# Redash — Open Source Data Visualization & Dashboard Tool

> Redash connects to any data source, lets you query with SQL, visualize results, and build shareable dashboards. The SQL-first open-source BI tool for data teams.

## Install

Save the content below to `.claude/skills/` or append to your `CLAUDE.md`:

## Quick Use

```bash
git clone https://github.com/getredash/setup.git redash-setup
cd redash-setup
docker compose up -d
```

Open `http://localhost:5000` — create your admin account and connect your first data source.

## Intro

**Redash** is an open-source data visualization and dashboarding tool designed for data analysts and engineers. It connects to virtually any data source, provides a powerful SQL editor with autocomplete, and lets you build interactive dashboards that can be shared across your organization.

With 28.3K+ GitHub stars and BSD-2-Clause license, Redash is the go-to SQL-first BI tool for teams that prefer writing queries over drag-and-drop builders.

## What Redash Does

- **SQL Editor**: Full-featured SQL editor with schema browser, autocomplete, and query history
- **50+ Data Sources**: PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, ClickHouse, MongoDB, APIs, and more
- **Visualizations**: Charts, tables, maps, pivot tables, word clouds, and more from query results
- **Dashboards**: Compose visualizations into interactive dashboards with filters and parameters
- **Alerts**: Automated alerts when query results match conditions (email, Slack, webhook)
- **Scheduled Queries**: Auto-refresh queries on a schedule (hourly, daily, weekly)
- **Sharing**: Share queries and dashboards with team via links or embedding
- **API**: Full REST API for programmatic access to queries and results
- **Parameters**: Parameterized queries for dynamic, interactive dashboards

## Architecture

```
┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
│  Browser     │────▶│  Redash      │────▶│  Your Data   │
│  Dashboard   │     │  Server      │     │  PostgreSQL  │
└──────────────┘     │  (Python/    │     │  MySQL       │
                     │   Flask)     │     │  BigQuery    │
                     └──────┬───────┘     │  Snowflake   │
                            │             │  ClickHouse  │
                     ┌──────┴───────┐     │  50+ more    │
                     │  Redis +     │     └──────────────┘
                     │  PostgreSQL  │
                     │  (Metadata)  │
                     └──────────────┘
```

## Self-Hosting

### Docker Compose

```yaml
services:
  redash:
    image: redash/redash:latest
    command: server
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
    environment:
      REDASH_DATABASE_URL: postgresql://redash:redash@postgres/redash
      REDASH_REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379/0
      REDASH_SECRET_KEY: your-secret-key
    depends_on:
      - postgres
      - redis

  worker:
    image: redash/redash:latest
    command: worker
    environment:
      REDASH_DATABASE_URL: postgresql://redash:redash@postgres/redash
      REDASH_REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379/0

  scheduler:
    image: redash/redash:latest
    command: scheduler
    environment:
      REDASH_DATABASE_URL: postgresql://redash:redash@postgres/redash
      REDASH_REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379/0

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: redash
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: redash
      POSTGRES_DB: redash
    volumes:
      - pg-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine

volumes:
  pg-data:
```

## Key Features

### Parameterized Queries

```sql
-- Parameters appear as {{param_name}} in queries
SELECT
  date_trunc('{{period}}', created_at) as period,
  COUNT(*) as orders,
  SUM(total) as revenue
FROM orders
WHERE created_at BETWEEN '{{start_date}}' AND '{{end_date}}'
  AND status = '{{status}}'
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1

-- Parameters become dropdown/date picker controls in the dashboard
-- period: day, week, month (dropdown)
-- start_date, end_date: date pickers
-- status: completed, pending, cancelled (dropdown from query)
```

### Visualization Types

| Type | Best For |
|------|----------|
| Line/Area Chart | Time series trends |
| Bar Chart | Category comparisons |
| Pie/Donut | Proportions |
| Scatter | Correlations |
| Pivot Table | Multi-dimensional analysis |
| Map (Choropleth) | Geographic data |
| Counter | Single KPI number |
| Funnel | Conversion analysis |
| Word Cloud | Text frequency |
| Cohort | Retention analysis |

### Scheduled Queries & Alerts

```
Query: "Daily Active Users"
Schedule: Every day at 8am
Alert: When result < 1000
  → Send to Slack #metrics
  → Email to team@company.com
```

### Query Snippets

```sql
-- Save reusable SQL snippets
-- Snippet: "date_filter"
WHERE created_at BETWEEN '{{start_date}}' AND '{{end_date}}'

-- Snippet: "user_join"
LEFT JOIN users u ON u.id = t.user_id

-- Use with trigger keyword in SQL editor
```

## Redash vs Alternatives

| Feature | Redash | Metabase | Grafana | Superset |
|---------|--------|----------|---------|----------|
| Query approach | SQL-first | Visual + SQL | PromQL + SQL | SQL + visual |
| Data sources | 50+ | 20+ | 100+ | 30+ |
| Ease of use | Medium (SQL) | Easy (no-code) | Medium | Medium |
| Best for | Data/SQL teams | Business users | DevOps/SRE | Data teams |
| Alerts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Embedding | Basic | Advanced | Yes | Yes |
| Community | Large | Very large | Very large | Large |

## FAQ

**Q: Redash or Metabase — which should I choose?**
A: If your team is comfortable writing SQL, Redash feels more natural. If non-technical users need to explore data on their own, Metabase's visual query builder is friendlier. Both can be self-hosted for free.

**Q: Is Redash still actively maintained?**
A: After Databricks acquired Redash, official development slowed down, but the community is still actively maintaining it (merging PRs and fixing bugs). For new projects, Metabase or Apache Superset are also worth considering.

**Q: Can I visualize data from APIs?**
A: Yes. Redash supports JSON APIs and Python scripts as data sources. You can write Python code to call any API and return the results for visualization.

## Sources & Credits

- GitHub: [getredash/redash](https://github.com/getredash/redash) — 28.3K+ ⭐ | BSD-2-Clause
- Website: [redash.io](https://redash.io)

---
Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/redash-open-source-data-visualization-dashboard-tool-a20e0e3e
Author: AI Open Source