leading zeroes.
MM	Minutes
YYYY	4 Digit Year.
MM	Numeric month representation with leading zero
DD	Day of month with leading zero

&from and &until can mix absolute and relative time if desired.

Examples:

&from=-8d&until=-7d
(shows same day last week)

&from=04:00_20110501&until=16:00_20110501
(shows 4AM-4PM on May 1st, 2011)

&from=20091201&until=20091231
(shows December 2009)

&from=noon+yesterday
(shows data since 12:00pm on the previous day)

&from=6pm+today
(shows data since 6:00pm on the same day)

&from=january+1
(shows data since the beginning of the current year)

&from=monday
(show data since the previous monday)

template¶

The target metrics can use a special template function which allows the metric paths to contain variables. Values for these variables can be provided via the template query parameter.

Examples¶

Example:

&target=template(hosts.$hostname.cpu)&template[hostname]=worker1

Default values for the template variables can also be provided:

&target=template(hosts.$hostname.cpu, hostname="worker1")

Positional arguments can be used instead of named ones:

&target=template(hosts.$1.cpu, "worker1")
&target=template(hosts.$1.cpu, "worker1")&template[1]=worker*

In addition to path substitution, variables can be used for numeric and string literals:

&target=template(constantLine($number))&template[number]=123
&target=template(sinFunction($name))&template[name]=nameOfMySineWaveMetric

Data Display Formats¶

Along with rendering an image, the api can also generate SVG with embedded metadata, PDF, or return the raw data in various formats for external graphing, analysis or monitoring.

format¶

Controls the format of data returned. Affects all &targets passed in the URL.

Examples:

&format=png
&format=raw
&format=csv
&format=json
&format=svg
&format=pdf
&format=dygraph
&format=rickshaw

png¶

Renders the graph as a PNG image of size determined by width and height

raw¶

Renders the data in a custom line-delimited format. Targets are output one per line and are of the format <target name>,<start timestamp>,<end timestamp>,<series step>|[data]*

entries,1311836008,1311836013,1|1.0,2.0,3.0,5.0,6.0

csv¶

Renders the data in a CSV format suitable for import into a spreadsheet or for processing in a script

entries,2011-07-28 01:53:28,1.0
entries,2011-07-28 01:53:29,2.0
entries,2011-07-28 01:53:30,3.0
entries,2011-07-28 01:53:31,5.0
entries,2011-07-28 01:53:32,6.0

json¶

Renders the data as a json object. The jsonp option can be used to wrap this data in a named call for cross-domain access

[{
  "target": "entries",
  "datapoints": [
    [1.0, 1311836008],
    [2.0, 1311836009],
    [3.0, 1311836010],
    [5.0, 1311836011],
    [6.0, 1311836012]
  ]
}]

svg¶

Renders the graph as SVG markup of size determined by width and height. Metadata about the drawn graph is saved as an embedded script with the variable metadata being set to an object describing the graph

<script>
  <![CDATA[
    metadata = {
      "area": {
        "xmin": 39.195507812499997,
        "ymin": 33.96875,
        "ymax": 623.794921875,
        "xmax": 1122
      },
      "series": [
        {
          "start": 1335398400,
          "step": 1800,
          "end": 1335425400,
          "name": "summarize(test.data, \"30min\", \"sum\")",
          "color": "#859900",
          "data": [null, null, 1.0, null, 1.0, null, 1.0, null, 1.0, null, 1.0, null, null, null, null],
          "options": {},
          "valuesPerPoint": 1
        }
      ],
      "y": {
        "labelValues": [0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0],
        "top": 1.0,
        "labels": ["0 ", "0.25 ", "0.50 ", "0.75 ", "1.00  "],
        "step": 0.25,
        "bottom": 0
      },
      "x": {
        "start": 1335398400,
        "end": 1335423600
      },
      "font": {
        "bold": false,
        "name": "Sans",
        "italic": false,
        "size": 10
      },
      "options": {
        "lineWidth": 1.2
      }
    }
  ]]>
</script>

pdf¶

Renders the graph as a PDF of size determined by width and height.

dygraph¶

Renders the data as a json object suitable for passing to a Dygraph object.

{
  "labels" : [
    "Time",
    "entries"
  ],
  "data" : [
    [1468791890000, 0.0],
    [1468791900000, 0.0]
  ]
}

rickshaw¶

Renders the data as a json object suitable for passing to a Rickshaw object.

