Kibana Vega

Create and manage Kibana dashboards and Vega visualizations with ES|QL data sources.

Overview

Vega is a declarative visualization grammar for creating custom charts in Kibana. Combined with ES|QL queries, it enables highly customized visualizations beyond standard Kibana charts.

Important Version Requirement: This skill strictly supports ES|QL data sources and requires Serverless Kibana or version 9.4+ (SNAPSHOT). It will not work reliably on older versions or with older Lucene/KQL data source definitions.

Quick Start

Environment Configuration

Kibana connection is configured via environment variables. Run node scripts/kibana-vega.js test to verify the connection. If the test fails, suggest these setup options to the user, then stop. Do not try to explore further until a successful connection test.

Option 1: Elastic Cloud (recommended for production)

export KIBANA_CLOUD_ID="deployment-name:base64encodedcloudid"
export KIBANA_API_KEY="base64encodedapikey"

Option 2: Direct URL with API Key

export KIBANA_URL="https://your-kibana:5601"
export KIBANA_API_KEY="base64encodedapikey"

Option 3: Basic Authentication

export KIBANA_URL="https://your-kibana:5601"
export KIBANA_USERNAME="elastic"
export KIBANA_PASSWORD="changeme"

Option 4: Local Development with start-local

For local development and testing, use start-local to quickly spin up Elasticsearch and Kibana using Docker or Podman:

curl -fsSL https://elastic.co/start-local | sh

After installation completes, Elasticsearch runs at http://localhost:9200 and Kibana at http://localhost:5601. The script generates a random password for the elastic user, stored in the .env file inside the created elastic-start-local folder.

To configure the environment variables for this skill, source the .env file and export the connection settings:

source elastic-start-local/.env
export KIBANA_URL="$KB_LOCAL_URL"
export KIBANA_USERNAME="elastic"
export KIBANA_PASSWORD="$ES_LOCAL_PASSWORD"

Then run node scripts/kibana-vega.js test to verify the connection.

Optional: Skip TLS verification (development only)

export KIBANA_INSECURE="true"

Basic Workflow

# Test connection
node scripts/kibana-vega.js test

# Create visualization directly from stdin (no intermediate file needed)
echo '<json-spec>' | node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations create "My Chart" -

# Get visualization spec for review/modification
node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations get <vis-id>

# Update visualization from stdin
echo '<json-spec>' | node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations update <vis-id> -

# Create dashboard
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards create "My Dashboard"

# Add visualization with grid position
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards add-panel <dashboard-id> <vis-id> --x 0 --y 0 --w 24 --h 15

# Apply a complete layout from stdin
echo '<layout-json>' | node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards apply-layout <dashboard-id> -

Note: Use - as the file argument to read JSON from stdin. This enables direct spec creation without intermediate files.

Minimal Vega Spec with ES|QL

IMPORTANT: Always use proper JSON format (not HJSON with triple quotes) to avoid parse errors.

{
  "$schema": "https://vega.github.io/schema/vega-lite/v6.json",
  "title": "My Chart",
  "autosize": { "type": "fit", "contains": "padding" },

  "config": {
    "axis": { "domainColor": "#444", "tickColor": "#444" },
    "view": { "stroke": null }
  },

  "data": {
    "url": {
      "%type%": "esql",
      "query": "FROM logs-* | STATS count = COUNT() BY status | RENAME status AS category"
    }
  },

  "mark": { "type": "bar", "color": "#6092C0" },
  "encoding": {
    "x": { "field": "category", "type": "nominal" },
    "y": { "field": "count", "type": "quantitative" }
  }
}

ES|QL Data Source Options

| Property | Description | | --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | --------- | | %type%: "esql" | Required. Use ES | QL parser | | %context%: true | Apply dashboard filters | | %timefield%: "@timestamp" | Enable time range with ?_tstart/?_tend |

Examples

Stdin Examples

# Create visualization directly from JSON
echo '{"$schema":"https://vega.github.io/schema/vega-lite/v6.json",...}' | \
  node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations create "My Chart" -

# Update visualization
echo '{"$schema":...}' | node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations update <id> -

# Apply layout directly
echo '{"panels":[{"visualization":"<id>","x":0,"y":0,"w":24,"h":10}]}' | \
  node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards apply-layout <dash-id> -

Dashboard Layout Design

Grid System

Kibana dashboards use a 48-column grid:

Width	Columns	Use Case
Full	48	Timelines, heatmaps, wide charts
Half	24	Side-by-side comparisons
Third	16	Three-column layouts
Quarter	12	KPI metrics, small summaries

Above the Fold (Critical)

Primary information must be visible without scrolling.

