Explore reference

Explore is Sift’s workspace for visualizing and investigating high-rate timeseries telemetry. Engineers use it to load data from Assets and Runs, arrange Panels, perform calculations, and share findings without exporting data or switching tools.

Data sources

A data source defines the telemetry context for an Explore session. It determines which Channels are available for analysis.

Replace data source

A data source can be replaced mid-session without rebuilding the Panel layout.

Save Explore configurations

You can save Explore configurations as a snapshot of a complete Explore session. Use saved Explore configurations to:

Standardize analysis across Runs: save a configuration once and reuse it across different Runs so every engineer analyzes data the same way.
Build reusable templates for your team: saved Explore configurations work as starting points for onboarding, pre-session setup, and operation-specific analysis.

Save a new Explore configuration

Open Explore and set up your workspace: add panels, plot channels, pick your runs, assets, or families, and configure compare and time range.
Click Save.
In Save your exploration, enter:
- Name (required, up to 128 characters)
- Description (optional)
- Visibility: Private (only you can see it) or Public (everyone in your org can view and edit it).
Click Save.

When you make changes to a saved Explore configuration, a small blue dot appears on the Save button, reminding you to save your changes.

Live mode is always turned off in the saved snapshot. Loading a saved Explore configuration drops you into static-view mode regardless of how you saved it.

Update an existing Explore configuration

When an Explore configuration is already loaded:

Quick overwrite: click Save, in Overwrite existing exploration?, click Save.
Rename, change description, or change visibility: click the Save dropdown, then Edit Saved Exploration, make your changes, and click Save.
Save a copy: click the Save as New dropdown. The name prefills as Copy of {original}, visibility resets to Private, and a new record is created.

Only the original creator can change visibility on an existing Explore configuration. Public Explore configurations let any org member update the workspace data.

Open a saved Explore configuration

From the Save dropdown, select Open Saved Exploration. Search, filter by Runs, Assets, or Families, or toggle My Explorations to narrow the list, then click a row.

What gets saved

A saved Explore configuration captures everything in the Explore URL:

Panels and their settings (plotted channels, axes, colors, etc.)
Dockview layout (panel positions, tabs, splits)
Selected runs, assets, and families
Compare settings and alignments
Sidebar state and time range
Draft (unpublished) calculated channels

The sharing feature in Explore captures the current workspace state and generates a shareable URL. Recipients open the workspace in the exact state it was shared, with no manual reconfiguration required.

Export data

Export data is available in the Timeseries Panel toolbar. Selecting Export data opens a dropdown with the following options.

Export restrictions: Nested Calculated Channels cannot be exported and are excluded from the output. Relative Time mode is not supported for export.

User settings

User settings let you define personal default display preferences for Explore across two areas: general settings that apply to all Panels, and default settings per Panel type. Defaults apply to your account only. Individual Panel settings can still be overridden at any time. User settings are stored in the browser and do not carry over to other computers. Clearing the browser cache resets all User settings to their defaults. User settings are accessed from the Explore toolbar by clicking User Settings.

General settings

The following settings are available under User Settings and apply globally across all new Panels in Explore.

Channel tree hierarchy: The following three settings work together to control how Channel names display in the Channel tree:

Channel Name Delimiter,
Channel Name Prefix Delimiter, and
Channel Leaf Keywords.

See Channel name structure for details.

Set the display timezone

In the Explore toolbar, click User Settings.
Under Default Timezone, select the timezone you want.

All Panels: This applies to all new Panels for your account. Panels already open in the session are not updated.
Single Panel: To override the timezone on a single Panel without changing the global default, open Panel settings, go to the General tab, and set UTC offset.

Chart type settings

Default settings can be configured per Panel type. Select a Panel type from the Chart Type Settings dropdown to configure its defaults. Settings vary by Panel type and correspond to the individual Panel settings for each type. All Panel types are supported.

WebGL traces

Enables GPU-accelerated WebGL rendering for Timeseries Panels instead of the default ECharts renderer. Reduces slowdowns when displaying many or high-frequency Channels. (Beta)

Live mode

Live mode monitors real-time telemetry as it streams into Sift. All Panel types support Live mode. Live mode is compatible with Panel Sync: when both are active, all synced Panels advance together as new data arrives.

