The traces visualization displays traces data in a diagram that allows you to easily interpret it. Traces visualizations currently render one trace traversal based on the traceID used in TraceQL or using a variable.
{{<figuresrc="/media/docs/grafana/panels-visualizations/screenshot-traces-visualization-11.5.png"max-width="700px"alt="Screenshot of the trace view">}}
This procedure uses dashboard variables and templates to allow you to enter trace IDs which can then be visualized. You'll use a variable called `traceId` and add it as a template query.
1. In the top-right corner of the panel editor, select the **Visualizations** tab, search for, and select **Traces**.
1. Under the **Panel options**, enter a **Title** for your trace panel or have Grafana create one using [generative AI features](ref:generative-ai-features).
For more information on the panel editor, refer to the [Configure panel options documentation](ref:configure-panel-options-documentation).
1. In the query editor, click the **TraceQL** query type tab.
It’s more useful to instead be able to use TraceQL queries to search for specific types of traces and then select appropriate traces from matching results.
1. Under the **Panel options**, enter a **Title** for your trace panel or have Grafana create one using [generative AI features](ref:generative-ai-features).
1. Add an appropriate TraceQL query to search for traces that you would like to visualize in the dashboard. This example uses a simple, static query. You can write the TraceQL query as a template query to take advantage of other dashboard variables, if they exist. This lets you create dynamic queries based on these variables.
The results in the traces visualization include links to the **Explore** page that renders the trace. You can add other links to traces in the table that fill in the `traceId` dashboard variable when selected, so that the trace is visualized in the same dashboard.
1. Find the UUID of the dashboard by looking in your browser’s address bar when the full dashboard is being rendered. Because this is a link to a dashboard in the same Grafana stack, only the path of the dashboard is required.
1. In the **URL** field, make a self-reference to the dashboard that contains both of the panels. This self-reference uses the value of the selected trace in the table to fill in the dashboard variable. Use the path for the dashboard from the previous step and then fill in the value of `traceId` using the selected results from the TraceQL table.
The trace ID is exposed using the `traceID` data field in the returned results, so use that as the value for the dashboard variable.
You should now see a list of matching traces in the table visualization. While selecting the **TraceID** or **SpanID** fields will give you the option to either open the **Explore** page to visualize the trace or following the data link, selecting any other field (such as **Start time**, **Name** or **Duration**) automatically follows the data link, filling in the `traceId` dashboard variable, and then shows the relevant trace in the trace panel.
{{<figuresrc="/static/img/docs/panels/traces/screenshot-traces-trace-link-follow.png"caption="Follow the trace link populates the trace ID and displays the traces view">}}
The **Span filters** options control the initial state of the span filters when the visualization loads, allowing you to customize your trace analysis view.
The following options support variable interpolation, where you can set the service name to a variable `$var` and the visualization will replace it with the value for the variable named `$var` in the span filters: **Service name**, **Span name**, **Min duration**, **Max duration**, and **Tags**.
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| Option | Description |
| ------ | ----------- |
| Find in trace | Set the initial value to focus on spans relevant to your query. |
| Show matches only | Toggle the switch on to display only spans that match the defined filter criteria. This helps simplify trace interpretation. |
| Show critical path only | Toggle the switch on to highlight only the spans in the critical path, which helps identify performance bottlenecks and their impact on overall latency. |
| Service name | Along with the **Service name operator**, define a specific service or pattern to narrow analysis to spans related to particular services. |
| Span name | Along with the **Span name operator**, filter spans by name or pattern to focus on specific span types or processes. |
| Min duration | Set the minimum duration threshold to exclude spans outside the desired time range. |
| Max duration | Set the maximum duration threshold to exclude spans outside the desired time range. |
| Tags | Add one or more tags to further refine the filtering criteria so only relevant spans are displayed. |
