Datasource & Variable scopes

Datasources & Variables in Perses can be configured at different scopes. The available scopes are:

• Global - Available to all dashboards. Global datasources & variables are configured in the Admin view.
• Project - Available to all dashboards in the given project. Project datasources & variables are configured in the Project view.
• Dashboard - Available to the given dashboard only. Dashboard datasources & variables are configured in the Dashboard view.

The idea behind this approach is to:

• Leverage higher scopes for common use cases, allowing the same definition to be reused across multiple dashboards.
• Use lower scopes for more specific needs, restricting the resource availability to a specific (set of) dashboard(s).

Then, once on a dashboard, if multiple resources with the same name exist across different scopes, the resource from the lower scope takes precedence. This enables transparent overriding for more specific use cases.

Let’s see with an example of a Time Series panel that relies on three variables and a datasource:

The demo datasource used is specific to this dashboard and overrides one defined at the project level, which in turn overrides a demo datasource defined at the global level.

For the variables:

• The panel uses the standard cluster variable, which is globally defined.
• The namespace list is restricted to those relevant to the project or application, so a custom project-specific variable is used instead of the global one.
• The pod variable is defined at the dashboard level, making it accessible exclusively within this dashboard.