# Import dashboards and rules

Import the bundled dashboards and alert rules into a business group, and adjust thresholds before enabling.

Last reviewed 2026-10-10

Where this page ends: a business group that now has this component's dashboards, plus a batch of alert rules sitting **disabled**, waiting for you to adjust thresholds and enable them one by one.

Nightingale ships templates for <!-- -->83<!-- --> components. Once metrics are arriving there is no need to draw panels or write rules from scratch — import the templates into a business group and tune them.

## What a component ships with[​](#what-a-component-ships-with "Direct link to What a component ships with")

**Integrations → Components**, click any component card, and the drawer has four tabs:

| Tab          | Contents                                                                                                                                  |
| ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Instructions | How this component is collected — see [Install collector configuration](https://n9e.github.io/docs/data/integrations/collector-config.md) |
| Metrics      | Which metrics it produces and what each one means                                                                                         |
| Dashboards   | Ready-made dashboard templates                                                                                                            |
| Alert rules  | Ready-made alert rule templates                                                                                                           |

Not every component has all four. Of the <!-- -->83<!-- -->, <!-- -->63<!-- --> ship alert rules, <!-- -->51<!-- --> ship dashboards, and <!-- -->21<!-- --> ship metric descriptions.

## Importing dashboards[​](#importing-dashboards "Direct link to Importing dashboards")

On the component drawer's **Dashboards** tab the columns are Name / Tags / Note / Updated by / Operations. Bundled entries show **System** in the Updated by column.

Tick the rows you want and click **Import to business group**. The dialog has two fields:

| Field          | Notes                                                                               |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Business group | Where it lands. It **must be a leaf group**; intermediate levels are not selectable |
| Content        | Pre-filled with the JSON of the templates you ticked; normally leave it alone       |

Click **Clone** to finish. The dashboards then appear under **Explorer → Dashboards** with that business group selected.

The import is a **one-time copy**: when Nightingale is upgraded and a template changes, dashboards you already imported do not follow. Re-import to pick up the new version.

**Panel data sources are not chosen at import time**, they are chosen when the dashboard is opened — so one imported copy can be pointed at different sources.

## Importing alert rules[​](#importing-alert-rules "Direct link to Importing alert rules")

On the **Alert rules** tab, tick the rules and click **Import to business group**. This dialog has more fields than the dashboard one:

| Field             | Notes                                                                                          |
| ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Business group    | As above, must be a leaf group                                                                 |
| Enabled           | **Off by default.** Leave it off until the thresholds are right                                |
| Source type       | Read-only, derived from the templates themselves. Bundled rules are almost always `prometheus` |
| Data source       | Which source(s) these rules run against. A **Data source preview** sits next to it             |
| Notification rule | Where events go; you can pick an existing one or create one inline                             |
| Content           | The rules' JSON, pre-filled                                                                    |

Click **Import** to finish.

One import covers **one data source type**. Mixing types produces *"Cannot import alert rules of different data source types"* and disables the submit button — import them in two passes.

## The other direction: from the dashboard and rule lists[​](#the-other-direction-from-the-dashboard-and-rule-lists "Direct link to The other direction: from the dashboard and rule lists")

If you would rather not start in the template center, the reverse path works too:

* **Explorer → Dashboards → pick a business group → Import**, and the first tab is **Import built-in dashboard**: choose a **Component**, then tick rows in the **Templates** table. That table has an extra **Variable** column so you can set dashboard variables before importing;
* **Alerts & Notifications → Alert rules → pick a business group → Import**, first tab **Import built-in alert rules**, which adds a **Category** dropdown (a component often ships two rule sets — `xxx_by_categraf` and `xxx_by_exporter` — split by how the data was collected).

Both entry points read the same templates through the same API; use whichever page you are already on.

Those **Import** buttons only appear once a **leaf business group** is selected.

## A third entry point: one-click import after saving a data source[​](#a-third-entry-point-one-click-import-after-saving-a-data-source "Direct link to A third entry point: one-click import after saving a data source")

When a Prometheus-type data source is saved successfully, the result panel runs a template match: it merges the sentinel metrics of the bundled templates into a single query against your source, and **whichever sentinels have recent samples tell it which components' data is already there**. Those components are then listed as cards:

> Found data from 3 components in this datasource. Click a card to import templates

Clicking a card opens the import dialog with dashboards and alert rules on separate tabs, each showing its count. This path works for **Prometheus-family sources only**, and it judges "has recent data", not "has ever had data".

## Adjust thresholds before enabling[​](#adjust-thresholds-before-enabling "Direct link to Adjust thresholds before enabling")

The thresholds in bundled rules are **generic defaults**, not calibrated for your environment. After importing, go through at least these three:

1. **The threshold.** "CPU above 90%" is normal on a load generator and an incident on a database primary;
2. **The for-duration.** A rule that fires on every blip gets ignored fast; look at how much the metric normally moves first;
3. **Notification rule and severity.** S1 should wake someone up; S3 should not.

Then turn **Enabled** on. Enabling all of them at once is the classic way to lose the team's trust — switch on the five that matter, watch for a week, then do the next batch.

## Next[​](#next "Direct link to Next")

* Confirm the data is really there before trusting the rules: [Verify incoming data](https://n9e.github.io/docs/data/integrations/verify.md)
* Tuning rules: [Alert rules](https://n9e.github.io/docs/alerting/overview.md)
* Editing dashboards: [Build a dashboard](https://n9e.github.io/docs/query/dashboards.md)
* Nothing collecting yet: [Install collector configuration](https://n9e.github.io/docs/data/integrations/collector-config.md)