Dynatrace Dashboard Skill

Overview

Dynatrace dashboards are JSON documents stored in the Document Store. Each dashboard contains:

Tiles: Visual components displaying markdown content or data visualizations
Layouts: Grid-based positioning (20-unit width) defining tile placement
Variables: Dynamic parameters (
```
$VariableName
```
) for query filtering
Configuration: Version metadata and dashboard-level settings

When to use this skill:

Creating new dashboards with skill-based query generation
Modifying existing dashboards (queries, tiles, layouts)
Querying dashboard JSON to extract data or analyze structure
Analyzing dashboard purpose, metrics coverage, and health

Four main workflows:

Creating - Build dashboards with skill-based queries
Modifying - Update tiles, queries, layouts, variables
Querying - Extract data from dashboard JSON
Analyzing - Understand structure, purpose, gaps, and health

Dashboard Document Structure

Dashboards in the Dynatrace Document Store include both metadata and content:

json

{
  "id": "dashboard-abc123",
  "name": "My Dashboard",  
  "type": "dashboard",
  "owner": "user-uuid",
  "version": 60,
  "modificationInfo": {...},
  "content": {
    "version": 21,
    "variables": [],
    "tiles": {...},
    "layouts": {...}
  }
}

Metadata (top-level):

```
.id
```
- Document ID
```
.name
```
- Dashboard name
```
.owner
```
- Owner UUID
```
.version
```
- Document version (change tracking)
```
.modificationInfo
```
- Creation/modification timestamps

Dashboard content (
.content
):

```
.content.version
```
- Dashboard schema version (current: 21)
```
.content.tiles
```
- Tile definitions
```
.content.layouts
```
- Tile positioning
```
.content.variables
```
- Dashboard variables

All jq examples in this skill use the

.content.*

paths.

When to Load References

This skill uses progressive disclosure - load only what you need:

Start here: SKILL.md provides core concepts and quick-start examples
Load references on-demand: Each reference file covers a specific deep-dive topic
Context efficiency: Progressive loading enables task completion without external documentation

Loading strategy:

Try answering with just SKILL.md first
If you need detailed specifications or advanced patterns, load the relevant reference file
The "References" section below maps each file to its use case

💡 Tip: Reference files are linked throughout this document with
→
arrows pointing to when you should load them.

Working with Dashboards

For detailed workflows and mandatory requirements:

Creating & Updating dashboards → Load
```
references/create-update.md
```
for complete workflow, skill-based query generation, validation, and modification patterns
Analyzing dashboards → Load
```
references/analyzing.md
```
for structure analysis, health assessment, and JSON extraction

⚠️ MANDATORY for creation/modification:

Follow this exact order (do not reorder):

Define purpose and load required skills, references and assets
Explore available data fields/metrics
Plan dashboard structure: logic, variables, tiles and layout
Design and validate all variable/tile DQL with
```
dtctl query "<DQL>" --plain
```
Construct/update dashboard JSON
Validate the dashboard JSON structure and queries
Deploy the dashboard via the Dynatrace API

Full requirements and examples:

references/create-update.md

Dashboard Structure

Required Structure

json

{
  "name": "My Dashboard",
  "type": "dashboard",
  "content": {
    "version": 21,
    "tiles": {},
    "layouts": {}
  }
}

Optional properties inside content:

```
variables
```
- Array of dashboard variables (filters/parameters)
```
settings
```
- Dashboard-level settings (grid layout, default timeframe)
```
refreshRate
```
- Dashboard refresh rate in milliseconds (e.g., 60000)
```
gridColumnsCount
```
- Number of grid columns (default: 20)
```
annotations
```
- Array of dashboard annotations

Structure concept: Variables define reusable parameters, tiles contain content/visualizations, layouts control positioning. Each tile ID in

tiles

must have a corresponding entry in

layouts

Tiles Overview

📊 For detailed tile specifications, visualization settings, and query configuration, load
references/tiles.md

Markdown tiles:

{"type": "markdown", "content": "# Title"}

Data tiles:

{"type": "data", "title": "...", "query": "...", "visualization": "..."}

Visualizations:

Time-series (MUST have time dimension via

timeseries

makeTimeseries

lineChart

areaChart

barChart

bandChart

Categorical (no time dimension,

summarize ... by:{field}

categoricalBarChart

pieChart

donutChart

Single value / gauge (single numeric record):
```
singleValue
```
,
```
meterBar
```
,
```
gauge
```
Tabular / raw (any data shape):
```
table
```
,
```
raw
```
,
```
recordList
```
Distribution / status:
```
histogram
```
,
```
honeycomb
```

Geographic maps:

choroplethMap

dotMap

connectionMap

bubbleMap

Matrix / correlation:
```
heatmap
```
,
```
scatterplot
```

→ See references/tiles.md for specifications

Layouts Overview

📐 For complex layout patterns, grid system details, and positioning examples, load
references/layouts.md

Grid: 20 units wide. Common widths: Full (20), Half (10), Third (6-7), Quarter (5) Properties:

(0-19),

(0+),

(1-20),

(1-20)

Example:

{"1": {"x": 0, "y": 0, "w": 20, "h": 1}, "2": {"x": 0, "y": 1, "w": 10, "h": 8}}

→ See references/layouts.md for patterns

Variables Overview

🔧 For detailed variable configurations, replacement strategies, multi-select, and limitations, load
references/variables.md

Definition:

{"version": 2, "key": "ServiceFilter", "type": "query", "visible": true, "editable": true, "input": "smartscapeNodes SERVICE | fields name", "multiple": false, "defaultValue": "*"}

Usage (single-select):

fetch logs | filter service.name == $ServiceFilter

Usage (multi-select):

fetch logs | filter in(service.name, array($ServiceFilter))

→ See references/variables.md for complete property reference, replacement strategies (
:noquote
,
:backtick
), and usage patterns

Validation

⚠️ MANDATORY for create/update workflows: Validate the dashboard JSON before deploying. Check:

Schema structure — required top-level keys (
```
name
```
,
```
type
```
,
```
content
```
) and content keys (
```
version
```
,
```
variables
```
,
```
tiles
```
,
```
layouts
```
)
Variable resolution — all variable queries execute successfully
Tile query execution — all tile DQL queries run without errors
Best-practice checks — warnings for hardcoded time filters, CSV variables, etc.

→ Load

references/create-update.md

for full validation workflow.

References

Reference File	When to Use
create-update.md	Creating and updating dashboards - workflows, skill-based queries, validation, patterns
tiles.md	Tile types, visualization settings, query configuration, thresholds
layouts.md	Grid system details, layout patterns, positioning examples
variables.md	Variable types, multi-select, default values, query integration
analyzing.md	Structure analysis, purpose identification, health assessment, JSON extraction

Common Patterns & Best Practices

Patterns: Executive (header + KPIs + trends) · Service Health (RED metrics) · Infrastructure (resource metrics + tables)

Key rules: Match tile IDs in

tiles

and

layouts

· Use descriptive variable IDs · Start with full-width headers (y=0) · Optimize queries with

limit

summarize

· Set version=21 · No time-range filters in queries unless explicitly requested by the user

dt-app-dashboards

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content