Metabase Business Intelligence

Your data sits in PostgreSQL, MySQL, or a data warehouse. Only the devs can write SQL. Business teams request Excel exports and wait days for a chart. Looker and Power BI fix that, but your data ends up on American servers. Bunker hosts Metabase, an open source BI platform that puts your data in the hands of your entire team.

Why Metabase?

Metabase is the most widely adopted open source BI tool in the world. Over 60,000 organizations run it, from five-person startups to banks.

What sets it apart:

• No-SQL exploration: the visual editor lets anyone query data without writing code
• Native SQL: full editor with auto-completion and variables for the queries that need it
• Interactive dashboards: filters, drill-down, automatic alerts
• Direct database connection: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, BigQuery, Redshift, and 20+ connectors
• Secure sharing: public link, iframe embed, or team access with granular permissions
• Alerts: get a Slack ping or email when a metric crosses a threshold

Comparison with Alternatives

Criteria	Bunker	Looker (Google)	Power BI	Tableau	Redash	Apache Superset
Open source	Yes (AGPLv3)	No	No	No	Yes (BSD)	Yes (Apache 2.0)
Sovereign hosting	Yes (Europe)	No (USA)	No (USA)	No (USA)	Depends on you	Depends on you
No-SQL exploration	Yes	Yes (LookML)	Yes	Yes	No	Partial
SQL editor	Yes	Yes	Yes (DAX)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Embed/iframe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Automatic alerts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Time to value	Minutes	Weeks (LookML)	Days	Days	Hours	Hours
Ops cost	Zero	$5k+/month	$10+/user/month	$70+/user/month	Time + server	Time + server

What Actually Changes

A sales rep shouldn't need a developer to see their own numbers. With Metabase's visual editor, they build their dashboard themselves. Product managers track feature adoption on their own. No Jira ticket. No waiting.

Your data stays in Europe. Metabase connects directly to your databases on Bunker. Query results never touch a third party.

You're productive in minutes, not weeks. No proprietary language to learn (LookML, DAX). The interface is built for people who aren't analysts.

You Keep Control

• Complete export: CSV, Excel, JSON for every question and dashboard
• REST API: automate question creation, dashboards, and user management
• Migration: export your questions and dashboards, reimport on any Metabase instance
• AGPLv3 license: the code stays free, the project can't become proprietary

Why Bunker Instead of Self-Hosting?

You could install Metabase on your own server. But then you're on the hook for all of this:

Aspect	Self-hosting	Bunker
Application database	PostgreSQL to manage	Managed CNPG PostgreSQL
High availability	To configure	Guaranteed
Backups	To configure	Automatic
Security updates	To monitor	Applied
Persistent storage	To provision	Included
NetworkPolicies	To configure	Applied
24/7 monitoring	To set up	Included
Connection to BK databases	Network to configure	Same internal network

That last row is the big one. If your databases are already on Bunker, Metabase connects through the cluster's internal network. No public exposure, no VPN. Latency is negligible.

Quick Start

1. Deploy from the Console

1. Go to console.getbunker.net
2. Create your account or log in
3. Deploy Metabase from the service catalog
4. Wait a few minutes for the instance to spin up

2. Connect a Data Source

1. Open Metabase and complete the setup wizard
2. Add your database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)
3. Metabase scans the schema and tables automatically
4. Tables show up in the data explorer

# If your database is on Bunker, use the internal address:
# Host: your-db.namespace.svc.cluster.local
# Port: 5432 (PostgreSQL) or 3306 (MySQL)
# No public exposure needed

3. Ask Your First Question

Two approaches:

Without SQL (visual editor):

1. Click "New question"
2. Select a table
3. Choose columns, filters, groupings
4. Metabase generates the chart automatically

With SQL:

1. Click "New question" > "SQL query"
2. Select the database
3. Write your query

-- Example: monthly revenue
SELECT
  DATE_TRUNC('month', created_at) AS month,
  SUM(amount) AS total_revenue,
  COUNT(*) AS order_count
FROM orders
WHERE created_at >= CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '12 months'
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1;

4. Save and add to a dashboard

Advanced Features

Interactive Dashboards

Metabase dashboards aren't just static charts on a page.

• Connected filters: one "Period" filter applies across every card
• Drill-down: click a data point to see what's behind it
• Text cards: add context, explanations, links between charts
• Auto-refresh: dashboards update in real time

SQL Variables and Filters

Make your SQL queries interactive with variables:

-- Filter variable: the user picks the period
SELECT *
FROM orders
WHERE created_at BETWEEN {{start_date}} AND {{end_date}}
  AND status = {{status}}

Metabase generates the filter widgets (date picker, dropdown) from those variables automatically.

Embed and Sharing

Share analyses without giving people a Metabase login:

• Public link: read-only dashboard via URL
• Iframe embed: drop a dashboard into your web app
• Signed embed: control which filters and rows each user sees
• Subscriptions: scheduled delivery by email or Slack

Granular Permissions

Lock down data access per team:

• Database access: each team sees only the databases they're allowed to
• Table access: hide sensitive tables (salaries, personal data)
• Sandboxing: row-level security, each user only sees their own data
• Collection access: organize dashboards by team with separate permissions

Best Practices

• Group questions and dashboards into collections by team or domain
• Use Metabase "Models" to create clean views of your tables (cache + column renaming)
• Turn on result caching for heavy queries
• Set up alerts on critical metrics: revenue, error rate, SLA breaches
• Use sandboxing for row-level security instead of duplicating dashboards

Next Steps

• Metabase Documentation for advanced features
• External Backups for complete protection