[{
  "target": "entries",
  "datapoints": [{
    "y": 0.0,
    "x": 1468791890
  }, {
    "y": 0.0,
    "x": 1468791900
  }]
}]

pickle¶

Returns a Python pickle (serialized Python object). The response will have the MIME type ‘application/pickle’. The pickled object is a list of dictionaries with the keys: name, start, end, step, and values as below:

[
  {
    'name' : 'summarize(test.data, "30min", "sum")',
    'start': 1335398400,
    'end'  : 1335425400,
    'step' : 1800,
    'values' : [None, None, 1.0, None, 1.0, None, 1.0, None, 1.0, None, 1.0, None, None, None, None],
  }
]

rawData¶

Deprecated since version 0.9.9: This option is deprecated in favor of format

Used to get numerical data out of the webapp instead of an image. Can be set to true, false, csv. Affects all &targets passed in the URL.

Example:

&target=carbon.agents.graphiteServer01.cpuUsage&from=-5min&rawData=true

Returns the following text:

carbon.agents.graphiteServer01.cpuUsage,1306217160,1306217460,60|0.0,0.00666666520965,0.00666666624282,0.0,0.0133345399694

Graph Parameters¶

areaAlpha¶

Default: 1.0

Takes a floating point number between 0.0 and 1.0

Sets the alpha (transparency) value of filled areas when using an areaMode

areaMode¶

Default: none

Enables filling of the area below the graphed lines. Fill area is the same color as the line color associated with it. See areaAlpha to make this area transparent. Takes one of the following parameters which determines the fill mode to use:

none: Disables areaMode
first: Fills the area under the first target and no other
all: Fills the areas under each target
stacked: Creates a graph where the filled area of each target is stacked on one another. Each target line is displayed as the sum of all previous lines plus the value of the current line.

bgcolor¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

Sets the background color of the graph.

Color Names	RGB Value
black	0,0,0
white	255,255,255
blue	100,100,255
green	0,200,0
red	200,0,50
yellow	255,255,0
orange	255, 165, 0
purple	200,100,255
brown	150,100,50
aqua	0,150,150
gray	175,175,175
grey	175,175,175
magenta	255,0,255
pink	255,100,100
gold	200,200,0
rose	200,150,200
darkblue	0,0,255
darkgreen	0,255,0
darkred	255,0,0
darkgray	111,111,111
darkgrey	111,111,111

RGB can be passed directly in the format #RRGGBB[AA] where RR, GG, and BB are 2-digit hex values for red, green and blue, respectively. AA is an optional addition describing the opacity (“alpha”). Where FF is fully opaque, 00 fully transparent.

Examples:

&bgcolor=blue
&bgcolor=2222FF
&bgcolor=5522FF60

cacheTimeout¶

Default: The value of DEFAULT_CACHE_DURATION from local_settings.py

The time in seconds for the rendered graph to be cached (only relevant if memcached is configured)

colorList¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

Takes one or more comma-separated color names or RGB values (see bgcolor for a list of color names) and uses that list in order as the colors of the lines. If more lines / metrics are drawn than colors passed, the list is reused in order. Any RGB value can also have an optional transparency (00 being fully transparent, FF being opaque), as shown in the second example.

Example:

&colorList=green,yellow,orange,red,purple,DECAFF
&colorList=FF000055,00FF00AA,DECAFFEF

drawNullAsZero¶

Default: false

Converts any None (null) values in the displayed metrics to zero at render time.

fgcolor¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

Sets the foreground color. This only affects the title, legend text, and axis labels.

See majorGridLineColor, and minorGridLineColor for further control of colors.

See bgcolor for a list of color names and details on formatting this parameter.

fontBold¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

If set to true, makes the font bold.

Example:

&fontBold=true

fontItalic¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

If set to true, makes the font italic / oblique. Default is false.

Example:

&fontItalic=true

fontName¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

Change the font used to render text on the graph. The font must be installed on the Graphite Server.

Example:

&fontName=FreeMono

fontSize¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

Changes the font size. Must be passed a positive floating point number or integer equal to or greater than 1. Default is 10

Example:

&fontSize=8

format¶

See: Data Display Formats

from¶

See: from / until

graphOnly¶

Default: False

Display only the graph area with no grid lines, axes, or legend

graphType¶

Default: line

Sets the type of graph to be rendered. Currently there are only two graph types:

line: A line graph displaying metrics as lines over time
pie: A pie graph with each slice displaying an aggregate of each metric calculated using the function specified by pieMode

hideLegend¶

Default: <unset>

If set to true, the legend is not drawn. If set to false, the legend is drawn. If unset, the LEGEND_MAX_ITEMS settings in local_settings.py is used to determine whether or not to display the legend.