Panels

Panels are the individual visualization units in an Explore workspace. Each Panel is independently configurable. Changing settings on one Panel does not affect other Panels.

Panel types

Layout

Panels can be added, split, and repositioned freely within the workspace. Add a Panel Panels can be added at any time using the Add button in the workspace toolbar. Split a Panel Split options appear when right-clicking a Panel tab. A split duplicates the Panel in the selected direction. The new Panel is independent and can be configured separately. Reposition a Panel Panels can be moved to the top, bottom, left, or right of the workspace.

Sync Panels

Syncing aligns the time range across multiple Panels. Adjusting the time window in one Panel updates all synced Panels. Panel Sync is compatible with Live mode. When both are active, all synced Panels advance together as new data streams in.

Range controls

Range controls are available in the Timeseries, FFT, and Scatter Plot Panels.

Panel settings

Each Panel type has its own settings organized into tabs. Settings are independent per Panel.

Timeseries: General tab

Timeseries: Time-alignment tab

Timeseries: Channel tab

Options: Group by

Options: Sampling method

Histogram: General tab

Histogram: Time-alignment tab

Geo Map: General tab

Geo Map: Time-alignment tab

Table: General tab

Table: Channels tab

Filter Filters isolate data points that meet specific numerical criteria per Channel before rows are created. Row creation trigger Determines when a specific Channel contributes to generating a new row. Configured per Channel.

FFT: General tab

FFT: Time-alignment tab

FFT: Channel tab

Group by options

Scatter Plot: General tab

Both an X-axis and a Y-axis Channel must be selected for the Scatter Plot to render data. Selecting only one Channel results in a “No data available” message.
Axis labels for the X-axis and Y-axis Channels currently appear in the legend only when Legend Group By is active. They are not yet rendered directly on the chart axes.
Scatter Plot and Geo Map panels can be slow when the selected time range contains many data points, because neither panel type applies multi-channel downsampling. Use a Timeseries panel with Panel Sync enabled to narrow the time range before working with the Scatter Plot or Geo Map.

Scatter Plot: Time-alignment tab

Scatter Plot and Geo Map panels can slow down or become unresponsive when plotting large numbers of points across a wide time range. To improve performance, zoom into a narrower time range directly in the panel, or use a Timeseries panel with Panel Sync enabled to control the Scatter Plot time range via pan and zoom.

Metrics: General tab

File Viewer: General tab

Stat: General tab

The Stat panel is in open beta.

The Stat panel displays the most recent value for each channel as a tile. In Live mode, tiles update on the 1-second tick. When you hover over a synced Timeseries panel, each tile shows the value at the hovered position. When time is focused, tiles show the value at the focused position. When not in Live mode and no time is focused, tiles do not display a value. Limitations

The Stat panel looks back a maximum of 5 minutes to find the most recent value for each channel.
Numeric thresholds are not supported. Threshold configuration is planned for a future release.

Enum: General tab

The Enum Panel is in open beta.

The Enum Panel renders enum and boolean channels as a color-coded timeline. Each channel occupies its own row. Each period the channel holds a value is drawn as a colored band. When multiple states fall within a single pixel of width, the Panel renders a striped gray Multiple Values band instead of picking one state; zoom in to resolve the individual values.

Enum: Channel tab

The Channel tab shows each channel added to the panel and allows color preset overrides per channel or per group. Overrides inherit from the panel-level preset by default; selecting a specific preset on a channel replaces the inherited value for that channel only. Limitations

Enum and boolean channels only. Numeric, string, bytes, and bit field channels are not supported and are filtered out automatically.
Preset-based coloring only. There is no per-state manual color picker.
CSV export is not supported.

Panel Configurations

Panel Configurations save and reuse a Panel’s visualization setup. Configurations can be applied to any Run or Asset. Compatibility with Explore (legacy) Views from Explore (legacy) are automatically available as Panel Configurations in Explore. New Views created in Explore (legacy) continue to generate corresponding Panel Configurations.

Panel export

Export is available for Timeseries Panels only. Exports run in the background. Limitations

Nested Calculated Channels cannot be exported and are excluded.
Relative Time mode is not supported for export.

