stacks-dashboard

name	stacks-dashboard
description	Use when building or customizing the Stacks admin dashboard, including dashboard pages, model management views, analytics widgets, commerce dashboards, content management, settings panels, deployment monitoring, job/queue management, or the 250+ built-in dashboard components. Covers the dashboard system at storage/framework/defaults/.
license	MIT
compatibility	Bun >= 1.3.0, TypeScript
allowed-tools	Read Edit Write Bash Grep Glob

Stacks Dashboard

The Stacks admin dashboard provides a full-featured admin panel with 100+ route views, 250+ components, and a multi-section layout.

Key Paths

• Dashboard components: storage/framework/defaults/resources/components/Dashboard/
• Dashboard route views: storage/framework/defaults/views/dashboard/
• Dashboard layouts: storage/framework/defaults/views/dashboard/layouts/
• Dashboard actions: storage/framework/defaults/app/Actions/Dashboard/
• Dashboard page endpoints: storage/framework/defaults/routes/dashboard-api.ts
• Dashboard navigation registry: storage/framework/defaults/resources/functions/dashboard/sidebar.ts
• Configuration: config/ui.ts

Dashboard Sections

Dashboard route views are mounted at the dashboard server root. Do not prefix page links with /dashboard. The /api/dashboard/* prefix is reserved for dashboard data Actions.

Analytics and Monitoring

• / - main dashboard overview
• /analytics - analytics hub and chart navigation
• /analytics/web, /analytics/pages, /analytics/referrers - HTTP analytics
• /analytics/countries, /analytics/devices, /analytics/browsers - audience breakdowns
• /analytics/events, /analytics/blog, /analytics/marketing - domain analytics
• /requests - captured HTTP request metrics
• /errors, /monitoring/errors - error tracking and analysis
• /jobs, /jobs/history - background job monitoring
• /queue - queue management and metrics
• /queries, /queries/slow, /queries/history - query analysis

Commerce

• /commerce/dashboard - commerce overview
• /commerce/pos - point of sale
• /commerce/products - product management
• /commerce/orders - order management and processing
• /commerce/customers - customer profiles and history
• /commerce/payments - payment tracking
• /commerce/coupons - coupon and promotion management
• /commerce/gift-cards - gift card management
• /commerce/categories, /commerce/manufacturers, /commerce/units - catalog metadata
• /commerce/variants, /commerce/reviews, /commerce/taxes - catalog operations
• /commerce/waitlist/products, /commerce/waitlist/restaurant - waitlists
• /commerce/delivery and /commerce/delivery/* - delivery, shipping, driver, and license management

Content Management

• /content/dashboard - content overview
• /content/posts - blog post CRUD
• /content/pages - page management
• /content/authors - author profiles
• /content/categories - content categorization
• /content/tags - tag management
• /content/comments - comment moderation
• /content/files, /content/blog, /content/seo - files, blog operations, and SEO

Data Management

• /data/dashboard - data overview
• /data/users - user management
• /data/subscribers - subscriber management
• /data/teams - team management
• /data/activity - persisted activity
• /models, /models/{model} - generic model registry and explorer
• /notifications/dashboard, /notifications/history - notification operations

Mail

• /inbox - inbound messages from the configured mailbox provider
• /inbox/activity - inbound and outbound delivery activity
• /inbox/captured - outbound messages captured by the local log mail driver
• /inbox/settings - mailbox display and behavior preferences

Captured mail uses GET /api/dashboard/email/captured and GET /api/dashboard/email/captured/{id}. Read captures through the shared parser in Actions/Dashboard/Email/captured-mail.ts; do not scrape files in an STX component or duplicate the log-driver format. Render all inbound and captured HTML through Email/EmailBodyPreview.stx. It owns the sandboxed srcdoc iframe, restrictive content policy, and no-referrer boundary. Never inject message HTML into the dashboard document.

