Setting the file. One moment.
Subchapter 37.30
references/cloudwatch/dashboards.mdMarkdown6 KBView on GitHub
Widget types, cross-account/region patterns, dynamic labels, and recommended defaults.
| Widget | Use case |
|---|---|
| Line | Time series trends (latency, request count) |
| Stacked area | Composition over time (error types breakdown) |
| Number | Single KPI value (current error rate) |
| Bar | Comparisons across categories |
| Table | Tabular metric data display |
| Pie | Proportional breakdown |
| Gauge | Current value against a range |
| Explorer | Dynamic resource group metrics (auto-discovers new resources) |
| Logs table | Log Insights query results inline |
| Alarm status | Alarm state visualization |
| Markdown | Free-form text, links, section headers |
Each widget supports accountId and region parameters:
{
"type": "metric",
"properties": {
"metrics": [["AWS/Lambda", "Errors", "FunctionName", "my-fn"]],
"region": "us-west-2",
"accountId": "123456789012"
}
}region per widget for cross-region search)Use dynamic values in metric widget labels (common tokens shown; AWS supports 28+ tokens including time-based variants like ${MAX_TIME}, ${LAST_TIME_RELATIVE}, and property tokens like ${PROP('MetricName')}, ${PROP('Region')}):
| Token | Value |
|---|---|
${MAX} | Maximum value in visible range |
${MIN} | Minimum value |
${AVG} | Average value |
${SUM} | Sum |
${LAST} | Most recent value |
${FIRST} | First value |
${LABEL} | Default metric label |
${PROP('Dim.Name')} | Dimension value |
${DATAPOINT_COUNT} | Number of data points |
Example: "label": "${PROP('FunctionName')} p99=${MAX}ms"
Max 6 dynamic values per label. ${LABEL} can only be used once per label.
Variables add dropdown/radio/text inputs that dynamically filter all widgets on a dashboard. Up to 25 variables per dashboard.
Two types:
FunctionName values in AWS/Lambda)Variables are a top-level variables array in the dashboard body JSON, peer to widgets. They eliminate the need for per-function or per-instance dashboards.
Shared dashboard viewers cannot change variable values — the dashboard renders with the default value only.
DescribeAlarms, CloudWatch Logs query permissions, Lambda invoke) to the sharing IAM policycloudwatch:GetMetricData and ec2:DescribeTags cannot be scoped — shared users can query all metrics and EC2 tags in the account| Setting | Default | Best practice |
|---|---|---|
start | -PT3H | -PT8H (covers a shift) |
periodOverride | AUTO | INHERIT (let widgets control) |
| Layout width | varies | 24 for full-width, 12 for side-by-side |
| Alarm widgets | none | Always include alarm status row at top |
import { Dashboard, AlarmWidget, GraphWidget, TextWidget, PeriodOverride } from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudwatch';
const dashboard = new Dashboard(this, 'ServiceDashboard', {
dashboardName: `${serviceName}-${stage}`,
start: '-PT8H',
periodOverride: PeriodOverride.INHERIT,
});
dashboard.addWidgets(
new TextWidget({ width: 24, height: 1, markdown: '# Service Health' }),
new AlarmWidget({ width: 12, height: 6, title: 'Error Rate', alarm: errorRateAlarm }),
new AlarmWidget({ width: 12, height: 6, title: 'Latency P99', alarm: latencyAlarm }),
new GraphWidget({
width: 24, height: 6,
title: 'Invocations & Errors',
left: [fn.metricInvocations({ period: Duration.minutes(1) })],
right: [fn.metricErrors({ period: Duration.minutes(1) })],
}),
);Pre-built per-service dashboards are available by default (EC2, Lambda, S3, etc.). No setup required. Use these as starting points, then customize.