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Data Sources

Data Sources

A data source tells a panel where to fetch its data. It holds a base URL and the credentials needed to call it. Panels reference a data source and add their own endpoint path, query parameters, and headers on top.

One data source can back many panels — define it once, reuse it everywhere.

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What a data source holds

Field	What it does
Name	A friendly label shown in the panel editor's "Data Source" dropdown.
Type	The kind of source. Currently REST API.
URL	The base URL every request is built from, e.g. https://metrics.example.com.
Auth type	How requests authenticate (see below).
API key	The secret used for authentication. Stored encrypted and never returned in responses.

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Authentication

Choose an "Auth type" when creating the data source:

Auth type	Code	How the key is sent
Bearer token	BEARER	Authorization: Bearer <key>
API key header	API_KEY_HEADER	A custom header — default x-api-key, configurable.
None	NONE	No authentication.

For API key header, set "API Key Header Name" if the upstream service expects something other than x-api-key (for example X-Api-Token).

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How a panel uses it

When a panel loads, the request is assembled like this:

Code
Final URL = dataSource.url + panel.endpoint + ?queryParams
Headers   = dataSource auth header + panel.headers
Method    = panel.httpMethod (default GET)

So a data source with URL https://metrics.example.com and a panel with endpoint /api/v1/energy call https://metrics.example.com/api/v1/energy.

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Time template variables

Endpoints and query values support time placeholders that resolve at request time:

Variable	Resolves to
{{now}}	Current timestamp.
{{now-30d}}	30 days ago (any Nd, Nh, Nm offset works).
{{now:date}}	Current date in ISO format.

Example endpoint:

Code
/api/v1/energy?from={{now-7d}}&to={{now}}

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Configuration shape

Code
{
  "name": "Metrics API",
  "type": "REST_API",
  "url": "https://metrics.example.com",
  "authType": "API_KEY_HEADER",
  "apiKeyHeaderName": "x-api-key",
  "apiKey": "<secret — encrypted on save>"
}

Field	Type	Notes
name	string	Required.
type	enum	REST_API.
url	string	Required, must be a valid URL.
authType	enum	BEARER (default), API_KEY_HEADER, NONE.
apiKeyHeaderName	string	Header name for API_KEY_HEADER. Default x-api-key.
apiKey	string	Encrypted on save; never returned by the API.

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Next: point a Panel at this data source, then shape the response with Data Transformations.