Marketing

• /marketing/campaigns - campaign management
• /marketing/lists - email list management
• /marketing/social-posts - social post management
• /marketing/reviews - marketing review workflows

Library

• /library/components - component browser
• /functions - function registry and scaffold
• /releases - release management
• /packages, /dependencies - package and dependency inspection

Settings

• /settings - typed config/*.ts browser and editor
• /settings/appearance - dashboard appearance
• /settings/billing - account billing
• /settings/mail - mail configuration
• /environment - environment summary
• /access-tokens - access-token management
• /cloud, /dns, /mailboxes - infrastructure-specific settings

Deployments

• /deployments - deployment history, deployment controls, the custom TypeScript deploy-script editor, and visibility-aware live terminal output
• /deployments/{id} - one persisted Deployment model record

The deployment page composes DeploymentList, DeploymentTable, DeployScript, and LiveTerminalOutput. Script reads and atomic writes use GET|PUT /api/dashboard/deployments/script. The terminal uses GET /api/dashboard/deployments/terminal and pauses polling while the document is hidden. Do not create separate /deployments/scripts or /deployments/live-terminal pages.

Utilities

• /health, /insights, /logs - operational health and logs
• /servers, /serverless, /realtime - runtime infrastructure
• /management/permissions - RBAC management
• /kanban - model-backed board management
• /ci, /buddy - CI and Buddy workflows

Dashboard Components (250+)

Layout Components

• Navbar - top navigation bar
• Sidebar - fixed desktop side navigation provided by the STX runtime
• MobileSidebar - responsive drawer around the same sidebar content
• DashboardLayout - reusable layout wrapper

UI Components

• Buttons, Modals, Toasts, Alerts, Dropdowns
• Tables with sorting, filtering, pagination
• Forms with validation
• Charts and analytics widgets
• File upload components
• Rich text editors

Action controls

• Use Dashboard/UI/Button.stx for every dashboard action. Do not add page-local primary, secondary, success, warning, or danger button styles.
• The primary variant is the canonical Deployment Deploy treatment: bg-gradient-to-b from-blue-500 to-blue-600.
• Keep native buttons only for controls whose visual state is their meaning, such as tabs, sort headers, color choices, and full-surface modal backdrops.
• Use variant="secondary" for supporting actions and variant="danger" for destructive confirmation actions.
• Use tag="a" whenever href is reactive, for example <Button tag="a" :href="detailsPath()">Open details</Button>. Server rendering cannot infer an anchor from a client-only reactive URL.
• Prefer component events and named slots over string callback props or data-action markers. A data-action attribute is only valid when an active host integration consumes that exact action.

Feature Components

• ProductForm, ProductList, ProductVariants
• OrderTable, OrderDetail, OrderStatusUpdate
• UserTable, UserForm, UserProfile
• PostEditor, PostList, PostPublish
• CouponForm, CouponList
• EmailCompose, EmailList, EmailDetail
• DeploymentList, DeploymentTable, DeploymentDetail, DeployScript, LiveTerminalOutput
• JobMonitor, QueueStatus
• SettingsForm (generic, used by all settings pages)

Dashboard Actions

Located in storage/framework/defaults/app/Actions/Dashboard/:

• Settings actions - get and update typed settings
• Commerce actions - CRUD operations for commerce models
• Content actions - CRUD operations for content models
• Data actions - persisted model records and metrics
• Deployment actions - deploy, script, terminal, and history operations
• Job actions - job records and metrics
• Notification actions - notification records and delivery metrics
• Request actions - captured request analytics

Model Dashboard Integration

Models with dashboard: { highlight: true } appear prominently:

defineModel({
  name: 'Product',
  dashboard: { highlight: true },  // highlighted in dashboard
  traits: {
    useApi: { uri: 'products', routes: ['index', 'store', 'show', 'update', 'destroy'] }
  }
})

The useApi trait auto-generates REST actions and routes for the model. The generic model explorer discovers the model separately. It does not generate a custom dashboard page.

Use a dashboard-scoped Action when a page needs an aggregate response or a purpose-built transport shape. Register it under /api/dashboard/* in storage/framework/defaults/routes/dashboard-api.ts. Sensitive reads and all writes must use the route file's guard() boundary so local development stays usable while non-local environments require authentication and an admin role.

