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Grafana Public Dashboards

Public dashboards allow unauthenticated users to view specific Grafana dashboards without requiring login credentials. This is achieved through two mechanisms: anonymous authentication and embedding support.

How It Works

Grafana exposes dashboards publicly by combining:

  • Anonymous auth: Grafana accepts requests without a session, assigning them to a designated organization with a fixed role.
  • Embedding: Grafana allows its UI to be rendered inside an <iframe> in external web pages.

Required Configuration

The following environment variables must be set in the Grafana configuration:

Variable Value Purpose
GF_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_ENABLED "true" Enables unauthenticated access
GF_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_ORG_NAME "<org name>" Organization for anonymous users
GF_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_ORG_ROLE Viewer Role assigned to anonymous users
GF_SECURITY_ALLOW_EMBEDDING "true" Allows embedding Grafana in iframes

These variables are typically delivered via a Kubernetes ConfigMap and mounted as environment variables into the Grafana pod.

Organization Setup

The organization referenced by GF_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_ORG_NAME must exist in Grafana before anonymous access works. Steps:

  1. Log in as a Grafana admin.
  2. Go to Administration > Organizations.
  3. Create the organization with the exact name matching the variable value.
  4. Assign the desired dashboards and data sources to that organization.

Anonymous users will only see the resources belonging to this organization.

Sharing a Public Dashboard

To share a specific dashboard publicly:

  1. Open the dashboard in Grafana.
  2. Click Share (top toolbar).
  3. Select the Public dashboard tab.
  4. Toggle Enable public access and confirm.
  5. Copy the generated public URL.

The public URL does not require authentication and is safe to share externally or embed in a portal.

Public dashboard limitations

Grafana's built-in public dashboard feature has significant restrictions:

  • Template variables are not supported. Dashboards that use variables will show errors on all panels that depend on them.
  • Frontend data sources (TestData, etc.) fail to fetch data.
  • Grafana Live and real-time event streams are not supported.
  • Exemplars are omitted from query results.
  • Only specific annotation types are supported.

For dashboards that use template variables, use the anonymous auth approach with a regular dashboard URL and ?kiosk instead.

Embedding in an iframe

Once GF_SECURITY_ALLOW_EMBEDDING is enabled, use the dashboard URL or the public dashboard URL inside an <iframe>:

<iframe
  src="https://grafana.example.com/d/<dashboard-uid>/<slug>?orgId=1&kiosk"
  width="100%"
  height="600"
  frameborder="0">
</iframe>

The kiosk query parameter hides the Grafana navigation bar and side menu. As of Grafana v11.3, dashboard controls (time range picker, variables, refresh button) are shown by default even in kiosk mode. To hide them individually, append:

Parameter Hides
_dash.hideTimePicker=true Time range picker and refresh button
_dash.hideVariables=true Template variable dropdowns
_dash.hideLinks=true Dashboard links

Example URL hiding all controls:

https://grafana.example.com/d/<uid>/<slug>?kiosk&_dash.hideTimePicker=true&_dash.hideVariables=true

Security Considerations

  • Anonymous access is scoped to the configured organization only. Dashboards in other organizations remain protected.
  • Grant the anonymous organization access only to non-sensitive dashboards and read-only data sources.
  • Avoid assigning roles higher than Viewer to anonymous users.
  • If embedding is not needed, leave GF_SECURITY_ALLOW_EMBEDDING unset or set to "false".