Hint: If set to false the &height parameter may need to be increased to accommodate the additional text.

Example:

&hideLegend=false

hideNullFromLegend¶

Default: False

If set to true, series with all null values will not be reported in the legend.

Example:

&hideNullFromLegend=true

hideAxes¶

Default: False

If set to true the X and Y axes will not be rendered

Example:

&hideAxes=true

hideXAxis¶

Default: False

If set to true the X Axis will not be rendered

hideYAxis¶

Default: False

If set to true the Y Axis will not be rendered

hideGrid¶

Default: False

If set to true the grid lines will not be rendered

Example:

&hideGrid=true

height¶

Default: 250

Sets the height of the generated graph image in pixels.

jsonp¶

Default: <unset>

If set and combined with format=json, wraps the JSON response in a function call named by the parameter specified.

leftColor¶

Default: color chosen from colorList

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the color of all metrics associated with the left Y-axis.

leftDashed¶

Default: False

In dual Y-axis mode, draws all metrics associated with the left Y-axis using dashed lines

leftWidth¶

Default: value of the parameter lineWidth

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the line width of all metrics associated with the left Y-axis

lineMode¶

Default: slope

Sets the line drawing behavior. Takes one of the following parameters:

slope: Slope line mode draws a line from each point to the next. Periods with Null values will not be drawn
staircase: Staircase draws a flat line for the duration of a time period and then a vertical line up or down to the next value
connected: Like a slope line, but values are always connected with a slope line, regardless of whether or not there are Null values between them

Example:

&lineMode=staircase

lineWidth¶

Default: 1.2

Takes any floating point or integer (negative numbers do not error but will cause no line to be drawn). Changes the width of the line in pixels.

Example:

&lineWidth=2

logBase¶

Default: <unset>

If set, draws the graph with a logarithmic scale of the specified base (e.g. 10 for common logarithm)

localOnly¶

Default: False

Set to prevent fetching from remote Graphite servers, only returning metrics which are accessible locally

majorGridLineColor¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

Sets the color of the major grid lines.

See bgcolor for valid color names and formats.

Example:

&majorGridLineColor=FF22FF

margin¶

Default: 10 Sets the margin around a graph image in pixels on all sides.

Example:

&margin=20

max¶

Deprecated since version 0.9.0: See yMax

maxDataPoints¶

Set the maximum numbers of datapoints for each series returned when using json content.

If for any output series the number of datapoints in a selected range exceeds the maxDataPoints value then the datapoints over the whole period are consolidated.

The function used to consolidate points can be set using the consolidateBy function.

minorGridLineColor¶

Default: value from the [default] template in graphTemplates.conf

Sets the color of the minor grid lines.

See bgcolor for valid color names and formats.

Example:

&minorGridLineColor=darkgrey

minorY¶

Sets the number of minor grid lines per major line on the y-axis.

Example:

&minorY=3

min¶

Deprecated since version 0.9.0: See yMin

minXStep¶

Default: 1

Sets the minimum pixel-step to use between datapoints drawn. Any value below this will trigger a point consolidation of the series at render time. The default value of 1 combined with the default lineWidth of 1.2 will cause a minimal amount of line overlap between close-together points. To disable render-time point consolidation entirely, set this to 0 though note that series with more points than there are pixels in the graph area (e.g. a few month’s worth of per-minute data) will look very ‘smooshed’ as there will be a good deal of line overlap. In response, one may use lineWidth to compensate for this.

noCache¶

Default: False

Set to disable caching of rendered images

noNullPoints¶

Default: False

If set and combined with format=json, removes all null datapoints from the series returned.

pickle¶

Deprecated since version 0.9.10: See Data Display Formats

pieLabels¶

Default: horizontal

Orientation to use for slice labels inside of a pie chart.

horizontal: Labels are oriented horizontally within each slice
rotated: Labels are oriented radially within each slice

pieMode¶

Default: average

The type of aggregation to use to calculate slices of a pie when graphType=pie. One of:

average: The average of non-null points in the series
maximum: The maximum of non-null points in the series
minimum: THe minimum of non-null points in the series

pretty¶

Default: <unset>

If set to 1 and combined with format=json, outputs human-friendly json.

rightColor¶

Default: color chosen from colorList

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the color of all metrics associated with the right Y-axis.

rightDashed¶

Default: False

In dual Y-axis mode, draws all metrics associated with the right Y-axis using dashed lines

rightWidth¶

Default: value of the parameter lineWidth

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the line width of all metrics associated with the right Y-axis

template¶

Default: default

Used to specify a template from graphTemplates.conf to use for default colors and graph styles.

