Documentation

Telegraf input data formats

Telegraf input plugins consume data in one or more data formats and parse the data into Telegraf [metrics][/telegraf/v1/metrics/]. Many input plugins use configurable parsers for parsing data formats into metrics. This allows input plugins such as kafka_consumer input plugin to consume and process different data formats, such as InfluxDB line protocol or JSON. Telegraf supports the following input data formats:

Any input plugin containing the data_format option can use it to select the desired parser:

[[inputs.exec]]
  ## Commands array
  commands = ["/tmp/test.sh", "/usr/bin/mycollector --foo=bar"]

  ## measurement name suffix (for separating different commands)
  name_suffix = "_mycollector"

  ## Data format to consume.
  ## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
  ## more about them here:
  ## https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
  data_format = "json_v2"

Input parser plugins

When you specify a data_format in an input plugin configuration that supports it, the input plugin uses the associated parser plugin to convert data from its source format into Telegraf metrics. Many parser plugins provide additional configuration options for specifying details about your data schema and how it should map to fields in Telegraf metrics.


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InfluxDB Docker latest tag changing to InfluxDB 3 Core

On May 27, 2026, the latest tag for InfluxDB Docker images will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments.

If using Docker to install and run InfluxDB, the latest tag will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments. For example, if using Docker to run InfluxDB v2, replace the latest version tag with a specific version tag in your Docker pull command–for example:

docker pull influxdb:2