How we made working with Prometheus easier with metric metadata in Grafana’s Explore view

Grafana Labs has enhanced the user experience for those working with Prometheus by introducing metric metadata directly in Grafana's Explore view, starting from Prometheus v2.15+ and Grafana v6.6+. This feature simplifies understanding and managing metrics by displaying metadata such as Type, Help, and Unit in the AutoComplete panel when typing a metric name, alleviating the need to delve into code for definitions. This improvement addresses common challenges like distinguishing between similar metric names and understanding metric types, which otherwise disrupt workflows. While Prometheus's Scrape Targets Metadata API endpoint previously allowed access to metadata, it often provided more information than necessary, making it difficult to locate relevant data. The integration of this metadata in Grafana's interface is aimed at enhancing user efficiency and clarity, with the support also extended to Cortex v1.1+ when paired with the Grafana Agent. Users are encouraged to provide feedback on this feature through the #cortex channel on Slack, and further information on Prometheus can be explored via an on-demand GrafanaCONline session.