Example:

&template=plain

thickness¶

Deprecated since version 0.9.0: See: lineWidth

title¶

Default: <unset>

Puts a title at the top of the graph, center aligned. If unset, no title is displayed.

Example:

&title=Apache Busy Threads, All Servers, Past 24h

tz¶

Default: The timezone specified in local_settings.py

Time zone to convert all times into.

Examples:

&tz=America/Los_Angeles
&tz=UTC

Note

To change the default timezone, edit webapp/graphite/local_settings.py.

uniqueLegend¶

Default: False

Display only unique legend items, removing any duplicates

until¶

See: from / until

valueLabels¶

Default: percent

Determines how slice labels are rendered within a pie chart.

none: Slice labels are not shown
numbers: Slice labels are reported with the original values
percent: Slice labels are reported as a percent of the whole

valueLabelsColor¶

Default: black

Color used to draw slice labels within a pie chart.

valueLabelsMin¶

Default: 5

Slice values below this minimum will not have their labels rendered.

vtitle¶

Default: <unset>

Labels the y-axis with vertical text. If unset, no y-axis label is displayed.

Example:

&vtitle=Threads

vtitleRight¶

Default: <unset>

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the title of the right Y-Axis (See: vtitle)

width¶

Default: 330

Sets the width of the generated graph image in pixels.

xFilesFactor¶

Default: DEFAULT_XFILES_FACTOR specified in local_settings.py or 0

Sets the default xFilesFactor value used when performing runtime aggregation across multiple series and/or intervals.

See the xFilesFactor function for more information on the xFilesFactor value and how the default can be overridden for specific targets or series.

xFormat¶

Default: Determined automatically based on the time-width of the X axis

Sets the time format used when displaying the X-axis. See datetime.date.strftime() for format specification details.

yAxisSide¶

Default: left

Sets the side of the graph on which to render the Y-axis. Accepts values of left or right

yDivisors¶

Default: 4,5,6

Sets the preferred number of intermediate values to display on the Y-axis (Y values between the minimum and maximum). Note that Graphite will ultimately choose what values (and how many) to display based on a ‘pretty’ factor, which tries to maintain a sensible scale (e.g. preferring intermediary values like 25%,50%,75% over 33.3%,66.6%). To explicitly set the Y-axis values, see yStep

yLimit¶

Reserved for future use See: yMax

yLimitLeft¶

Reserved for future use See: yMaxLeft

yLimitRight¶

Reserved for future use See: yMaxRight

yMin¶

Default: The lowest value of any of the series displayed

Manually sets the lower bound of the graph. Can be passed any integer or floating point number.

Example:

&yMin=0

yMax¶

Default: The highest value of any of the series displayed

Manually sets the upper bound of the graph. Can be passed any integer or floating point number.

Example:

&yMax=0.2345

yMaxLeft¶

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the upper bound of the left Y-Axis (See: yMax)

yMaxRight¶

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the upper bound of the right Y-Axis (See: yMax)

yMinLeft¶

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the lower bound of the left Y-Axis (See: yMin)

yMinRight¶

In dual Y-axis mode, sets the lower bound of the right Y-Axis (See: yMin)

yStep¶

Default: Calculated automatically

Manually set the value step between Y-axis labels and grid lines

yStepLeft¶

In dual Y-axis mode, Manually set the value step between the left Y-axis labels and grid lines (See: yStep)

yStepRight¶

In dual Y-axis mode, Manually set the value step between the right Y-axis labels and grid lines (See: yStep)

yUnitSystem¶

Default: si

Set the unit system for compacting Y-axis values (e.g. 23,000,000 becomes 23M). Value can be one of:

si: Use si units (powers of 1000) - K, M, G, T, P
binary: Use binary units (powers of 1024) - Ki, Mi, Gi, Ti, Pi
sec: Use time units (seconds) - m, H, D, M, Y
msec: Use time units (milliseconds) - s, m, H, D, M, Y
none: Dont compact values, display the raw number