https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource
Grafana Plugin to enable SQLite as a Datasource
https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource
grafana grafana-plugin hacktoberfest sqlite3
Last synced: 3 months ago
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Grafana Plugin to enable SQLite as a Datasource
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource
- Owner: fr-ser
- License: apache-2.0
- Created: 2020-08-22T10:51:41.000Z (almost 5 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-03-25T19:56:32.000Z (4 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-03-29T04:06:21.186Z (4 months ago)
- Topics: grafana, grafana-plugin, hacktoberfest, sqlite3
- Language: Go
- Homepage:
- Size: 74.8 MB
- Stars: 138
- Watchers: 5
- Forks: 16
- Open Issues: 6
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Grafana SQLite Datasource
[](https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0)
[](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/actions/workflows/branches.yml)
[](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/actions/workflows/tags.yml)
This is a Grafana backend plugin to allow using an SQLite database as a data source.
The SQLite database needs to be accessible to the filesystem of the device where Grafana itself
is running.
Table of contents:
- [Plugin Installation](#plugin-installation)
- [Security Considerations](#security-considerations)
- [Support for Time Formatted Columns](#support-for-time-formatted-columns)
- [Macros](#macros)
- [Alerting](#alerting)
- [Common Problems - FAQ](#common-problems---faq)
- [Development and Contributing](#development-and-contributing)
- [Supporting the Project](#supporting-the-project)
- [Further Documentation and Links](#further-documentation-and-links)
## Plugin Installation
The recommended way to install the plugin for most users is to use the grafana CLI:
1. Run this command: `grafana-cli plugins install frser-sqlite-datasource`
2. Restart the Grafana server.
3. To make sure the plugin was installed, check the list of installed data sources. Click the
Plugins item in the main menu. Both core data sources and installed data sources will appear.
For other installation options (e.g. to install versions not yet released in the Grafana registry but in Github) see
[./docs/installation.md](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/blob/main/docs/installation.md).
## Security considerations
### Using the "Attach" Feature of SQLite to Connect to Private Database
A data source of the SQLite plugin specifies a specific SQLite location.
But by using the [attach feature](https://www.sqlite.org/lang_attach.html) this restriction can be circumvented.
A **user with read only permissions** on the database can use the attach feature in a query to connect to any database that the Grafana user has access to on the system.
Recommendations to Mitigate Risks:
- Set the "AttachLimit" (a configuration of the SQLite data source) to 0, to disable this option.
### Access to The Grafana Internal SQLite Database
Grafana itself can run with an SQLite database as a data storage.
Using this plugin this file can be accessed.
There are no built-in restrictions preventing a **user with permissions to edit the data source configuration** from attaching to the SQLite database and accessing its contents.
This means that sensitive data, including secrets stored within the database, could potentially be exposed if appropriate access controls are not enforced at the Grafana level.
Recommendations to Mitigate Risks:
- Limit Data Source Editing Permissions: Restrict the ability to modify the data source configuration to only trusted administrators.
- Do not use SQLite as the data storage for Grafana but a database with more access controls (like Postgres).
## Support for Time Formatted Columns
SQLite has no native "time" format. It relies on strings and numbers for time and dates. Since
especially for time series Grafana expects an actual time type, however, the plugin provides a way
to infer a real timestamp. This can be set in the query editor by providing the name of the column,
which should be reformatted to a timestamp.
The plugin supports two different inputs that can be converted to a "time" depending on the type
of the value in the column, that should be formatted as "time":
1. **A number input**: It is assumed to be a unix timestamp / unix epoch. This represents time in
the number of **seconds** (make sure your timestamp is not in milliseconds). More information is
here:
2. **A string input**: The value is expected to be formatted in accordance with **RFC3339**,
e.g. `"2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00"`. Edge cases might occur and the parsing library used is the
source of truth here: .
Timestamps stored as unix epoch should work out of the box, but the string formatting might require
adjusting your current format. The below example shows how to convert a "date" column to a parsable
timestamp:
```SQL
WITH converted AS (
-- a row looks like this (value, date): 1.45, '2020-12-12'
SELECT value, date || 'T00:00:00Z' AS datetime FROM raw_table
)
SELECT datetime, value FROM converted ORDER BY datetime ASC
```
## Macros
This plugins supports macros inspired by the built-in Grafana data sources (e.g.
).
However, as each macro needs to be re-implemented from scratch, only the following macros are
supported. Other macros (that you might expect from other SQL databases) are not supported by the
plugin (yet).
### $__unixEpochGroupSeconds(unixEpochColumnName, intervalInSeconds)
Example: `$__unixEpochGroupSeconds("time", 10)`
Will be replaced by an expression usable in GROUP BY clause. For example:
`cast(("time" / 10) as int) * 10`
### $__unixEpochGroupSeconds(unixEpochColumnName, intervalInSeconds, NULL)
Example: `$__unixEpochGroupSeconds(timestamp, 10, NULL)`
This is the same as the above example but with a fill parameter so missing points in that series
will be added for Grafana and `NULL` will be used as value.
In case multiple time columns are provided the first one is chosen as the column to determine the
gap filling. "First" in this context means first in the SELECT statement. This column needs to have
no NULL values and must be sorted in ascending order.
## Alerting
The plugins supports the Grafana alerting feature. Similar to the built in data sources alerting
does not support variables as they are normally replaced in the frontend, which is not involved
for the alerts. In order to allow time filtering this plugin supports the variables `$__from` and
`$__to`. For more information about those variables see here:
.
Formatting of those variables (e.g. `${__from:date:iso}`) is not supported for alerts, however.
## Common Problems - FAQ
This is a list of common questions or problems. For the answers and more details see
[./docs/faq.md](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/blob/main/docs/faq.md).
- [I have a "file not found" error for my database](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/blob/main/docs/faq.md#i-have-a-file-not-found-error-for-my-database)
- [I have a "permission denied" error for my database](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/blob/main/docs/faq.md#i-have-a-permission-denied-error-for-my-database)
- ...
## Query examples
Some examples to help getting started with SQL and SQLite can be found in
[./docs/examples.md](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/blob/main/docs/examples.md).
These examples include things like:
- filtering by the time specified in the Grafana UI
- creating a time series mindful of gaps
- converting dates to timestamps
- ...
## Development and Contributing
Any contribution is welcome. Some information regarding the local setup can be found in the
[DEVELOPMENT.md file](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/blob/main/DEVELOPMENT.md).
## Supporting the Project
This project was developed for free as an open source project. And it will stay that way.
If you like using this plugin, however, and would like to support the development go check out
the [Github sponsorship page](https://github.com/sponsors/fr-ser). This allows sponsoring the
project with monthly or one-time contributions.
## Further Documentation and Links
- A changelog of the plugin can be found in the [CHANGELOG.md](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md).
- More documentation about the plugin can be found under [the docs section in Github](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/blob/main/docs).
- The plugin in the Grafana registry can be found [here](https://grafana.com/grafana/plugins/frser-sqlite-datasource/).
- Questions or bugs about the plugin can be found and reported [in Github](https://github.com/fr-ser/grafana-sqlite-datasource/issues?q=) or in the [Grafana community](https://community.grafana.com/search?q=sqlite%20order%3Alatest).