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grafana-util alert

What this page covers

Run the alerting command surface for exporting, importing, diffing, planning, applying, deleting, authoring, and listing Grafana alert resources.

When to open this page

Export local alert bundles from Grafana.
Import or diff alert bundles against live Grafana state.
Build and apply a reviewed alert management plan.
Author staged rules, contact points, routes, and templates.
List live alert rules, contact points, mute timings, and templates.

Who this page is for

Best for operators who review alert rules, routes, contact points, and staged alert changes.

Purpose

Run the alerting command surface for exporting, importing, diffing, planning, applying, deleting, authoring, and listing Grafana alert resources.

When to use

Export local alert bundles from Grafana.
Import or diff alert bundles against live Grafana state.
Build and apply a reviewed alert management plan.
Author staged rules, contact points, routes, and templates.
List live alert rules, contact points, mute timings, and templates.

Description

Open this page when the work is about Grafana alerting as a full workflow, not just one command. The alert namespace covers inventory, local authoring, diff and review, and the plan/apply path that teams usually need before changing production alert resources.

This is the right entrypoint for SREs, platform operators, and anyone who wants to understand how alert rules, notification routing, and contact-point changes fit together before diving into one exact subcommand.

Workflow lanes

Inspect: list-rules, list-contact-points, list-mute-timings, and list-templates.
Move: export, import, add-rule, clone-rule, add-contact-point, set-route, new-rule, new-contact-point, and new-template.
Review Before Mutate: diff, plan, apply, and preview-route.

Choose this page when alert work spans rules, routes, contact points, or templates and you want the workflow before the flags.

Before / After

Before: alert work is often scattered across rule editors, export scripts, and route tweaks without one grouped path from inventory to reviewed apply.
After: the alert namespace keeps inventory, authoring, diff, planning, and apply in one place so you can read first, then change.

What success looks like

you can tell whether the task belongs to inspect, move, or review-before-mutate before you open a subcommand
a plan or export can move through review without losing routing context
the same alert flow can be repeated in CI or during incident follow-up

Failure checks

if an inventory command returns less than expected, confirm whether the auth scope is wide enough for the org or folder you need
if a review or apply step behaves strangely, inspect the alert plan JSON before assuming the CLI is wrong
if the result is going to automation, set --output-format explicitly so the downstream step knows the contract

Key flags

--profile, --url, --token, --basic-user, --basic-password
--prompt-password, --prompt-token, --timeout, --verify-ssl
Use the nested subcommands for export, import, diff, plan, apply, delete, add-rule, clone-rule, add-contact-point, set-route, preview-route, new-rule, new-contact-point, new-template, list-rules, list-contact-points, list-mute-timings, and list-templates.

Auth notes

Prefer --profile for normal alert review and apply loops.
Use Basic auth when you need broader org visibility or admin-backed inventory.
Token auth works best for scoped single-org reads or automation where the token permissions are already well understood.

Examples

# Purpose: Inspect alert inventory before choosing a lane.
grafana-util alert list-rules --profile prod --json

# Purpose: Export alert resources for review or migration.
grafana-util alert export --url http://localhost:3000 --basic-user admin --basic-password admin --output-dir ./alerts --overwrite

# Purpose: Preview the route shape before mutating live alert routing.
grafana-util alert preview-route --url http://localhost:3000 --profile prod --output-format json

# Purpose: Export alert resources for review or migration with token auth.
grafana-util alert export --url http://localhost:3000 --token "$GRAFANA_API_TOKEN" --output-dir ./alerts --flat

Inspect

Move

Review Before Mutate

access