Using the dashboard

Browser dashboard#

nid dashboard                  # open your local dashboard
nid dashboard --port 7421      # choose a port
nid dashboard --no-open        # print a one-time sign-in link
nid doctor                     # also shows the running dashboard URL

The dashboard brings all projects and agent groups into one browser window. It runs on your machine at http://127.0.0.1:7420/ by default (a free port is chosen if that port is taken). Its assets ship with nid and work offline: no CDN, external fonts, or hosted account is required. Source checkouts bundle the UI locally on first use.

Screen descriptions (text equivalents of screenshots):

• Welcome: with no teams yet, the dashboard explains in two sentences what nid does and shows one box: What should your agents work on?
• Overview: leads with the same goal box. Type a goal, pick a repository (recent ones are one click away as chips, or type a path) and press Start (or Ctrl+Enter). For a repository without nid.yaml the box lists the detected agents and logins and offers the team presets as chips, the best fit for your installed agents preselected; Start writes nid.yaml and starts the team. For a repository with a configuration it starts that team, and when the team already runs your text goes to its lead. Below are spending, pending requests and the teams grouped by repository, with each team's agent states, task progress and spending versus budget (billed; subscription estimates shown beside it as "est."). A filter finds teams by name, goal or repository. Advanced holds the detailed forms: Spawn agent (one agent with every option), Start from config and Set up a repo (the browser version of nid init with every option: preset, budget, goal, setup command, files to copy, overwrite).
• Group: the goal and budget, then anything waiting for you as inline cards. A permission request reads like Claude Code's ("codex wants to run npm install x") with Allow (1), Allow for this session (2: the same command and verb, such as any npm install, or the same tool, is allowed for that agent until its session stops) and No, and tell it what to do (3, with an optional instruction sent to the agent); questions have an answer box. When the lead reports DONE, a summary card shows what changed, the diff stats per file, tasks, agents, cost and tokens, with Land, Open PR, View diff, Keep going (send a follow-up) and Dismiss. Below: sessions, task board, notes, file locks and live agent activity. Sessions show their current task, state, cost and tokens; dependency links jump to tasks. Create tasks and notes from the header, review a diff, or use Manage group to change settings, message all agents, interrupt/stop/resume, land, or remove.
• Session: agent state, the model (what the agent reports, or the configured one, with a selector to switch it between turns), cost and token totals, a context-window meter (with the rotation count) alongside the conversation, tool activity and approvals. Expand tool details, load older events, or jump to the latest output. Send with Enter (Shift+Enter adds a line); interrupt, stop, resume or Rotate (free context, see long-running sessions) below.
• Inbox: approvals with Allow / Allow for this session / Deny, questions awaiting an answer, and unread messages across every project. Focus an approval and press a to allow or d to deny; answer questions inline. History shows resolved approvals, answered or timed-out questions, and messages already marked read, with a group filter.

On every other page, the oldest pending request also appears as a small card in the bottom-left corner with Allow and Deny, a link to its team and Later to hide it.

Light and dark themes, responsive layouts and keyboard navigation keep the same views usable on narrow screens. State and activity update live through the daemon's event stream. Dialogs keep keyboard focus inside and close with Escape. Group removal requires typing the group's name.

Command palette and shortcuts#

Press Ctrl+K (⌘K on a Mac), or the Ctrl K button in the header, for the command palette: type a few letters to jump to a team or session, start a new goal, allow a pending request, or, inside a team, view its diff, land it, open a pull request, interrupt, stop or resume it. ↑/↓ choose, Enter runs, Escape closes.

Opening the dashboard exchanges a one-time sign-in token for an HttpOnly, SameSite=Strict cookie. The browser never receives the daemon's bearer token. The listener binds only to loopback and checks Host and Origin to reject DNS rebinding and cross-site requests. Sign in again with nid dashboard after the cookie expires. See the dashboard security and API reference.

This is the free, open-source local interface. The UI uses only the documented daemon HTTP API so the same interface can later reach machines through a hosted relay.

CLI equivalents in the dashboard (commands below omit the nid prefix):

Daemon info does not probe the network. Sign out leaves agents running. A daemon restart expires the browser cookie; run nid dashboard for a fresh sign-in link.