Output formats
Select table, JSON, or YAML output for human use and automation.
The global -o/--output flag accepts three formats:
-o table: default, human-readable-o json: structured JSON for programs and agents-o yaml: structured YAML
Agents: prefer -o json. Add --quiet when a command may also emit
informational messages that are not needed by the caller.
grafana user current -o json | jq -r .login
grafana dashboard list -o json | jq -r '.[].uid'
grafana datasource list -o yamlSet a default
Save a preferred output format in the CLI config:
grafana config set defaults.output jsonA per-command -o flag overrides that default.
File input and exports
Create and update commands commonly use -f/--file with JSON, YAML, or - for
stdin. This is independent of the selected output format:
grafana folder create -f folder.yaml -o json
echo '{"title":"Operations"}' | grafana folder create -f - -o jsongrafana dashboard export <uid> is a dedicated JSON export command. Use
--output-file <path> to write the dashboard model directly to a file.