Dashboards basics

A dashboard is an operating surface, not a document — a grid of widgets that turns your data into something you can read and act on at a glance. Where a page is for writing and a database is for storing, a dashboard is for watching.

View mode and edit mode

Dashboards open in view mode: a clean screen with no editing chrome, where the data stays interactive — you can open a record or switch a tab inside an embedded view without changing the dashboard itself. Building happens in an explicit edit mode you toggle from the header. In edit mode you get a grid canvas with an inspector panel on the right: click a widget to select it, and all of its configuration lives in that panel. Edit mode is permission-gated, so viewers never even see the toggle.

Widgets

Every widget binds to your workspace data and picks how to show it:

• Numbers and charts — a KPI, line, area, column, bar, donut, funnel, waterfall, table, leaderboard, progress bar, gauge, or heatmap. Each plots one or more metrics, grouped by date, by a field, or by a shared field.
• Doc — a small document: headings, lists, to-dos, tables, and code, with the / menu and Markdown paste.
• Agenda, clock-in, and timesheet — your calendar and time tracking, right on the dashboard.
• Database view — a live embedded table, board, or chart from one of your databases.
• Activity feed — recent, member-meaningful events across the workspace.
• Insight — a durable written brief you or the AI can refresh.
• Button — runs a real workspace action, like refreshing a source or creating a record.

Add widgets from the gallery — its Suggested tab builds ready widgets from your own databases — then drag to reposition and pull the edges to resize. The build a dashboard walkthrough takes you from an empty grid to a working overview.

Metrics, formulas, and shared fields

A metric is one number defined once: count, sum, average, median, minimum, maximum, or latest value over a database or a Snoze app such as time entries, with an optional filter. A formula combines metrics, even from different databases — [Revenue] - [Expenses] is a profit metric across two tables. Metrics live in the dashboard’s Data panel, so every widget that shows Revenue shows the same Revenue.

A shared field is one concept matched in several databases — Client in Invoices and in Expenses — so one filter or grouping lines them all up. The filter bar above the widgets sets the period, the comparison (previous period or last year), and shared-field filters; what a viewer picks there is theirs alone.

Where the data comes from

Widgets only read Snoze state — your databases, views, aggregates, and events — so dashboards stay fast and update in real time as the underlying data changes. External services reach a dashboard by syncing into a database first, never by a widget calling an API live. That’s what keeps a dashboard responsive even when the original source is slow. See connect external data.

Building with AI

The dashboard header has an Ask AI action. It inspects the current layout, explains a proposed plan, and waits for your go-ahead before applying any change — it uses the same workspace parts a person does, so nothing bypasses permissions or history.

Dashboards share like any other item — with the team, or published to the web for stakeholders who just need the numbers.

Go deeper

• Build a dashboard — a full walkthrough from empty grid to live overview.
• Connect external data — sync outside services into your databases.