diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/annotation_query.go b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/annotation_query.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..37e68a6d3bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/annotation_query.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package stackdriver
+
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb"
+)
+
+func (e *StackdriverExecutor) executeAnnotationQuery(ctx context.Context, tsdbQuery *tsdb.TsdbQuery) (*tsdb.Response, error) {
+	result := &tsdb.Response{
+		Results: make(map[string]*tsdb.QueryResult),
+	}
+
+	_, err := e.buildAnnotationQuery(tsdbQuery)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return result, nil
+}
+
+func (e *StackdriverExecutor) buildAnnotationQuery(tsdbQuery *tsdb.TsdbQuery) (*StackdriverQuery, error) {
+	return &StackdriverQuery{}, nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/annotation_query_test.go b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/annotation_query_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0fb47fbe453
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/annotation_query_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package stackdriver
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/components/simplejson"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb"
+
+	. "github.com/smartystreets/goconvey/convey"
+)
+
+func TestStackdriverAnnotationQuery(t *testing.T) {
+	Convey("Stackdriver Annotation Query Executor", t, func() {
+		executor := &StackdriverExecutor{}
+		Convey("Parse queries from frontend and build Stackdriver API queries", func() {
+			fromStart := time.Date(2018, 3, 15, 13, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC).In(time.Local)
+			tsdbQuery := &tsdb.TsdbQuery{
+				TimeRange: &tsdb.TimeRange{
+					From: fmt.Sprintf("%v", fromStart.Unix()*1000),
+					To:   fmt.Sprintf("%v", fromStart.Add(34*time.Minute).Unix()*1000),
+				},
+				Queries: []*tsdb.Query{
+					{
+						Model: simplejson.NewFromAny(map[string]interface{}{
+							"metricType": "a/metric/type",
+							"view":       "FULL",
+							"type":       "annotationQuery",
+						}),
+						RefId: "annotationQuery",
+					},
+				},
+			}
+			query, err := executor.buildAnnotationQuery(tsdbQuery)
+			So(err, ShouldBeNil)
+
+			So(query, ShouldNotBeNil)
+		})
+	})
+}
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver.go b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver.go
index d9bc396038e..ffd065d6a18 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver.go
@@ -66,6 +66,23 @@ func init() {
 // executes the queries against the Stackdriver API and parses the response into
 // the time series or table format
 func (e *StackdriverExecutor) Query(ctx context.Context, dsInfo *models.DataSource, tsdbQuery *tsdb.TsdbQuery) (*tsdb.Response, error) {
+	var result *tsdb.Response
+	var err error
+	queryType := tsdbQuery.Queries[0].Model.Get("type").MustString("")
+
+	switch queryType {
+	case "annotationQuery":
+		result, err = e.executeAnnotationQuery(ctx, tsdbQuery)
+	case "timeSeriesQuery":
+		fallthrough
+	default:
+		result, err = e.executeTimeSeriesQuery(ctx, tsdbQuery)
+	}
+
+	return result, err
+}
+
+func (e *StackdriverExecutor) executeTimeSeriesQuery(ctx context.Context, tsdbQuery *tsdb.TsdbQuery) (*tsdb.Response, error) {
 	result := &tsdb.Response{
 		Results: make(map[string]*tsdb.QueryResult),
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver_test.go b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver_test.go
index 8d52cd25c91..9ec47fee4ea 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver_test.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ func TestStackdriver(t *testing.T) {
 							"metricType": "a/metric/type",
 							"view":       "FULL",
 							"aliasBy":    "testalias",
+							"type":       "timeSeriesQuery",
 						}),
 						RefId: "A",
 					},
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/datasource.ts
index 7b8d6ab0b5e..7d7b1e1cee1 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/datasource.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ export default class StackdriverDatasource {
   baseUrl: string;
   projectName: string;
 
-  constructor(instanceSettings, private backendSrv, private templateSrv) {
+  constructor(instanceSettings, private backendSrv, private templateSrv, private timeSrv) {
     this.baseUrl = `/stackdriver/`;
     this.url = instanceSettings.url;
     this.doRequest = this.doRequest;
@@ -54,6 +54,23 @@ export default class StackdriverDatasource {
     return data;
   }
 
+  async getLabels(metricType, refId) {
+    return await this.getTimeSeries({
+      targets: [
+        {
+          refId: refId,
+          datasourceId: this.id,
+          metricType: this.templateSrv.replace(metricType),
+          aggregation: {
+            crossSeriesReducer: 'REDUCE_NONE',
+          },
+          view: 'HEADERS',
+        },
+      ],
+      range: this.timeSrv.timeRange(),
+    });
+  }
+
   interpolateGroupBys(groupBys: string[], scopedVars): string[] {
     let interpolatedGroupBys = [];
     (groupBys || []).forEach(gb => {
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/query_ctrl.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/query_ctrl.ts
index be98e9bf3ec..3f9cda2a875 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/query_ctrl.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/query_ctrl.ts
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ export class StackdriverQueryCtrl extends QueryCtrl {
   filterSegments: any;
 
