diff --git a/coderd/database/dbmetrics/dbmetrics.go b/coderd/database/dbmetrics/dbmetrics.go
index 8708787f57..b0309f9f2e 100644
--- a/coderd/database/dbmetrics/dbmetrics.go
+++ b/coderd/database/dbmetrics/dbmetrics.go
@@ -74,6 +74,11 @@ func (m metricsStore) InTx(f func(database.Store) error, options *database.TxOpt
 		options = database.DefaultTXOptions()
 	}
 
+	if options.TxIdentifier == "" {
+		// empty strings are hard to deal with in grafana
+		options.TxIdentifier = "unlabeled"
+	}
+
 	start := time.Now()
 	err := m.Store.InTx(f, options)
 	dur := time.Since(start)
@@ -82,13 +87,13 @@ func (m metricsStore) InTx(f func(database.Store) error, options *database.TxOpt
 	// So IDs should be used sparingly to prevent too much bloat.
 	m.txDuration.With(prometheus.Labels{
 		"success": strconv.FormatBool(err == nil),
-		"tx_id":   options.TxIdentifier, // Can be empty string for unlabeled
+		"tx_id":   options.TxIdentifier,
 	}).Observe(dur.Seconds())
 
 	m.txRetries.With(prometheus.Labels{
 		"success": strconv.FormatBool(err == nil),
 		"retries": strconv.FormatInt(int64(options.ExecutionCount()-1), 10),
-		"tx_id":   options.TxIdentifier, // Can be empty string for unlabeled
+		"tx_id":   options.TxIdentifier,
 	}).Inc()
 
 	// Log all serializable transactions that are retried.
diff --git a/coderd/database/dbmetrics/dbmetrics_test.go b/coderd/database/dbmetrics/dbmetrics_test.go
index 7eed7035ee..bd6566d054 100644
--- a/coderd/database/dbmetrics/dbmetrics_test.go
+++ b/coderd/database/dbmetrics/dbmetrics_test.go
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ func TestInTxMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 
 	successLabels := prometheus.Labels{
 		"success": "true",
-		"tx_id":   "",
+		"tx_id":   "unlabeled",
 	}
 	const inTxHistMetricName = "coderd_db_tx_duration_seconds"
 	const inTxCountMetricName = "coderd_db_tx_executions_count"