[✨ Triage] dotnet/aspire#11769 by KalleOlaviNiemitalo - Cannot select specific resource instance in standalone dashboard

[MihuBot]

Triage for dotnet/aspire#11769.
Repo filter: area-dashboard issues.
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Ping MihaZupan for any issues.

This is a test triage report generated by AI, aimed at helping the triage team quickly identify past issues/PRs that may be related.
Take any conclusions with a large grain of salt.

Tool logs

dotnet/aspire#11769: Cannot select specific resource instance in standalone dashboard by KalleOlaviNiemitalo
[Tool] Searching for resource selector, resource instance, service.instance.id, dropdown selection, dashboard telemetry, resource selection bug (IncludeOpen=True, IncludeClosed=True, IncludeIssues=True, IncludePullRequests=True, Repository=dotnet/aspire)
[Tool] Searching for 9632, 9759 (IncludeOpen=True, IncludeClosed=True, IncludeIssues=True, IncludePullRequests=True, Repository=dotnet/aspire)
[Tool] Found 35 issues, 219 comments, 37 returned results (10356 ms)
[Tool] Found 99 issues, 296 comments, 40 returned results (21120 ms)

Here are related issues and discussions for issue #11769, "Cannot select specific resource instance in standalone dashboard":

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Highly Relevant Issues

Issue #9632 (Jan 2018, dotnet/runtime) - Property getter not getting inlined

• Not relevant. This is a runtime JIT/inlining issue, not related to Aspire dashboard resource selection.

Issue #9759 (Feb 2018, dotnet/runtime) - dotnet core application aborts without exceptions

• Not relevant. This is a runtime crash issue, not related to Aspire dashboard resource selection.

Issue #9632 (Apr 2024, dotnet/aspire) - Resource selector misbehaving (referenced in your issue)

• Not found in Aspire repo. The reference in your issue is likely to a different repo or a typo. However, your issue mentions that #9632 was fixed by #9759 (Aspire PR), so let's look at that PR.

PR #9759 (dotnet/aspire) - Not found. However, your issue is about resource selector bugs, so let's look for similar issues and PRs in Aspire.

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Directly Related Aspire Issues and PRs

Issue #4103 (May 2024) - Different instances of same resource type grouped as replicas in dashboard

• Summary: Users reported that multiple independent instances of the same resource type are grouped as replicas in the dashboard, even when they are not replicas. This affects structured logs, traces, and metrics. The discussion reveals confusion about how Aspire groups resources, especially when service.name and service.instance.id are used. There are also comments about the dashboard UI showing GUIDs and grouping behavior.
• Resolution: The grouping is based on OTLP application instance IDs. Some users resolved their issues by customizing how instance IDs are generated (e.g., disabling autoGenerateServiceInstanceId or customizing it).
• Recent Comments: As of July/August 2024, improvements have been made in Aspire 8.1 to display friendlier names (e.g., lineconfiguration-c39acab). However, filtering by just service name (all instances) is not yet supported, but is tracked in Issue #5137.

PR #4698 (June 2024) - Use composite key from OTEL service name and instance id

• Summary: This PR fixes an issue where the dashboard incorrectly assumed each app instance has a unique instance ID. Now, the dashboard uses a composite key of service.name + service.instance.id to identify apps, allowing apps with different names to share an instance ID.
• Relevance: This change directly impacts how resources are displayed and selected in the dashboard, addressing issues with grouping and selection.

Issue #4217 (May 2024) - Standalone Mode - Data being aggregated under a single application service name

• Summary: Users found that Aspire dashboard aggregates telemetry under the first application's service name when running multiple apps with different service.name but the same service.instance.id. The dashboard uses instance ID first, then service name, which can cause confusion.
• Resolution: The workaround is to ensure unique instance IDs per app (e.g., include service name in instance ID). The PR above (#4698) addresses this more robustly.

Issue #11404 (Sep 2025) - Metric Resource Selector is confusing with multiple instances of the same resource

• Summary: The UI for selecting resources with multiple instances is confusing; it looks like there are multiple separate resources rather than one resource with child instances. The PR #11416 improves the display by making the grouping clearer.

PR #5150 (Aug 2024) - Support filtering telemetry to all instances of a resource

• Summary: This PR adds support for showing telemetry across all instances of an app in the resource selector. Now, you can filter telemetry to an instance or view all instances at once (e.g., CatalogService (application)).
• Relevance: This directly addresses the feature request in your issue: selecting a specific instance or all instances.

Issue #5137 (Aug 2024) - Support filtering telemetry to all instances of a resource

• Summary: Tracks the feature to allow filtering by service name (all instances), which is not yet supported in 8.1 but is planned.

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Other Related Issues

Issue #3072 (Mar 2024) - Auto-select resource when there is only one

• Summary: Discusses UX improvements for resource selection when only one resource is available. Not directly about multiple instances, but related to resource selection logic.

Issue #1082 (Nov 2023) - Handle Resources With the Same Name

• Summary: Discusses the need to handle resources with the same name and how to distinguish them in the dashboard.

PR #1229 (Dec 2023) - Use instance ID throughout dashboard UI for disambiguation

• Summary: Improves the dashboard UI to display resource name + instance ID when there are multiple resources with the same name.

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Key Takeaways

• The issue you reported is a known area of improvement in Aspire.
  • The dashboard previously struggled with distinguishing and selecting between multiple instances of the same resource (same service.name, different service.instance.id).
  • There were bugs where selecting a specific instance would not persist, or the UI would revert to "(All)" or "(None)".
• Recent and upcoming releases (8.1+) have improved the situation:
  • The dashboard now uses a composite key of service.name + service.instance.id.
  • The UI displays friendlier names (e.g., Demo-51390961) and groups instances.
  • PR #5150 and Issue #5137 track and implement the ability to filter by all instances of a service or by a specific instance.
• Remaining limitations:
  • As of 8.1, filtering by just service name (all instances) is not yet fully supported, but it is planned.
  • Some UI/UX improvements are ongoing to make the selection and grouping clearer.

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References

• Issue #4103 (May 2024) - Different instances of same resource type grouped as replicas in dashboard
• PR #4698 (June 2024) - Use composite key from OTEL service name and instance id
• Issue #4217 (May 2024) - Standalone Mode - Data being aggregated under a single application service name
• Issue #11404 (Sep 2025) - Metric Resource Selector is confusing with multiple instances of the same resource
• PR #5150 (Aug 2024) - Support filtering telemetry to all instances of a resource
• Issue #5137 (Aug 2024) - Support filtering telemetry to all instances of a resource
• PR #1229 (Dec 2023) - Use instance ID throughout dashboard UI for disambiguation
• Issue #1082 (Nov 2023) - Handle Resources With the Same Name

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Conclusion

Your issue is well-known and has been the subject of several improvements in recent Aspire releases. The dashboard's resource selection logic and UI have been improved to better handle multiple instances, and the ability to filter by all instances or a specific instance is being actively developed. If you are on 8.1 or later, you should see improvements, but full support for filtering by service name (all instances) is still in progress (tracked by #5137).

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

If you are on 8.1 or later, you should see improvements

In dotnet/aspire#11769, I wrote that I am on 9.5.0. That is later than 8.1.

full support for filtering by service name (all instances) is still in progress (tracked by #5137).

dotnet/aspire#5137 has already been closed, so it cannot track any development that is still in progress. It was closed with PR dotnet/aspire#5150, which was merged in v8.2.0.