Channels

Channels are the individual telemetry signals available for plotting. They are listed in the Channels tab, organized in a Channel tree by default.

Channel tab views

Plotting

Channels can be plotted by clicking or dragging from the Channels tab onto any Panel. A data source (Asset or Run) must be selected before Channels are available. To select and plot multiple Channels at once, use these keyboard shortcuts in the Channels tab:

Shift+click selects a contiguous range of Channels.
Cmd+click (Mac) or Ctrl+click (Windows, Linux) adds or removes individual Channels from the selection.

Drag any selected Channel to plot the entire selection. Right-click any selected Channel to apply a context menu action to all selected Channels.

Axis assignment

Applies to the Timeseries Panel. Channels can be assigned to up to 8 Y-axes. Channels can be reassigned to a different axis by dragging the Channel entry in the Timeseries legend and selecting a target axis.

Legend Group By

Right-click the legend in a Timeseries Panel and select Legend Group By to control how the legend groups channel entries.

Bulk axis and style assignment

Simultaneous axis and style configuration for all Channels. Available in Timeseries and FFT Panels.

Calculated Channels

Calculated Channels are derived signals created by applying CEL expressions to raw Channel data. They appear in the Calculated Channels tab.

Types

Temporary Calculated Channel fields

The following fields are available when creating a temporary Calculated Channel in Explore. For full Calculated Channel settings and behaviors, see Calculated Channels settings.

Runs

Time alignment

Time alignment synchronizes multiple Runs to a shared reference point (T-0) for direct comparison. The selected alignment applies to all Runs in the Panel. Timeseries Panel shortcuts The following shortcuts are available directly from the Timeseries Panel without opening Panel settings.

Run from selection

A new Run can be created from a specific time window within an existing Run plotted in Explore.

Metrics Panel from selection

A Metrics Panel can be created from a specific time window selected in an existing Time Series Panel.

Annotations

Annotations mark specific times or time ranges in a Run. They can be plotted on the Timeseries Panel only and used as T-0 alignment points for Run comparison. In Live mode, live Rules are not rendered; alerts appear as toast notifications.

Annotation types

Explore supports the following Annotation types.

Annotation fields

The following fields are available when creating or editing an Annotation. Available fields vary by Annotation type.

Dynamic URLs

Use dynamic URLs to open Explore with preconfigured telemetry data. By navigating to the /explore route with query parameters, you can automatically load specific Runs or Assets, Channels, Panel types, and optional time ranges, allowing users to open the exact data needed for analysis without manual setup. For example, the following URL opens a Timeseries Panel with a single Channel on a single Run:

https://{domainName}/explore \
  ?method=single \
  &runs=runName \
  &channels=channelName \
  &panelType=timeseries

URL structure

Use the /explore route with the required query parameter method=single to launch Explore with preconfigured data. Additional query parameters define Runs or Assets, Channels, Panel type, and optional time range. Construct the URL using the following format:

https://{domainName}/explore?method=single \
  &runId={uuid1,uuid2,...} \
  &runIds={uuid1,uuid2,...} \
  &runs={runNameOrUUID1,runNameOrUUID2,...} \
  &assetId={uuid1,uuid2,...} \
  &assetIds={uuid1,uuid2,...} \
  &assets={assetNameOrUUID1,assetNameOrUUID2,...} \
  &channels={[prefix:]channelNameOrUUID,...} \
  &channelId={[prefix:]uuid,...} \
  &channelIds={[prefix:]uuid,...} \
  &panelType=timeseries|table|histogram|fft|scatter-plot|geo-map|metrics \
  &startTime=YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ \
  &endTime=YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ

Format: Line breaks and backslashes (\) are shown for readability. In actual use, the URL must be a single continuous string joined with &, without spaces or backslashes.
Parameter order: Parameters can appear in any order, but the URL must start with domainName/explore?method=single.
Channel name matching: Provide Channel names through channels. channelId and channelIds accept Channel UUIDs only. Channel names are matched case-insensitively.

URL parameters

Channel axis assignment

In the Timeseries Panel, Channels can be plotted on multiple Y-axes by adding an axis prefix before the Channel name or UUID. If no prefix is provided, the Channel plots on the default axis L1. Axis prefixes are case-sensitive and work with both Channel names and UUIDs.

