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grafana-util-dashboard-history.1

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NAME

grafana-util-dashboard-history - List, restore, diff, or export dashboard revision history for one dashboard UID, whether it comes from live Grafana or from local history artifacts.

SYNOPSIS

grafana-util dashboard history [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION

List, restore, diff, or export dashboard revision history for one dashboard UID, whether it comes from live Grafana or from local history artifacts.

Use this when you need to inspect earlier dashboard versions, recover a known-good revision, or export dashboard history into a reusable artifact for review or CI. You can also read the same history back from a single exported artifact or an export tree with included history.

BEFORE / AFTER

Before: dashboard revision recovery often meant guessing which old version to trust, then manually rebuilding it or editing JSON by hand.
After: one history namespace covers list, restore, diff, and export, so operators can inspect old versions, compare revisions from different dates, recover a known-good revision, and hand the same artifact to review or CI.

COMMON OPTIONS

--dashboard-uid: the dashboard UID whose revision history you want. Required for live history list and restore, and useful for filtering local export-tree history.
--input: read one reusable history artifact produced by dashboard history export.
--input-dir: read one export tree produced by dashboard export --include-history.
--base-dashboard-uid / --new-dashboard-uid: dashboard UIDs for live or export-tree diff sources.
--base-input / --new-input: reusable history artifacts to compare.
--base-input-dir / --new-input-dir: export trees to compare, which lets you compare history exports from different dates.
--base-version / --new-version: the historical version numbers to compare.
--limit: how many recent versions to include in list or export views.
--version: the historical version number to restore.
--message: revision message for the new restored revision.
--dry-run: preview a restore without changing Grafana.
--yes: confirm a real restore.
--output-format: render list or restore output as text, table, json, or yaml. Diff uses text or json.
--output: write exported history artifacts to a JSON file.
--overwrite: replace an existing export artifact.

SUCCESS CRITERIA

list output shows the revision numbers and messages you expected for the target dashboard UID
restore dry-run clearly shows the version that would become the new latest revision
diff clearly shows the two versions you compared and whether they matched
a real restore leaves the old version in history and adds a new current revision
export writes a reusable JSON artifact that can be inspected later without Grafana

FAILURE CHECKS

if list output is empty, confirm the dashboard UID and whether your credentials can see that dashboard
if restore fails, verify that the target version exists and that you supplied --yes for a live restore
if export writes the wrong file or seems stale, confirm the output path and whether --overwrite was intended

EXAMPLES