Create a URL drilldown

A URL drilldown opens a website from a panel. The URL can change with the dashboard time range, the dashboard filters, and the value you select. You build that URL with variables. URL template help explains the syntax and the values you can insert.

Refer to Drilldowns to choose a drilldown type.

To create a URL drilldown, you need:

• All privilege for the Dashboard feature in Kibana
• An existing dashboard with at least one panel that supports drilldowns

The following panel types support URL drilldowns:

• Visualizations that use a data view
• Visualizations based on an ES|QL query
• Vega visualizations
• Maps
• Image
• Discover sessions
• Legacy Kibana visualization types, such as TSVB, Aggregation-based, and Timelion

A drilldown is compatible only with indexed fields. Fields created at query time are not supported. Refer to Values that cannot open a drilldown.

The trigger is the interaction that runs the drilldown and decides which values the URL can use. When you create the drilldown, Trigger lists only the interactions the panel supports. If the panel supports one interaction, Trigger is already set and the list is hidden.

• Single click: One data point, such as a pie slice or a bar. The template can use {{event.value}} for the value and {{event.key}} for the field name. This trigger is available on visualizations that use a data view, visualizations based on an ES|QL query, and Maps.
• Table row click: A row in a table visualization that uses a data view or an ES|QL query. The template can use {{event.values.[x]}}, where x is the column number, starting at 0. {{event.keys.[x]}} is the field name, and {{event.columnNames.[x]}} is the column label.
• Range selection: A range of values on the visualization. The template can use {{event.from}} and {{event.to}}. This trigger is available on Bar, Line, Area, and Heat map visualizations, including those based on an ES|QL query, and on Aggregation-based, TSVB, and Timelion panels.
• Context menu: The drilldown name is in the panel menu. The template uses dashboard variables, such as the time range and {{context.panel.title}}. This is the only URL trigger on Vega visualizations, Discover sessions, and Gauge visualizations.
• Image click: The image on an Image panel. The template uses dashboard variables, such as {{context.panel.title}}.

This example adds a pie chart and a URL drilldown that opens a GitHub search for the slice you select. Follow it with the sample data, or use your own dashboard and data.

1. Add the Sample web logs data. This also adds the [Logs] Web Traffic dashboard.

2. Open the [Logs] Web Traffic dashboard and select Edit.

3. From the application menu, add a new visualization to the dashboard, then set the type to Pie.

4. Drag machine.os.keyword from Available fields to the workspace, then select Save and return.

5. Hover over the pie chart panel, open the panel menu, then select Create drilldown.

6. Select Go to URL.

   1. In Name, enter a name. For example, Show on GitHub.

   2. For Trigger, select Single click. Triggers describes the other interactions and the values each one provides.

   3. To open Kibana issues on GitHub, enter this URL in Enter URL:

      https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues?q=is:issue+is:open+{{event.value}}
      		

      Kibana replaces {{event.value}} with the pie slice you select.

   4. Optional: Open Additional options. Open URL in new tab and Encode URL are already on. Open URL in new tab opens the site in a new browser tab. Turn it off to open the site in the same tab. Encode URL percent-encodes the URL after Kibana fills in the template.

   5. Select Create drilldown.

7. Save the dashboard.

8. On the pie chart panel, select a slice, then select Show on GitHub.

   
   ×

The GitHub issues search opens with the slice value in the query. To pass the dashboard time range, the filters, or a table cell, use the templates in Pass context and table values in the URL.

The Enter URL field takes a URL template. The template is a normal URL with Handlebars expressions where a value should change.

https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues?q={{event.value}}
		

An expression starts with {{ and ends with }}. It contains a variable, a helper, or both. When the drilldown runs, Kibana replaces each expression with a value from the dashboard and from the interaction.

• Variables lists the values you can insert, such as the selected data point, the dashboard filters, and the Kibana base URL. The table groups them by source and by trigger.
• Custom helpers format or encode a value before it goes into the URL, for example as a date, as JSON, or in rison.
• Pass context and table values in the URL shows complete URLs for a calendar date, a Discover page, and a table cell.

Refer to the Handlebars documentation for advanced use cases.

The URL drilldown template has three sources for variables:

• Global: Static variables that do not change with the panel or the interaction. For example, {{kibanaUrl}}.
• Context: Variables from the panel on the dashboard. For example, {{context.panel.filters}} is the list of filters on the dashboard.
• Event: Variables from the trigger. Kibana reads them from the interaction when you run the drilldown.

