# Dashboard Overview

The [Hooksbase dashboard](https://app.hooksbase.com) is the product surface for setting up projects, guiding the first workflow, inspecting deliveries, managing billing, and operating your team. It sits alongside the Public API and public ingest endpoints, but the dashboard itself is a browser product — it has no documented API routes. Every flow described here is meant to be performed from the UI.

**Available through**

Dashboard workflows are for signed-in humans. Use public automation surfaces only when you need repeatable machine operations.

| Surface | Status | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Dashboard](https://app.hooksbase.com) | Preferred | Create projects, onboard webhooks, inspect deliveries, manage teams, rotate secrets, and handle billing from the UI. |
| [Public API](/docs/api-reference.md) | Available | Use public route families for machine automation of webhook and project resources. |
| [CLI](/docs/cli.md) | Available | Use the CLI for terminal operations against public route families, not for browser-only dashboard flows. |
| [TypeScript SDK](/docs/sdks.md) | Available | Use the SDK inside applications that manage webhooks, deliveries, DLQ, schedules, usage, and ingest. |

## What lives in the dashboard

Use the dashboard for:

- creating a project and configuring its settings
- walking through workflow blueprints and guided onboarding
- inviting teammates, managing roles, and handling invitations
- generating, rotating, and revoking project API keys
- provisioning webhooks and copying their one-time ingest and signing secrets
- inspecting delivery history with body previews and attempt timelines
- running test deliveries against a saved destination
- replaying individual deliveries and redriving DLQ entries
- configuring routing rules, payload transforms, destinations, and schedules
- managing email allowlists and event drains
- starting checkout, upgrading plans, and opening the provider management portal
- reviewing operator alerts, incident state, and delivery analytics

The dashboard is the fastest place to understand a project's current state. Once you know what you want to change at scale, move to the [Public API](/docs/authentication.md) or [CLI](/docs/cli.md).

## Auth model

- **Dashboard** `session auth`: Sign in at [app.hooksbase.com](https://app.hooksbase.com) with the account that belongs to the project. The dashboard uses browser session auth and has no public API surface — project API keys do not grant dashboard access, and session cookies do not authenticate API requests.
- **Public API** `project API key`: Project API keys (`swk_...`) are for machine automation. See [authentication](/docs/authentication.md) for admin and write scopes.
- **CLI / SDK**: The first-party [CLI](/docs/cli.md) and [SDK](/docs/sdks.md) target the Public API. They do not replicate dashboard product flows.

## Dashboard-first workflows

The dashboard should usually be your first stop for:

- provisioning a project, inviting the first teammate, and issuing the first project API key
- picking a workflow blueprint (inbound HTTP, email, form, scheduled, etc.) and letting onboarding seed a working webhook
- validating a newly created webhook with a synthetic onboarding run
- reviewing a delivery timeline before deciding whether to replay or redrive
- rotating a signing secret before you update your consumer code
- starting a billing checkout or opening the provider management portal
- configuring alert channels and reviewing incidents

When you need to script any of the above, move to the [Public API](/docs/authentication.md) or the [CLI](/docs/cli.md). The dashboard and the Public API manage the same underlying resources — the dashboard just wraps them in an opinionated UX.

## Dashboard and API fit

The two public surfaces work together:

- the **dashboard** is the product UI for humans — create a project, onboard a webhook, inspect deliveries, manage the team, and handle billing
- the **[Public API](/docs/authentication.md)** is the automation surface — webhook configuration, delivery history, replay, usage, and other operational controls, authenticated with a project API key
- the **[public ingest](/docs/ingest.md)** endpoints accept the events you send into an individual webhook, authenticated with the webhook's ingest secret

If you are building integration code, start with [quickstart](/docs/quickstart.md), [authentication](/docs/authentication.md), [webhooks](/docs/webhooks.md), and [ingest](/docs/ingest.md). If you are learning how Hooksbase behaves as a product, stay in the dashboard first.

## Common mistakes

- Expecting dashboard flows to be scriptable through a public API. The dashboard is browser-only — automate via the [Public API](/docs/authentication.md) or [CLI](/docs/cli.md).
- Treating onboarding validation like a permanent monitoring check. It is a setup tool for the first workflow, not a production probe.
- Using the Public API before you have created a project in the dashboard and understood its team, tier, and billing state.
- Sharing dashboard screenshots that contain raw secrets revealed during webhook creation or secret rotation.