Lightstep uses queries over your metric and span data to create the charts in notebooks, dashboards, and alerts. The simplest way to build a query is to use the Unified Query Builder (UQB). This UI allows you to build queries fast and provides the functionality needed for most queries. If you want more fine-grained queries, or want to run queries using our APIs or with integrations like Terraform, you can use the Unified Query Language (UQL) in the editor.
You can switch between the two query methods, so you can start in the builder and then further refine your query using UQL in the editor. For example, say your chart shows cpu utilization, but there’s so many lines, it’s hard to focus on the highest spikes. You can switch to the editor and use UQL to view just the top 5. 
Once you query your data, learn about the different visualizations you can use.