Save the dashboard and test the drilldown on the panel before you rely on it. To see every variable for the current panel and the selected trigger, select Add variable in the URL template field.

In addition to built-in Handlebars helpers, you can use the helpers below.

json

Serialize variables in JSON format.

Example:

{{json event}}
{{json event.key event.value}}
{{json filters=context.panel.filters}}

rison

Serialize variables in rison format. Rison is a common format for Kibana apps for storing state in the URL.

Example:

{{rison event}}
{{rison event.key event.value}}
{{rison filters=context.panel.filters}}

date

Format dates. Supports relative date expressions (for example, now-15d). Refer to the moment docs for formatting options.

Example:

{{date event.from "YYYY MM DD"}}
{{date "now-15"}}

formatNumber

Format a number as currency, a percentage, a time, or a number with decimal places, thousands, or an abbreviation. Refer to numeral.js for formatting options.

Example:

{{formatNumber event.value "0.0"}}

lowercase

Convert a string to lower case.

Example:

{{lowercase event.value}}

uppercase

Convert a string to upper case.

Example:

{{uppercase event.value}}

trim

Remove leading and trailing spaces from a string.

Example:

{{trim event.value}}

trimLeft

Remove leading spaces from a string.

Example:

{{trimLeft event.value}}

trimRight

Remove trailing spaces from a string.

Example:

{{trimRight event.value}}

mid

Extract a substring from a string by start position and number of characters to extract.

Example:

{{mid event.value 3 5}} extracts five characters starting from the third character.

left

Extract a number of characters from a string, starting from the left.

Example:

{{left event.value 3}}

right

Extract a number of characters from a string, starting from the right.

Example:

{{right event.value 3}}

concat

Concatenate two or more strings.

Example:

{{concat event.value "," event.key}}

replace

Replace all substrings within a string.

Example:

{{replace event.value "stringToReplace" "stringToReplaceWith"}}

split

Split a string using a provided splitter.

Example:

{{split event.value ","}}

encodeURIComponent

Escape a string using the built-in encodeURIComponent function.

encodeURIQuery

Escape a string with the built-in encodeURIComponent function, but leave @, :, $, ,, and ; unchanged.

You can pass the dashboard time range, the dashboard filters, and a table cell in the URL. The same variables can open Discover with that dashboard state. The variables reference lists every variable. Select Add variable to insert a variable for the panel and the trigger you selected. Save the dashboard, then select a value on the panel and confirm the URL before you share the drilldown.

Time range. context.panel.timeRange.from and context.panel.timeRange.to are the panel time range when the panel has its own time range. Otherwise they are the dashboard time range. Format them with the date helper when the site expects a calendar date:

https://example.com/search?from={{date context.panel.timeRange.from "YYYY-MM-DD"}}&to={{date context.panel.timeRange.to "YYYY-MM-DD"}}
		

Open Discover. This URL opens Discover with the dashboard time range, filters, data view, and query. {{kibanaUrl}} is the Kibana base URL.

context.panel.filters is the list of filters on the dashboard. This list leaves out filters that exist only on the panel. The URL encodes that list with the rison helper. context.panel.indexPatternId is available when the panel uses one data view. context.panel.query.query is the dashboard query, and context.panel.query.language is the language of that query.

{{kibanaUrl}}/app/discover#/?_g=(filters:!(),refreshInterval:(pause:!t,value:0),time:(from:'{{context.panel.timeRange.from}}',to:'{{context.panel.timeRange.to}}'))&_a=(columns:!(_source),filters:{{rison context.panel.filters}},index:'{{context.panel.indexPatternId}}',interval:auto,query:(language:{{context.panel.query.language}},query:'{{context.panel.query.query}}'),sort:!())
		

For a Range selection trigger, use {{date event.from}} and {{date event.to}} in the time slot. Those values are the range you select on the panel.

Table row. For a Table row click trigger, event.values.[0] is the first cell in the row. event.keys.[0] is the field name for that column, and event.columnNames.[0] is the column label. This URL passes the field name and the first cell:

https://example.com/?{{event.keys.[0]}}={{event.values.[0]}}
		

A Single click that returns more than one data point can also use event.points. The variables reference includes it with the other variables.

• Manage drilldowns

• Drilldowns
• Create a dashboard drilldown
• Create a Discover drilldown