grafana-execlsheets
Grafana Execlsheets Visulazation
  • Upload or sync any Excel file
  • Automatically ingest it into a database
  • Visualize it in Grafana instantly
  • Deploy it anywhere with a single docker-compose up

No Ansible this time — just Docker, Python, and Grafana (with full automation).

🚀 Goal

“A portable Grafana + PostgreSQL + Python pipeline that visualizes Excel files automatically.”

You’ll be able to:

  1. Drop an Excel file into a folder.
  2. Run docker-compose up.
  3. Visit Grafana and see charts automatically populated.

🧱 Tech Stack

ComponentPurpose
GrafanaVisualization UI
PostgreSQLStore Excel data
Python (Pandas + SQLAlchemy)Read Excel → Push to DB
Docker ComposeOne-command deployment

📁 Folder Structure

grafana-excel-visualizer/
├── docker-compose.yml
├── grafana/
│   ├── dashboards/
│   │   └── excel_dashboard.json
│   └── provisioning/
│       ├── datasources/datasource.yml
│       └── dashboards/dashboard.yml
├── python/
│   ├── requirements.txt
│   └── excel_to_db.py
├── data/
│   └── sample.xlsx
├── .env
└── README.md

⚙️ Step 1 — docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'
 
services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: grafana
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: grafana
      POSTGRES_DB: excel_data
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
 
  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana:latest
    depends_on:
      - postgres
    environment:
      - GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER=admin
      - GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin
      - GF_USERS_ALLOW_SIGN_UP=false
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./grafana/provisioning:/etc/grafana/provisioning
      - ./grafana/dashboards:/var/lib/grafana/dashboards
 
  loader:
    build: ./python
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    environment:
      - DB_URL=postgresql://grafana:grafana@postgres:5432/excel_data
      - EXCEL_FILE=/data/sample.xlsx
    depends_on:
      - postgres
    command: ["python", "excel_to_db.py"]
 
volumes:
  postgres_data:

🐍 Step 2 — python/excel_to_db.py

import os
import pandas as pd
import sqlalchemy
import time
 
DB_URL = os.getenv("DB_URL")
EXCEL_FILE = os.getenv("EXCEL_FILE")
TABLE_NAME = "excel_data"
 
def wait_for_db(engine, retries=10, delay=5):
    for i in range(retries):
        try:
            with engine.connect():
                print("✅ Database is ready!")
                return True
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"⏳ Waiting for DB... {i+1}/{retries}")
            time.sleep(delay)
    raise RuntimeError("❌ Database connection failed!")
 
def main():
    engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(DB_URL)
    wait_for_db(engine)
    df = pd.read_excel(EXCEL_FILE)
    df.to_sql(TABLE_NAME, engine, if_exists="replace", index=False)
    print(f"✅ {len(df)} rows loaded into '{TABLE_NAME}' table from {EXCEL_FILE}")
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

📦 Step 3 — python/Dockerfile

FROM python:3.11-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
COPY excel_to_db.py .
CMD ["python", "excel_to_db.py"]

📜 Step 4 — python/requirements.txt

pandas
sqlalchemy
psycopg2-binary
openpyxl

📊 Step 5 — Grafana Auto Provisioning

grafana/provisioning/datasources/datasource.yml

apiVersion: 1
datasources:
  - name: PostgreSQL
    type: postgres
    access: proxy
    url: postgres:5432
    database: excel_data
    user: grafana
    secureJsonData:
      password: grafana
    jsonData:
      sslmode: disable

grafana/provisioning/dashboards/dashboard.yml

apiVersion: 1
providers:
  - name: 'Excel Dashboards'
    orgId: 1
    folder: ''
    type: file
    disableDeletion: false
    updateIntervalSeconds: 10
    options:
      path: /var/lib/grafana/dashboards

📈 Step 6 — Optional Sample Dashboard

You can export a dashboard from Grafana later, but let’s keep a placeholder file: grafana/dashboards/excel_dashboard.json

{
  "id": null,
  "title": "Excel Data Visualization",
  "timezone": "browser",
  "panels": [],
  "schemaVersion": 36,
  "version": 1
}

⚡ Step 7 — .env (Optional)

POSTGRES_USER=grafana
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=grafana
POSTGRES_DB=excel_data

🚀 Run Everything

git clone https://github.com/<yourname>/grafana-excel-visualizer.git
cd grafana-excel-visualizer
docker-compose up -d --build

Then visit 👉 http://localhost:3000 (opens in a new tab)

  • Username: admin
  • Password: admin

In Grafana, select the PostgreSQL data source → query your excel_data table → build charts instantly.

🔁 Update Workflow

Whenever your Excel file changes:

docker-compose run --rm loader

It’ll reload data into PostgreSQL automatically.

🧠 Future Enhancements

  • Watcher service to auto-reload Excel on file change (using Watchdog).
  • Add Grafana dashboard auto-refresh.
  • Add Grafana API export/import via CI/CD.
  • Store dashboards and data backups in S3.
Status CodeBrave Issue