---
title: Metric Chart
description: Show a single value on a metric chart panel, with a sparkline trend and value mappings for display text and colors.
---

A metric chart shows one aggregated value, which suits KPIs and status indicators. You can add a sparkline that shows the trend, and map values to custom text and colors.

## Value mappings

In the panel **Config** sidebar, expand **Value Transformations** and click **Add Value Mapping**. In the **Value Mappings** dialog, click **+ Add a new mapping** for each extra rule, then click **Apply**.

![Value Mappings dialog with an Equals mapping that shows High CPU](images/metric-chart-sparkline-1.png)

Each mapping has a condition: **Equals**, **Between**, **Matches regex**, **Greater than**, **Less than**, **Greater than or equal**, or **Less than or equal**. When it matches, the panel shows the mapping's display text, text color, and background color. Leave the display text blank to keep the value. If you set only a background color, a readable text color is picked for you.

![Two mappings, Equals and Between, each with text and background color swatches](images/metric-chart-sparkline-2.png)

## Sparkline

In the panel **Config** sidebar, expand **Sparkline** and turn on **Show sparkline**. Then set:

- **Chart type**: **Auto (Area)**, **Line**, **Area**, or **Bar**.
- **Layout**: **Auto** or **Bottom** draws the trend along the bottom of the panel; **Background** draws it behind the value.
- **Color**: the sparkline color.
- **Line width**: shown for line and area sparklines.
- **Area fill opacity**: shown for area sparklines, including **Auto (Area)**.

![Sparkline section of the Config sidebar with Show sparkline turned on](images/metric-chart-sparkline-3.png)

For PromQL, the trend uses the values the query already returns. For SQL, the trend comes from an extra histogram query. Queries that cannot be turned into a histogram, such as those with `JOIN`, `UNION`, `DISTINCT`, or `LIMIT`, show a warning icon in the panel header, and the value still displays. In a panel with several queries, each value draws its own sparkline.

![Metric panel showing the mapped value High CPU with an area sparkline](images/metric-chart-sparkline-4.png)