The Lightstep Metrics plugin for Grafana, introduced by software engineer Chris Sackes, allows users to integrate Lightstep's metrics reporting and analysis capabilities directly into their Grafana instances. By creating a data source plugin, the integration enables users to view metrics data reported to Lightstep and investigate changes in system behavior via Grafana's visualization tools. The plugin leverages Grafana's resources for data source plugin development and requires user configuration of organizational details and an API key, secured with Grafana's secureJsonData mechanism. The data fetched from Lightstep is transformed into WideDataFrames for enhanced performance, allowing for efficient chart rendering in Grafana. Additionally, the plugin includes a feature that links Grafana charts to Lightstep's Change Intelligence, enabling users to seamlessly explore system changes directly through the Lightstep platform.