Metabase

# Auto-detected variables
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs create-question \
  --name "Challenge Review Purchases" \
  --database 3 \
  --collection 232 \
  --query "SELECT * FROM buzzTransactions WHERE description LIKE 'Challenge review:%' AND toDate(date) >= {{start_date}}" \
  --description "Tracks guaranteed review buzz purchases"

# Explicit variable definitions (for types like date, number, etc.)
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs create-question \
  --name "User Activity" \
  --database 3 \
  --query "SELECT * FROM views WHERE userId = {{user_id}}" \
  --variables '{"user_id":{"id":"user_id","name":"user_id","display-name":"User ID","type":"number"}}'

Variable types: text, number, date, date/single, date/range, date/month-year, date/quarter-year, date/relative, date/all-options

update-question — Change display type or visualization

# Change to bar chart
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs update-question --id 123 --display bar

# Change to line chart with custom settings
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs update-question --id 123 --display line \
  --visualization '{"graph.dimensions":["date"],"graph.metrics":["count"]}'

Display types: table, bar, line, area, pie, scalar, row, funnel, map, scatter, waterfall, combo, smartscalar, progress, gauge, pivot

create-dashboard — New dashboard

node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs create-dashboard \
  --name "Challenge Metrics" \
  --collection 232 \
  --description "Overview of challenge engagement and revenue"

add-to-dashboard — Add questions to a dashboard

# Add 3 cards in a 2-column layout
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs add-to-dashboard \
  --dashboard 456 \
  --cards "101,102,103" \
  --cols 2

The --cols flag controls cards per row (default: 2). Uses Metabase's 24-column grid.

add-dashboard-filter — Add interactive filters

node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs add-dashboard-filter \
  --dashboard 456 \
  --filtername "Date Range" \
  --filtertype "date/range" \
  --slug "date_range" \
  --target '[{"card_id":101,"target":["variable",["template-tag","start_date"]]}]'

set-dropdown — Make a variable a dropdown list

Converts a {{variable}} template tag into a dropdown with a static list of values. The variable must already exist in the question's SQL query.

# Basic dropdown
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs set-dropdown \
  --id 2608 \
  --variable period \
  --values "day,week,month,year" \
  --default day \
  --required

# Metric selector
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs set-dropdown \
  --id 2608 \
  --variable as \
  --values "purchases,buzz,users" \
  --default purchases \
  --required

set-date-picker — Make a variable a date picker

Converts a {{variable}} template tag into a date picker widget.

node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs set-date-picker \
  --id 2608 \
  --variable since \
  --default "2026-02-13" \
  --required

set-parameters — Full parameter JSON (advanced)

Set all parameters at once with full Metabase parameter JSON. Use get --type question --id <id> to see the current parameter structure.

node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs set-parameters \
  --id 2608 \
  --parameters '[{"slug":"as","type":"string/=","values_source_type":"static-list",...}]'

share — Generate public link

# Share a question
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs share --type question --id 101

# Share a dashboard
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs share --type dashboard --id 456

list — Browse a collection

node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs list --collection 232
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs list --collection 232 --type question

search — Find questions/dashboards

node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs search --query "challenge" --type question

get — View full details

node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs get --type question --id 101
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs get --type dashboard --id 456

list-collections / list-databases

node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs list-collections
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs list-databases

Databases

Key Collections

Workflow: Build a Question with Dropdowns

# 1. Create the question with {{variables}} in SQL
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs create-question \
  --name "My Metric" \
  --database 3 \
  --collection 232 \
  --display bar \
  --query "SELECT date_trunc({{period}}, date) AS period, CASE WHEN {{as}} = 'count' THEN count()::Int64 WHEN {{as}} = 'sum' THEN sum(amount)::Int64 END AS total FROM buzzTransactions WHERE date >= {{since}} GROUP BY period ORDER BY period"

# 2. Configure dropdowns and date pickers
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs set-dropdown --id <id> --variable as --values "count,sum" --default count --required
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs set-dropdown --id <id> --variable period --values "day,week,month,year" --default day --required
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs set-date-picker --id <id> --variable since --default "2026-01-01" --required

# 3. Share publicly
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs share --type question --id <id>

Workflow: Build a Dashboard End-to-End

# 1. Create questions (see above for dropdown setup)
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs create-question --name "Daily Revenue" --database 3 --collection 530 --query "SELECT toDate(date) as day, sum(amount) FROM buzzTransactions GROUP BY day ORDER BY day DESC LIMIT 30"

# 2. Create dashboard
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs create-dashboard --name "Revenue Overview" --collection 530

# 3. Add questions to dashboard
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs add-to-dashboard --dashboard <id> --cards "<q1>,<q2>,<q3>" --cols 3

# 4. Share publicly
node .claude/skills/metabase/metabase.mjs share --type dashboard --id <id>

How Dropdowns Work

Metabase has two layers for variables in native queries:

1. Template tags — defined in dataset_query.native.template-tags. These create the {{variable}} placeholders in the SQL. Set via --variables on create-question.

2. Parameters — defined in the top-level parameters array on the card. These control the UI widget (text input, dropdown, date picker). Set via set-dropdown, set-date-picker, or set-parameters.

By default, {{variable}} template tags render as plain text inputs. To make them dropdowns:

• Use set-dropdown to configure a static list of values
• Use set-date-picker to configure a date picker widget
• Each command reads the existing template tag ID and wires it up correctly

Important: Each call to set-dropdown or set-date-picker preserves other existing parameters. You can call them one at a time.

Tips

• Always specify --collection when creating questions/dashboards to keep things organized
• Use --display with update-question or create-question to set chart type
• Variables in queries ({{var}}) are auto-detected — no need to manually define simple text variables
• For date/number variables, use --variables with explicit type definitions
• After creating a question, use set-dropdown and set-date-picker to configure widgets
• The add-to-dashboard command auto-positions cards in a grid layout
• Public links work for both questions and dashboards
• Use [[AND col < {{optional_var}}]] syntax for optional filters (omitted when empty)