/send-data

name: send-data
license: Apache-2.0
description: >
  Sending telemetry data to Grafana Cloud — metrics via Prometheus remote write or OTLP, logs via
  Loki push or Alloy, traces via OTLP to Tempo, profiles via Pyroscope. Covers Alloy-based pipelines,
  direct SDK/agent integrations, cloud integrations catalog, and credentials management.
  Use when connecting an application or infrastructure to Grafana Cloud, setting up data ingestion,
  configuring remote write, or choosing between ingestion methods.

Sending Data to Grafana Cloud

> **Docs**: https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/

Quick Start: Find Your Credentials

In Grafana Cloud portal → **My Account** → **Stack** → **Details**:

| Signal | Credential Fields | |--------|------------------| | Metrics | Prometheus remote write URL, username, password/API key | | Logs | Loki URL, username, password/API key | | Traces | Tempo OTLP endpoint, username, password/API key | | Profiles | Pyroscope URL, username, password/API key |

Alloy (Recommended — All Signals)

// METRICS
prometheus.scrape "app" {
  targets    = [{"__address__" = "localhost:8080"}]
  forward_to = [prometheus.remote_write.cloud.receiver]
}

prometheus.remote_write "cloud" {
  endpoint {
    url = "https://prometheus-prod-xx.grafana.net/api/prom/push"
    basic_auth {
      username = sys.env("PROM_USER")
      password = sys.env("GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY")
    }
  }
}

// LOGS
loki.source.file "app" {
  targets = [{__path__ = "/var/log/app/*.log", job = "app"}]
  forward_to = [loki.write.cloud.receiver]
}

loki.write "cloud" {
  endpoint {
    url = "https://logs-prod-xx.grafana.net/loki/api/v1/push"
    basic_auth {
      username = sys.env("LOKI_USER")
      password = sys.env("GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY")
    }
  }
}

// TRACES (OTLP receive → forward)
otelcol.receiver.otlp "default" {
  grpc { endpoint = "0.0.0.0:4317" }
  http { endpoint = "0.0.0.0:4318" }
  output {
    traces = [otelcol.exporter.otlp.cloud.input]
  }
}

otelcol.exporter.otlp "cloud" {
  client {
    endpoint = "tempo-prod-xx.grafana.net:443"
    auth = otelcol.auth.basic.cloud.handler
  }
}

otelcol.auth.basic "cloud" {
  username = sys.env("TEMPO_USER")
  password = sys.env("GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY")
}

Direct Prometheus Remote Write

# prometheus.yml
remote_write:
  - url: https://prometheus-prod-xx.grafana.net/api/prom/push
    basic_auth:
      username: "123456"
      password: "your-api-key"
    write_relabel_configs:
      - source_labels: [__name__]
        regex: "go_.*"
        action: drop   # optional: drop high-cardinality metrics

Direct Loki Push (curl)

curl -X POST https://logs-prod-xx.grafana.net/loki/api/v1/push \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -u "123456:your-api-key" \
  -d '{
    "streams": [{
      "stream": { "app": "myapp", "env": "prod" },
      "values": [
        ["1706745600000000000", "application started"]
      ]
    }]
  }'

OpenTelemetry SDK → Grafana Cloud

# Environment variables for OTLP export
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="https://otlp-gateway-prod-xx.grafana.net/otlp"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS="Authorization=Basic $(echo -n '123456:your-api-key' | base64)"
export OTEL_SERVICE_NAME="my-service"

Python example:

from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.http.trace_exporter import OTLPSpanExporter
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import BatchSpanProcessor

provider = TracerProvider()
exporter = OTLPSpanExporter()  # reads OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_* env vars
provider.add_span_processor(BatchSpanProcessor(exporter))
trace.set_tracer_provider(provider)

Cloud Integrations

Pre-built integrations for common infrastructure (install from Grafana Cloud UI or API):

# List available integrations
curl https://integrations-api-prod.grafana.net/api/v1/integrations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <api-key>"

# Install AWS CloudWatch integration
curl -X POST https://integrations-api-prod.grafana.net/api/v1/integrations/cloudwatch \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <api-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "aws-prod", "config": {...}}'

Popular integrations: AWS CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, GCP, Kubernetes, Docker, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, Nginx, Apache, JVM, Node.js, Python, .NET.

Kubernetes Agent Operator

# values.yaml for grafana/k8s-monitoring Helm chart
cluster:
  name: production

externalServices:
  prometheus:
    host: https://prometheus-prod-xx.grafana.net
    basicAuth:
      username: "123456"
      password:
        secretName: grafana-cloud-secret
        secretKey: api-key

  loki:
    host: https://logs-prod-xx.grafana.net
    basicAuth:
      username: "234567"
      password:
        secretName: grafana-cloud-secret
        secretKey: api-key

metrics:
  enabled: true
  podMonitors:
    enabled: true
  serviceMonitors:
    enabled: true

logs:
  pod_logs:
    enabled: true

traces:
  enabled: true

helm install k8s-monitoring grafana/k8s-monitoring \
  --version 4.1.4 \
  -n monitoring --create-namespace \
  -f values.yaml

API Key Management

# Create API key via Grafana API
curl -X POST https://yourstack.grafana.net/api/auth/keys \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -u "admin:adminpassword" \
  -d '{"name": "alloy-writer", "role": "MetricsPublisher", "secondsToLive": 0}'

Roles for data ingestion: `MetricsPublisher`, `LogsPublisher`, `TracesPublisher`, `ProfilesPublisher`