# Using the dashboard

Updated 2026-10-08.

## Quotable facts

- Four pages: Horizon, Lookout, Hold and Log (dashboard app, 2026-10-07).
- Default address: http://localhost:3000 (infra/docker-compose.yml, 2026-10-07).
- No login: anyone who can reach the page can read it (dashboard app, 2026-10-07).
- Keyboard keys: / s r ? j k, and g followed by h, l, o or g (dashboard hotkeys, 2026-10-07).

The dashboard answers three questions in order: what needs you, how serious it is, and what to do. Open it at http://localhost:3000. It has four pages: Horizon, Lookout, Hold and Log.

## How do I read a call?

Each card has three parts.

1. **What happened.** One sentence in plain words, such as "The person who maintains this package changed recently."
2. **How serious.** A word and three marks. Hold has three filled marks, Watch has two, Note has one. Hold with "urgent" is the most serious. Below it you see how sure Crowsnest is: Very sure, Fairly sure, or Worth a look.
3. **What to do.** The first step is the one to take now. More steps follow.

Under the sentence you see the package, its version, and when it was found. "Used in 3 projects" opens a list of your projects that use it. **Show steps** expands the steps in place, and **Hide steps** closes them. Identical calls are grouped on Horizon with "Also found 2 more times". Log keeps each one. For a full walkthrough of a Hold, read [What to do when Crowsnest says Hold](/blog/what-to-do-when-crowsnest-says-hold).

## What does Horizon show?

What needs your attention. A sentence at the top tells you the state, such as "All quiet from up here." or "2 packages need your attention." Three numbers sit under it: Hold, Watch and Packages checked. Below are the five most serious calls. **See all in Log** shows the rest. The chart at the bottom shows the last 30 days, with days that had a Hold marked in red.

## What does Lookout show?

Who maintains your packages. It is a ranked list of the people who publish the packages you use, highest risk first. Risk runs from 0 (low) to 1 (high). Pick a name to see how many of your packages they maintain, how active they have been in the last 90 days, and which of your projects would be affected. A person marked **Flagged** is linked to known harmful activity. See [maintainer takeover](/glossary/maintainer-takeover) for why this matters.

## What does Hold show?

What is installed. Every package in your scanned lockfiles appears here. Search with `/`, filter by kind of project, and sort by status. Pick a row to see why it is in your project, such as "brought in by a › b", its call, and **Check this package**, which gives the install check's answer (OK, or Hold) with reasons. Small technical details, such as an integrity code and a download address, sit in one line for support requests.

The page named Hold lists packages. A Hold call is a warning. They share a word, so read the heading to know which you are on.

## What does Log show?

Everything Crowsnest has called, newest first. Filter by Hold, Watch or Note, search by name, or choose a date range. Open a row for the full call.

## How do I start a scan?

Press **Scan a project**, or press `s`. Enter the folder, then press **Scan**. The page says "Checking your packages…" and, when done, "Done. 2 packages need your attention." followed by **See them →**. The folder is read by the Crowsnest service, not by your browser. With Docker, share the folder first (see the [Quickstart](/docs/quickstart)).

## Which keys work?

| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| `/` | Focus search or filter |
| `s` | Scan a project |
| `r` | Refresh |
| `?` | Show shortcuts |
| `j` / `k` | Next / previous row |
| `g` then `h` | Go to Horizon |
| `g` then `l` | Go to Lookout |
| `g` then `o` | Go to Hold |
| `g` then `g` | Go to Log |

Shortcuts do nothing while you type in a box or have a dialog open.

## What this does not do

- It does not ask you to log in. Anyone who can reach the page can read it. Keep it on your own machine or network.
- It shows only what a scan has found. An empty page can mean you have not scanned yet.
- It does not hide a lost connection. If the live connection drops, it keeps the data on screen and marks it Stale.
- It does not offer replay. Replay is a terminal feature, described on the [CLI usage](/docs/cli) page.

Questions about a word on screen? Look it up in the [glossary](/glossary), or see [Troubleshooting](/docs/troubleshooting) if the page says Offline.

**Read the sentence, then the first step. That is the whole job.**

Source: https://crowsnest.co.in/docs/dashboard