diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/querybuilder/shared/OperationEditor.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/querybuilder/shared/OperationEditor.tsx
index 4574ff7f829..92df358c34a 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/querybuilder/shared/OperationEditor.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/querybuilder/shared/OperationEditor.tsx
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-import { css } from '@emotion/css';
+import { css, cx } from '@emotion/css';
 import { DataSourceApi, GrafanaTheme2 } from '@grafana/data';
 import { Stack } from '@grafana/experimental';
 import { Button, Icon, Tooltip, useStyles2 } from '@grafana/ui';
-import React from 'react';
+import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
 import { Draggable } from 'react-beautiful-dnd';
 import {
   VisualQueryModeller,
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export interface Props {
   onChange: (index: number, update: QueryBuilderOperation) => void;
   onRemove: (index: number) => void;
   onRunQuery: () => void;
+  highlight?: boolean;
 }
 
 export function OperationEditor({
@@ -35,9 +36,12 @@ export function OperationEditor({
   queryModeller,
   query,
   datasource,
+  highlight,
 }: Props) {
   const styles = useStyles2(getStyles);
   const def = queryModeller.getOperationDef(operation.id);
+  const shouldHighlight = useHighlight(highlight);
+
   if (!def) {
     return <span>Operation {operation.id} not found</span>;
   }
@@ -122,7 +126,7 @@ export function OperationEditor({
     <Draggable draggableId={`operation-${index}`} index={index}>
       {(provided) => (
         <div
-          className={styles.card}
+          className={cx(styles.card, shouldHighlight && styles.cardHighlight)}
           ref={provided.innerRef}
           {...provided.draggableProps}
           data-testid={`operations.${index}.wrapper`}
@@ -150,6 +154,29 @@ export function OperationEditor({
   );
 }
 
+/**
+ * When highlight is switched on makes sure it is switched of right away, so we just flash the highlight and then fade
+ * out.
+ * @param highlight
+ */
+function useHighlight(highlight?: boolean) {
+  const [keepHighlight, setKeepHighlight] = useState(true);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    let t: any;
+    if (highlight) {
+      t = setTimeout(() => {
+        setKeepHighlight(false);
+      }, 1);
+    } else {
+      setKeepHighlight(true);
+    }
+
+    return () => clearTimeout(t);
+  }, [highlight]);
+
+  return keepHighlight && highlight;
+}
+
 function renderAddRestParamButton(
   paramDef: QueryBuilderOperationParamDef,
   onAddRestParam: () => void,
@@ -198,6 +225,11 @@ const getStyles = (theme: GrafanaTheme2) => {
       borderRadius: theme.shape.borderRadius(1),
       marginBottom: theme.spacing(1),
       position: 'relative',
+      transition: 'all 1s ease-in 0s',
+    }),
+    cardHighlight: css({
+      boxShadow: `0px 0px 4px 0px ${theme.colors.primary.border}`,
+      border: `1px solid ${theme.colors.primary.border}`,
     }),
     infoIcon: css({
       marginLeft: theme.spacing(0.5),
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/querybuilder/shared/OperationList.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/querybuilder/shared/OperationList.tsx
index e5b5dec7442..026d9eaf911 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/querybuilder/shared/OperationList.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/querybuilder/shared/OperationList.tsx
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { Stack } from '@grafana/experimental';
 import { Button, Cascader, CascaderOption, useStyles2 } from '@grafana/ui';
 import React, { useState } from 'react';
 import { DragDropContext, Droppable, DropResult } from 'react-beautiful-dnd';
+import { useMountedState, usePrevious } from 'react-use';
 import { QueryBuilderOperation, QueryWithOperations, VisualQueryModeller } from '../shared/types';
 import { OperationEditor } from './OperationEditor';
 
@@ -26,6 +27,8 @@ export function OperationList<T extends QueryWithOperations>({
   const styles = useStyles2(getStyles);
   const { operations } = query;
 
+  const opsToHighlight = useOperationsHighlight(operations);
+
   const [cascaderOpen, setCascaderOpen] = useState(false);
 
   const onOperationChange = (index: number, update: QueryBuilderOperation) => {
@@ -86,7 +89,7 @@ export function OperationList<T extends QueryWithOperations>({
                 <div className={styles.operationList} ref={provided.innerRef} {...provided.droppableProps}>
                   {operations.map((op, index) => (
                     <OperationEditor
-                      key={index}
+                      key={op.id + index}
                       queryModeller={queryModeller}
                       index={index}
                       operation={op}
@@ -95,6 +98,7 @@ export function OperationList<T extends QueryWithOperations>({
                       onChange={onOperationChange}
                       onRemove={onRemove}
                       onRunQuery={onRunQuery}
+                      highlight={opsToHighlight[index]}
                     />
                   ))}
                   {provided.placeholder}
@@ -125,6 +129,49 @@ export function OperationList<T extends QueryWithOperations>({
   );
 }
 
+/**
+ * Returns indexes of operations that should be highlighted. We check the diff of operations added but at the same time
+ * we want to highlight operations only after the initial render, so we check for mounted state and calculate the diff
+ * only after.
+ * @param operations
+ */
+function useOperationsHighlight(operations: QueryBuilderOperation[]) {
+  const isMounted = useMountedState();
+  const prevOperations = usePrevious(operations);
+
+  if (!isMounted()) {
+    return operations.map(() => false);
+  }
+
+  if (!prevOperations) {
+    return operations.map(() => true);
+  }
+
+  let newOps: boolean[] = [];
+
+  if (prevOperations.length - 1 === operations.length && operations.every((op) => prevOperations.includes(op))) {
+    // In case we remove one op and does not change any ops then don't highlight anything.
+    return operations.map(() => false);
+  }
+  if (prevOperations.length + 1 === operations.length && prevOperations.every((op) => operations.includes(op))) {
+    // If we add a single op just find it and highlight just that.
+    const newOp = operations.find((op) => !prevOperations.includes(op));
+    newOps = operations.map((op) => {
+      return op === newOp;
+    });
+  } else {
+    // Default diff of all ops.
+    newOps = operations.map((op, index) => {
+      return !isSameOp(op.id, prevOperations[index]?.id);
+    });
+  }
+  return newOps;
+}
+
+function isSameOp(op1?: string, op2?: string) {
+  return op1 === op2 || `__${op1}_by` === op2 || op1 === `__${op2}_by`;
+}
+
 const getStyles = (theme: GrafanaTheme2) => {
   return {
     heading: css({