Loki Direct

loki

The Loki Direct adapter allows you to query Loki installations directly, without routing through Grafana. Use this adapter if you have a standalone Loki deployment or want to bypass Grafana.

Differences from Grafana Loki Browser

Feature	Loki Direct	Grafana Browser
Connection	Direct HTTP to Loki	Through Grafana UI
Authentication	URL-based (API key in URL or basic auth)	Browser-based (Grafana login)
Best for	Standalone Loki or scripted access	Grafana-hosted Loki
Setup complexity	Simple	May require proxy/auth

Params

url string

The base URL of your Loki instance (e.g., http://loki.example.com:3100 or http://localhost:3100).

listenPort number Optional

The port to use for connections. Default matches the port in the url parameter.

filter array Optional

A list of filter objects to apply to your queries. Each filter object should have:

key (string): The label or field to filter on.
value (string): The value to match.
operator (enum): One of =, =~, !=, !~ (exact match, regex match, not equal, not regex match).

querySuffix array Optional

Additional query suffixes to append to your Loki queries.

Examples

Minimal Configuration

connectors:
  - type: loki
    name: loki_direct
    params:
      url: "http://loki.example.com:3100"

With Port Specification

connectors:
  - type: loki
    name: loki_prod
    params:
      url: "http://loki.example.com"
      listenPort: 3100

With Filters and Query Suffix

connectors:
  - type: loki
    name: loki_filtered
    params:
      url: "http://loki.example.com:3100"
      filter:
        - key: "environment"
          value: "production"
          operator: "="
        - key: "service"
          value: "api"
          operator: "="
      querySuffix: ["| json"]

Usage Notes

The url parameter is required. It should point to your Loki instance’s root URL.
You may need to include authentication details in the URL itself (e.g., http://user:password@loki.example.com:3100) or configure authentication separately depending on your Loki setup.
The filter parameter works the same as in the Grafana Loki Browser adapter — it restricts logs at the adapter level before processing.
Use querySuffix to append operations like | json to automatically parse JSON logs.

Troubleshooting

Connection refused: Verify the url is correct and the Loki instance is running and accessible.

401 Unauthorized: If your Loki instance requires authentication, ensure credentials are included in the URL or are configured at the network level.

No results: Check that your filters match existing labels in your Loki instance.

🔷

Grafana Loki Browser

grafana_browser

Query Loki through Grafana UI — better if your Loki is hosted in Grafana

For more information on Loki query syntax and labels, see the Grafana Loki documentation.