How to query Tempo traces in Grafana

Querying Tempo traces in Grafana lets an operator inspect request spans, duration, and service attributes from the Explore view. Use this when traces are already reaching Tempo and the task is to find one trace or a small set of traces for investigation.

The Tempo data source supports multiple query modes in Explore. The search builder helps locate recent traces by service or span fields, direct trace ID lookup opens a known trace, and TraceQL provides a query language for trace selection.

Set the Grafana time range to cover the trace timestamps before querying. A valid trace ID can still return nothing when the selected time range excludes the span or when the trace has not yet flushed through the backend.

1. Confirm the Tempo data source exists in Grafana.

   $ curl --silent --user admin:admin http://127.0.0.1:3000/api/datasources/uid/tempo
   {"uid":"tempo","name":"Tempo","type":"tempo","url":"http://tempo:3200"}

2. Open Grafana.
3. Open Explore from the left navigation.
4. Select the Tempo data source.
5. Set the time range to include the trace being investigated.
6. Select the Search query type.
7. Enter the service name in the search fields and click Run query.

   service.name = checkout-api

8. Select a returned trace from the result list.
9. Confirm the trace view shows the expected service and span.

   service.name: checkout-api
   span: checkout-request
   traceID: 5b8efff798038103d269b633813fc700

10. Use direct trace lookup when the trace ID is already known.

    5b8efff798038103d269b633813fc700

    Direct lookup is the fastest path when the trace ID came from a log line, alert annotation, support ticket, or API response.

11. Run a TraceQL query for a reusable filter.

    { resource.service.name = "checkout-api" }

    TraceQL filters can be saved into dashboards or reused during investigations where service, span, duration, or status attributes matter.