| name | build-dashboard |
| description | Build a source-backed dashboard or monitoring view with clear metrics, filters, visual hierarchy, definitions, refresh context, and QA. |
Build a Dashboard
Use this workflow when the user needs a reusable monitoring or exploration surface rather than a one-time report. Read the relevant analysis and KPI workflows first when metric definitions or decision logic are not already settled.
Select a portable surface
Honor the user's destination. Otherwise choose the simplest surface supported by the harness:
- Existing BI/product analytics platform when the user wants a governed shared dashboard there.
- Streamlit when Python execution and local/server operation are appropriate; read
specifications/streamlit-dashboard.md.
- Self-contained plain HTML/CSS/vanilla JavaScript for a portable local dashboard; read
specifications/html-dashboard.md.
Do not require React, Vite, Recharts, MCP Apps, or widget runtimes.
Workflow
- Define the audience, operating decision, monitoring cadence, and questions the dashboard must answer.
- Define each metric: formula, numerator/denominator, unit, grain, time window, filters, exclusions, owner, source, and freshness expectation.
- Validate joins, completeness, duplicates, missingness, comparability, and refresh status before presenting metrics as trustworthy.
- Design the information hierarchy:
- Overview and primary outcomes.
- Drivers and diagnostic cuts.
- Guardrails and risks.
- Detail tables or drill-down paths.
- Add only decision-relevant filters. Make default date ranges, segments, comparison periods, and filter state visible.
- Use
../visualize-data/SKILL.md for each chart and keep exact lookup values accessible in tables.
- Show data freshness, source context, definitions, and material caveats in the dashboard.
- Implement and test the real artifact with representative, empty, partial, and error states when feasible.
QA and handoff
- Reconcile displayed totals and KPIs against reviewed source results.
- Test filters, date boundaries, sorting, responsive layout, and refresh behavior.
- Check chart labels, units, legends, accessibility, and table readability.
- Ensure the artifact does not expose secrets, credentials, unnecessary personal data, or temporary local paths.
- Deliver the dashboard artifact or governed platform link plus metric definitions, source/query files, refresh instructions, and known limitations.
