I'm using the incr function from the python statsd client. The key I'm sending for the name is registered in graphite but it shows up as a flat line on the graph. What filters or transforms do I need to apply to get the rate of the increments over time? I've tried an apply function > transform > integral and an apply function > special > aggregate by sum but no success yet.
Your requested function is "Summarize" - see it over here: http://graphite.readthedocs.org/en/latest/functions.html
In order to the totals over time just use the summarize functions with the "alignToFrom = true". For example: You can use the following metric for 1 day period: summarize(stats_counts.your.metrics.path,"1d","sum",true)
See graphite summarize datapoints for more details.