The dashboard dev server delegates /api/* requests to the Stacks router. It does not delegate root-level application API groups such as /payments/*. Dashboard pages must call a registered /api/dashboard/* Action instead of hard-coding the separate API server port. User-scoped payment data is the exception to the local no-auth guard: register it with authenticatedGuard() so the bearer token is required even on localhost.

For stateful settings, persist through a model with useApi and explicit middleware, then expose a narrow dashboard Action for the page. Keep account identity fields read-only when their source of truth is config/*.ts.

Dashboard API client

Use the shared dashboardApi() client for every dashboard network request, including requests in stores and guest pages. Do not call fetch() directly from dashboard views, components, composables, or stores. The shared client adds the stored bearer token, same-origin credentials, JSON serialization, the double-submit CSRF header for mutations, and normalized response errors.

Pass auth: false only for a deliberately public route such as password-reset or invitation-link lookup. This disables the bearer header, not CSRF protection. Keep the route path aligned with the registered Stacks route, for example POST /password/forgot, rather than inventing a page-shaped API path.

Most dashboard APIs must be registered Actions so the router applies guards, method metadata, rate limits, and default-on CSRF protection. If a development handler must intentionally remain outside the router, call validateDevCsrfRequest() before reading or mutating state. Never reproduce the token comparison in a handler.

Dashboard Development

buddy dev --dashboard        # start dashboard dev server
buddy dev -d                 # alias
buddy build components       # build component libraries

buddy build:components remains the direct command alias. Prefer buddy build components in documentation and agent workflows.

Port: 3002 (configured in config/ports.ts as admin)

Render performance

The dashboard dev action opts into STX's dependency-aware rendered HTML cache with renderCache: true, renderCacheVary: 'source', and four prewarm workers. This is correct because static dashboard routes render source-derived shells and load live records through dashboardApi() after hydration. Keep the project and framework resources/functions roots in watchDirs so a composable edit invalidates its client bundle.

Do not add request-specific server output to a source-cached static dashboard route. If a route must render cookies, identity, query-dependent data, or another per-request value on the server, set const __stx_skip_cache = true in its <script server> or change that server to request-varying cache semantics. Dynamic file routes remain uncached. STX also refuses to cache a recovered compiler-failure response, so a transient cold render cannot poison later navigation.

Runtime shell and responsive navigation

buddy dev --dashboard renders its shared shell from storage/framework/defaults/views/dashboard/layouts/default.stx. Do not mistake storage/framework/defaults/resources/layouts/dashboard/default.stx for the active dev-dashboard layout. The resources layout is a reusable legacy layout and changes there alone do not affect port 3002.

The runtime shell owns the fixed desktop Sidebar, content offset, role filtering, active-route synchronization, Craft selection bridge, global search, and toast layer. Keep those behaviors centralized in the layout. The mobile drawer behavior belongs in Dashboard/MobileSidebar.stx, with the layout passing the same Sidebar sections through its slot. This preserves one navigation source and the existing sidebar theme across form factors.

Persisted shell appearance is applied with STX's @appearanceBootstrap({...}) directive before the shell markup. Keep the storage key and defaults aligned with composables/useAppearance.ts. Never replace it with raw window, document, or localStorage code in the layout.

At widths below 1024px:

• Hide the fixed desktop sidebar and reset [data-stx-content] to margin-left: 0.
• Show the mobile menu bar and render the same Sidebar inside the drawer.
• Apply role filtering and active-route state to both sidebar panes.
• Trap focus inside the open drawer, close on Escape and STX navigation, restore focus to the menu button, and lock background scrolling with the native useScrollLock() composable.
• Verify document.documentElement.scrollWidth <= innerWidth at phone and tablet sizes.

At 1024px and wider, the desktop sidebar must retain its existing theme, 250px width, fixed placement, persisted collapse state, and --stx-sidebar-width content-shell contract.

Reactive page components

Keep route views thin. Place stateful page implementations under storage/framework/defaults/resources/components/Dashboard/ and render them from the route view as normal STX components. Use signals, onMount, useReactiveProp(), and defineEmits() rather than direct DOM access or page-global scripts.

