Docs: Change Mimir Dashboard Time Zone from UTC to Browser Local Time

[kakaru1331]

Is your documentation request related to a feature? If so, which one?

Yes, this request relates to the Grafana Mimir dashboards, specifically the pre-compiled dashboards located in operations/mimir-mixin-compiled/dashboards/*.
These dashboards currently default to UTC time, and I’d like them to reflect the browser’s local time zone instead.

What is the solution that you would like or the expected outcome?

I’d like the Mimir dashboards to use the browser’s local time zone by default instead of UTC.
Ideally, this could be achieved by:

Updating the dashboard JSON files in operations/mimir-mixin-compiled/dashboards/* to set "timezone": "browser" instead of "timezone": "utc".
The expected outcome is that when I load a dashboard like mimir-overview.json in Grafana, timestamps reflect my local browser time (e.g. Asia/Seoul) rather than UTC, without requiring manual edits to each dashboard file.

What did you think would happen?

I assumed the Mimir dashboards would either default to the browser’s time zone or offer a straightforward way to configure it, as this is a standard feature in Grafana.
Instead, after deploying via Docker Compose, I found all dashboards locked to UTC, with no obvious runtime toggle or setting to adjust this behavior.

What was your environment?

I’m running Grafana Mimir in a Docker Compose setup:

Grafana Mimir: Latest stable version as of February 25, 2025 (specific version not provided, but assume current).
Dashboards Path: operations/mimir-mixin-compiled/dashboards/*.
Grafana: Running alongside Mimir in Docker Compose, using Mimir as the data source.
Browser Time Zone: My local time zone is [e.g. Asia/Seoul—replace with your actual time zone], but dashboards display everything in UTC.

Any additional context to share?

The compiled dashboards (e.g. mimir-overview.json) in operations/mimir-mixin-compiled/dashboards/* have their timezone field hardcoded to "utc" in the JSON.
Manually changing this to "browser" works locally,
but it’s not practical for all dashboards and gets overwritten if the mixin is recompiled.
A project-level solution—either updating the mixin defaults or adding a configurable time zone option—would make this seamless for Docker Compose users like me.
I’d be happy to test any proposed changes!

[derek-cadzow]

@kakaru1331 I may be reading this incorrectly, but it sounds like a UI change request? (These dashboards currently default to UTC time, and I’d like them to reflect the browser’s local time zone instead.)

If that's correct, then there'd be a documentation update if the request is accepted and the update is made. Can you let us know how far down this process you are? If it's not accepted yet, then there's no documentation update to make until it is. Let me know please...! :)

cc: @tacole02

[tacole02]

Hi @kakaru1331 ! Thanks for submitting this request. It seems more like a request for Mimir itself, rather than the documentation. I think you should replace the type/doc label with the enhancement label to ensure the right people see this. 😄

[kakaru1331]

Thank you for replying to me first.

@derek-cadzow
I believe I’ve understood your request correctly.

@tacole02
And As you said It appears to be more of a feature request for Mimir itself rather than something related to the documentation.

However it seems like I can’t change the label myself.
Should I create a new issue again?

[tacole02]

No worries, @kakaru1331 . I've updated the label for you 😄

CC: @mattmendick

[56quarters]

We use UTC exclusively at Grafana Labs. We could possibly add a setting to config.libsonnet for the mixin, allowing you to build your own version of the dashboards. However, the default is definitively not going to be changed. Feel free to open a PR to add configuration to the mixin.