   /** @ngInject */
-  constructor($scope, $injector, private uiSegmentSrv, private timeSrv, private templateSrv) {
+  constructor($scope, $injector, private uiSegmentSrv, private templateSrv) {
     super($scope, $injector);
     _.defaultsDeep(this.target, this.defaults);
 
@@ -133,20 +133,7 @@ export class StackdriverQueryCtrl extends QueryCtrl {
   async getLabels() {
     this.loadLabelsPromise = new Promise(async resolve => {
       try {
-        const data = await this.datasource.getTimeSeries({
-          targets: [
-            {
-              refId: this.target.refId,
-              datasourceId: this.datasource.id,
-              metricType: this.templateSrv.replace(this.target.metricType),
-              aggregation: {
-                crossSeriesReducer: 'REDUCE_NONE',
-              },
-              view: 'HEADERS',
-            },
-          ],
-          range: this.timeSrv.timeRange(),
-        });
+        const data = await this.datasource.getLabels(this.target.metricType, this.target.refId);
 
         this.metricLabels = data.results[this.target.refId].meta.metricLabels;
         this.resourceLabels = data.results[this.target.refId].meta.resourceLabels;
@@ -155,6 +142,8 @@ export class StackdriverQueryCtrl extends QueryCtrl {
         this.target.metricKind = data.results[this.target.refId].meta.metricKind;
         resolve();
       } catch (error) {
+        console.log(error.data.message);
+        appEvents.emit('alert-error', ['Error', 'Error loading metric labels for ' + this.target.metricType]);
         resolve();
       }
     });
@@ -167,7 +156,8 @@ export class StackdriverQueryCtrl extends QueryCtrl {
 
   async getGroupBys(segment, index, removeText?: string, removeUsed = true) {
     await this.loadLabelsPromise;
-    const metricLabels = Object.keys(this.metricLabels)
+
+    const metricLabels = Object.keys(this.metricLabels || {})
       .filter(ml => {
         if (!removeUsed) {
           return true;
@@ -181,7 +171,7 @@ export class StackdriverQueryCtrl extends QueryCtrl {
         });
       });
 
-    const resourceLabels = Object.keys(this.resourceLabels)
+    const resourceLabels = Object.keys(this.resourceLabels || {})
       .filter(ml => {
         if (!removeUsed) {
           return true;
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/specs/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/specs/datasource.test.ts
index 5832ecf7304..541dbfaa7e8 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/specs/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/specs/datasource.test.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
     },
   };
   const templateSrv = new TemplateSrvStub();
+  const timeSrv = {};
 
   describe('when performing testDataSource', () => {
     describe('and call to stackdriver api succeeds', () => {
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
             return Promise.resolve({ status: 200 });
           },
         };
-        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv);
+        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv, timeSrv);
         result = await ds.testDatasource();
       });
       it('should return successfully', () => {
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
         const backendSrv = {
           datasourceRequest: async () => Promise.resolve({ status: 200, data: metricDescriptors }),
         };
-        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv);
+        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv, timeSrv);
         result = await ds.testDatasource();
       });
       it('should return status success', () => {
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
               data: { error: { code: 400, message: 'Field interval.endTime had an invalid value' } },
             }),
         };
-        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv);
+        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv, timeSrv);
         result = await ds.testDatasource();
       });
 
@@ -91,7 +92,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
             return Promise.resolve({ status: 200, data: response });
           },
         };
-        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv);
+        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv, timeSrv);
         result = await ds.getProjects();
       });
 
@@ -140,7 +141,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
         const backendSrv = {
           datasourceRequest: async () => Promise.resolve({ status: 200, data: response }),
         };
-        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv);
+        ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv, timeSrv);
       });
 
       it('should return a list of datapoints', () => {
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
           });
         },
       };
-      ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv);
+      ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, backendSrv, templateSrv, timeSrv);
       result = await ds.getMetricTypes();
     });
     it('should return successfully', () => {
@@ -192,7 +193,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
         templateSrv.data = {
           test: 'groupby1',
         };
-        const ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, {}, templateSrv);
+        const ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, {}, templateSrv, timeSrv);
         interpolated = ds.interpolateGroupBys(['[[test]]'], {});
       });
 
@@ -207,7 +208,7 @@ describe('StackdriverDataSource', () => {
         templateSrv.data = {
           test: 'groupby1,groupby2',
         };
-        const ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, {}, templateSrv);
+        const ds = new StackdriverDataSource(instanceSettings, {}, templateSrv, timeSrv);
         interpolated = ds.interpolateGroupBys(['[[test]]'], {});
       });
 
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/specs/query_ctrl.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/specs/query_ctrl.test.ts
index c7e167c7c35..590dea22601 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/specs/query_ctrl.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/specs/query_ctrl.test.ts
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ function createCtrlWithFakes(existingFilters?: string[]) {
       return { type: 'condition', value: val };
     },
   };
-  return new StackdriverQueryCtrl(null, null, fakeSegmentServer, null, new TemplateSrvStub());
+  return new StackdriverQueryCtrl(null, null, fakeSegmentServer, new TemplateSrvStub());
 }
 
 function createTarget(existingFilters?: string[]) {