Every async page needs loading, error, empty, and populated states. Dashboard Actions should return persisted data only. Do not hide failed endpoints behind sample or randomly generated rows.

Action buttons

Use Dashboard/UI/Button for dashboard actions. Its primary variant is the blue gradient used by the Deploy action on the Deployments page, and that is the canonical primary action style across the dashboard.

<Button @click="openCreate">
  <span aria-hidden="true" class="h-4 w-4 i-hugeicons-add-01"></span>
  Create
</Button>

<Button :loading="saving()" type="submit">Save changes</Button>
<Button variant="secondary" @click="close">Cancel</Button>
<Button :loading="deleting()" variant="danger" @click="destroy">Delete</Button>
<Button tag="a" :href="exportHref()" :download="exportFilename()">Export</Button>

Use its primary, secondary, outline, ghost, danger, and success variants instead of repeating color, border, radius, shadow, disabled, or loading classes in feature components. Pass href for a statically known navigation action. For a reactive link or download, set tag="a" so the component renders the correct element during the server pass, then bind href and download. Use iconOnly with ariaLabel for an icon action, and fullWidth when the action must fill its container.

Keep semantic controls such as tabs, switches, pagination state, window controls, dialog backdrops, and table row menus in their dedicated components. They are controls, not alternate action-button styles.

Sidebar-aware overlays

The desktop sidebar is fixed and publishes its current width through --stx-sidebar-width on the dashboard content shell. Fixed dialogs and drawers must use the shared dashboard-modal-layer class so their interactive surface starts beside that sidebar and returns to left: 0 on mobile and in the Craft native-sidebar shell.

Use the shared Dashboard/UI/Modal and Dashboard/UI/ConfirmDialog components when possible. A custom overlay root must use this shape:

<div class="fixed inset-y-0 overflow-y-auto right-0 z-[55] dashboard-modal-layer">
  <button class="absolute inset-0" aria-label="Close dialog"></button>
  <!-- dialog panel -->
</div>

Do not solve sidebar overlap by increasing z-index alone. That places the dialog above the sidebar without centering it in the available content area. Keep overlay children absolute, not fixed, so they remain bounded by the sidebar-aware root.

Live dashboard audit

Start ./buddy dev --dashboard, then run the dependency-free live audit from the project root:

bun storage/framework/defaults/ai/skills/stacks-dashboard/scripts/audit.ts
# Or target a non-default origin:
bun storage/framework/defaults/ai/skills/stacks-dashboard/scripts/audit.ts --base-url http://127.0.0.1:3002

Pass a base URL as the first argument when the dashboard is not on http://127.0.0.1:3002. The audit discovers route views, model destinations, and representative parameterized pages. It requests every page as both a full document and an X-STX-Router fragment, then crawls every registered GET dashboard API. It fails on missing page renders, invalid fragment contracts, empty or non-HTML pages, unresolved component tags, 5xx or method-mismatch APIs, HTML API fallbacks, invalid JSON, and HTTP-200 error payloads.

Run this after dashboard route, Action, STX, model, migration, or dev-server changes. Record provider-backed or destructive success paths as explicit environment boundaries. Never replace a failed live contract with sample data or a fake success response.

Gotchas

• Dashboard runs on port 3002 by default (separate from frontend on 3000)
• Dashboard components use STX templating with crosswind CSS
• Dashboard routes are registered from storage/framework/defaults/routes/, not from a generated type file
• Settings panels read/write from the corresponding config/*.ts files
• Models with useApi get generated REST actions and routes, not bespoke dashboard views
• dashboard: { highlight: true } makes models prominent in the dashboard
• Dashboard layout uses a sidebar + navbar pattern
• All dashboard actions are in storage/framework/defaults/app/Actions/Dashboard/
• Split repeated or stateful page regions into .stx components under resources/components/Dashboard/; pass reactive values with useReactiveProp() and communicate upward with defineEmits()
• Preserve the existing sidebar information architecture and styling when redesigning page content
• Use dashboard-modal-layer for every fixed dashboard dialog or drawer
• The live terminal component polls real deployment output and pauses while the document is hidden