Grafana Example Application on Clever Cloud

This example shows how to deploy Grafana on Clever Cloud using the Linux native runtime and Mise task runner.

About the Application

Grafana is an open-source analytics and monitoring platform. This example deploys Grafana OSS on Clever Cloud using the Linux native runtime, which runs the official Grafana binary directly — no Docker or Node.js wrapper needed.

The mise.toml file defines two tasks:

• build: Downloads and extracts the Grafana binary, then installs any configured plugins
• run: Starts the Grafana server

Prerequisites

• A Clever Cloud account
• Clever Tools CLI installed

Deploying on Clever Cloud

You have two options to deploy your application on Clever Cloud: using the Web Console or using the Clever Tools CLI.

Option 1: Deploy using the Web Console

1. Create an account on Clever Cloud

If you don't already have an account, go to the Clever Cloud console and follow the registration instructions.

2. Set up your application on Clever Cloud

1. Log in to the Clever Cloud console
2. Click on "Create" and select "An application"
3. Choose Linux as the runtime environment
4. Configure your application settings (name, region, etc.). We recommend at least a Medium instance size for Grafana

3. Configure Environment Variables

In your application's settings, add the following environment variables:

Variable	Required	Description
GRAFANA_VERSION	Yes	Grafana version (e.g., 12.4.1). Find versions on the Grafana download page
GRAFANA_SHA_256	No	SHA-256 checksum for integrity verification
GF_SERVER_HTTP_PORT	Yes	Must be set to 8080
GF_SERVER_ROOT_URL	Yes	Your application's public URL (e.g., https://your-app.cleverapps.io)
GRAFANA_PLUGINS	No	Comma-separated list of plugins (see Plugins)

4. Deploy Your Application

You can deploy your application using Git:

# Add Clever Cloud as a remote repository
git remote add clever git+ssh://git@push-par-clevercloud-customers.services.clever-cloud.com/app_<your-app-id>.git

# Push your code to deploy
git push clever master

Option 2: Deploy using Clever Tools CLI

1. Install Clever Tools

Install the Clever Tools CLI following the official documentation:

# Using npm
npm install -g clever-tools

# Or using Homebrew (macOS)
brew install clever-tools

2. Log in to your Clever Cloud account

clever login

3. Create a new application

# Initialize the current directory as a Clever Cloud Linux application
# We recommend at least a Medium instance for Grafana
clever create --type linux --flavor M <YOUR_APP_NAME>

4. Configure environment variables

# Required: set Grafana version (check https://grafana.com/grafana/download)
clever env set GRAFANA_VERSION "12.4.1"

# Required: Grafana must listen on port 8080
clever env set GF_SERVER_HTTP_PORT "8080"

# Required: set the public URL so Grafana serves assets correctly
clever env set GF_SERVER_ROOT_URL "https://$(clever domain | tr -d ' ')"

# Optional: set SHA-256 checksum for integrity verification (check again https://grafana.com/grafana/download for the checksum for the Standalone Linux Binaries package)
clever env set GRAFANA_SHA_256 "<sha256-from-download-page>"

# Optional: install plugins (comma-separated)
clever env set GRAFANA_PLUGINS "grafana-clock-panel,grafana-piechart-panel:1.6.4"

5. Deploy your application

clever deploy

6. Open your application in a browser

clever open

Plugins

You can install Grafana plugins by setting the GRAFANA_PLUGINS environment variable with a comma-separated list. Three formats are supported:

Format	Example	Description
Plugin name	grafana-clock-panel	Installs the latest version
Plugin name with version	grafana-piechart-panel:1.6.4	Installs a specific version
Git URL	https://github.com/org/plugin.git	Clones a plugin from a Git repository

Example with multiple plugins:

clever env set GRAFANA_PLUGINS "grafana-clock-panel,grafana-piechart-panel:1.6.4,https://github.com/ovh/ovh-warp10-datasource.git"

Persisting Data with a Database

By default, Grafana uses an embedded SQLite database stored on the local filesystem. Since Clever Cloud uses immutable deployments, this data is lost every time the application restarts or redeploys. To persist your dashboards, users, and settings, you need to connect an external database.

1. Create a PostgreSQL add-on

clever addon create postgresql-addon <YOUR_ADDON_NAME> --plan xxs_sml --link <YOUR_APP_NAME>

This creates a PostgreSQL database and automatically injects connection environment variables (POSTGRESQL_ADDON_*) into your application. You can check them with clever env.

2. Configure Grafana to use PostgreSQL

Use clever env to retrieve the database credentials injected by the add-on, and set the corresponding Grafana variables:

clever env set GF_DATABASE_TYPE "postgres"
clever env set GF_DATABASE_HOST "$(clever env | grep POSTGRESQL_ADDON_HOST | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"'):$(clever env | grep POSTGRESQL_ADDON_PORT | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"')"
clever env set GF_DATABASE_NAME "$(clever env | grep POSTGRESQL_ADDON_DB | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"')"
clever env set GF_DATABASE_USER "$(clever env | grep POSTGRESQL_ADDON_USER | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"')"
clever env set GF_DATABASE_PASSWORD "$(clever env | grep POSTGRESQL_ADDON_PASSWORD | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"')"

3. Redeploy

clever deploy

Grafana will automatically create the required tables on first startup. From now on, your dashboards, data sources, users, and settings will persist across restarts and redeployments.

Grafana Configuration

Beyond the variables listed above, Grafana supports extensive configuration through environment variables using the GF_<SECTION>_<KEY> pattern. For example:

# Set the admin password
clever env set GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD "my-secret-password"

# Enable anonymous access
clever env set GF_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_ENABLED "true"

# Configure SMTP for email alerts
clever env set GF_SMTP_ENABLED "true"
clever env set GF_SMTP_HOST "smtp.example.com:587"

Any setting from the Grafana configuration file can be overridden this way. See the Grafana configuration documentation for all available options.

Monitoring Your Application

Once deployed, you can monitor your application through:

• Web Console: The Clever Cloud console provides logs, metrics, and other tools to help you manage your application.
• CLI: Use clever logs to view application logs and clever status to check the status of your application.

Additional Resources

• Grafana Documentation
• Clever Cloud Linux Runtime Documentation
• Clever Cloud Documentation