Resolution	Visible Height	Layout Budget
1080p	~30 units	2 rows: h:10 + h:12
1440p	~40 units	3 rows: h:12 + h:12 + h:12

Height guidelines:

h: 10 — Compact bar charts (≤7 items), fits above fold
h: 12-13 — Standard charts, timelines
h: 15+ — Detailed views, use below fold

Layout Pattern: Operational Dashboard

┌───────────────────────┬───────────────────────┐  y:0
│  Current State A      │  Current State B      │  h:10 (compact)
├───────────────────────┴───────────────────────┤  y:10
│         Primary Timeline                      │  h:12 (main trend)
├ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ FOLD ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ┤  y:22 (1080p fold)
│         Secondary Timeline                    │  h:12 (below fold OK)
├───────────────────────┬───────────────────────┤  y:34
│  Complementary 1      │  Complementary 2      │  h:10
└───────────────────────┴───────────────────────┘

Creating Layouts

Option 1: Add panels with positions

# Row 1: Two compact half-width charts (above fold)
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards add-panel $DASH $VIS1 --x 0 --y 0 --w 24 --h 10
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards add-panel $DASH $VIS2 --x 24 --y 0 --w 24 --h 10

# Row 2: Full-width timeline (above fold)
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards add-panel $DASH $VIS3 --x 0 --y 10 --w 48 --h 12

# Row 3: Below fold content
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards add-panel $DASH $VIS4 --x 0 --y 22 --w 48 --h 12

Option 2: Apply layout file

Create layout.json:

{
  "title": "My Dashboard",
  "panels": [
    { "visualization": "<vis-id-1>", "x": 0, "y": 0, "w": 24, "h": 10 },
    { "visualization": "<vis-id-2>", "x": 24, "y": 0, "w": 24, "h": 10 },
    { "visualization": "<vis-id-3>", "x": 0, "y": 10, "w": 48, "h": 12 },
    { "visualization": "<vis-id-4>", "x": 0, "y": 22, "w": 48, "h": 12 }
  ]
}

Apply it:

node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards apply-layout <dashboard-id> layout.json

Design Checklist

Above the fold: Primary info in top ~22 height units (1080p)
Compact heights: Use h:10 for bar charts with ≤7 items
Prioritize: Most important info top-left
Group: Related charts side-by-side for comparison
Timelines: Full width (w:48), h:12 for compact
Below fold: Complementary/detailed panels OK to scroll

Guidelines

Use JSON, not HJSON triple-quotes — ''' multi-line strings cause parse errors in Kibana; use single-line queries with escaped quotes \"
Rename dotted fields — room.name breaks Vega (interpreted as nested path); use ES|QL RENAME room.name AS room
Don't set width/height — use autosize: { type: fit, contains: padding }
Set labelLimit on axes — horizontal bar chart labels truncate; use axis: { "labelLimit": 150 }
Sort bars by value — pre-sort in ES|QL with SORT field DESC and use sort: null in encoding (preserves data order); avoid sort: "-x" in layered specs (bar + text labels) as it causes "conflicting sort properties" warnings
Time axis: no rotated labels — use axis: { "labelAngle": 0, "tickCount": 8 }, let Vega auto-format dates
Descriptive titles replace axis titles — good title/subtitle makes axis titles redundant; use title: null on axes
Use color sparingly — color is a precious visual attribute; use a single default color (#6092C0) for bar charts where position already encodes value; reserve color encoding for categorical distinction (e.g., multiple lines in a time series)

Dark theme compatibility — always include config to avoid bright white borders:

"config": {
  "axis": { "domainColor": "#444", "tickColor": "#444" },
  "view": { "stroke": null }
}

CLI Commands

# Dashboards
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards list [search]
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards get <id>
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards create <title>
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards delete <id>
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards add-panel <dash-id> <vis-id> [--x N] [--y N] [--w N] [--h N]
node scripts/kibana-vega.js dashboards apply-layout <dash-id> <file|->

# Visualizations (use - for stdin instead of file)
node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations list [vega]
node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations get <id>
node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations create <title> <file|->
node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations update <id> <file|->
node scripts/kibana-vega.js visualizations delete <id>

Full Documentation

Dashboard Layout Reference — Grid system, layout patterns, design best practices
Vega-Lite Reference — Complete Vega-Lite grammar, chart patterns, best practices
ES|QL in Vega Reference — ES|QL data source configuration, time filtering, parameters
Example Specs — Ready-to-use chart templates

Common Issues

Error	Solution
"End of input while parsing an object"	Don't use HJSON `'''` triple-quotes; use JSON with single-line queries
Labels show "undefined"	Rename dotted fields: `RENAME room.name AS room`
Bars invisible / not rendering	Remove complex `scale.domain`, use simpler color schemes
Y-axis labels truncated	Add `axis: { "labelLimit": 150 }` to encoding
Panels stacked vertically	Use `--x --y --w --h` options or `apply-layout` command
"width/height ignored"	Remove dimensions, use `autosize`
Bright white borders on dark theme	Add `config: { "view": { "stroke": null }, "axis": { "domainColor": "#444", "tickColor": "#444" } }`
"401 Unauthorized"	Check KIBANA_USERNAME/PASSWORD
"conflicting sort properties"	Don't use `sort: "-x"` in layered specs; pre-sort in ES\|QL and use `sort: null`
"404 Not Found"	Verify dashboard/visualization ID