Scatter Plot Channel roles

In the Scatter Plot Panel, assign each Channel to an axis or visual encoding using a role prefix before the Channel name or UUID:

Role prefixes are case-insensitive and work with both Channel names and UUIDs.
All prefixed Channels populate a single trace group. When a color: Channel is provided, points are colored with a Viridis gradient by default.
A Channel without a recognized prefix is treated as a plain name or UUID. Scatter Plot sharelinks use a single Run; if multiple Runs are selected, the first is used.

Geo Map Channel roles

In the Geo Map Panel, assign each Channel to a coordinate or visual encoding using a role prefix before the Channel name or UUID:

Role prefixes are case-insensitive and work with both Channel names and UUIDs.
All prefixed Channels populate a single coordinate set.
When a color: Channel is provided, points are colored with a Viridis gradient by default.
If no role prefixes are provided, the Geo Map Panel automatically detects latitude and longitude Channels by name.

Channel selection by Panel type

Each Panel type displays only the Channels it supports; Channels of an incompatible data type are ignored. For example, the Histogram, FFT, Scatter Plot, Geo Map, and Metrics Panels do not display string Channels, so a string Channel passed to one of them is dropped. The Histogram Panel displays a single Channel. If more than one Channel is provided, the first compatible Channel is used and a warning appears.

​Data sources

​Replace data source

​Save Explore configurations

​Save a new Explore configuration

​Update an existing Explore configuration

​Open a saved Explore configuration

​What gets saved

​Share

​Export data

​User settings

​General settings

​Set the display timezone

​Chart type settings

​WebGL traces

​Live mode

​Panels

​Panel types

​Layout

​Sync Panels

​Range controls

​Panel settings

​Timeseries: General tab

​Timeseries: Time-alignment tab

​Timeseries: Channel tab

​Options: Group by

​Options: Sampling method

​Histogram: General tab

​Histogram: Time-alignment tab

​Geo Map: General tab

​Geo Map: Time-alignment tab

​Table: General tab

​Table: Channels tab

​FFT: General tab

​FFT: Time-alignment tab

​FFT: Channel tab

​Scatter Plot: General tab

​Scatter Plot: Time-alignment tab

​Metrics: General tab

​File Viewer: General tab

​Stat: General tab

​Enum: General tab

​Enum: Channel tab

​Panel Configurations

​Panel export

​Channels

​Channel tab views

​Plotting

​Axis assignment

​Legend Group By

​Bulk axis and style assignment

​Calculated Channels

​Types

​Temporary Calculated Channel fields

​Runs

​Time alignment

​Run from selection

​Metrics Panel from selection

​Annotations

​Annotation types

​Annotation fields

​Dynamic URLs

​URL structure

​URL parameters

​Channel axis assignment

​Scatter Plot Channel roles

​Geo Map Channel roles

​Channel selection by Panel type

Data sources

Replace data source

Save Explore configurations

Save a new Explore configuration

Update an existing Explore configuration

Open a saved Explore configuration

What gets saved

Share

Export data

User settings

General settings

Set the display timezone

Chart type settings

WebGL traces

Live mode

Panels

Panel types

Layout

Sync Panels

Range controls

Panel settings

Timeseries: General tab

Timeseries: Time-alignment tab

Timeseries: Channel tab

Options: Group by

Options: Sampling method

Histogram: General tab

Histogram: Time-alignment tab

Geo Map: General tab

Geo Map: Time-alignment tab

Table: General tab

Table: Channels tab

FFT: General tab

FFT: Time-alignment tab

FFT: Channel tab

Scatter Plot: General tab

Scatter Plot: Time-alignment tab

Metrics: General tab

File Viewer: General tab

Stat: General tab

Enum: General tab

Enum: Channel tab

Panel Configurations

Panel export

Channels

Channel tab views

Plotting

Axis assignment

Legend Group By

Bulk axis and style assignment

Calculated Channels

Types

Temporary Calculated Channel fields

Runs

Time alignment

Run from selection

Metrics Panel from selection

Annotations

Annotation types

Annotation fields

Dynamic URLs

URL structure

URL parameters

Channel axis assignment

Scatter Plot Channel roles

Geo Map Channel roles

Channel selection by Panel type