Dashboard Overview

Dashboard Overview

The dashboard is a website served by Watchtower on your server — usually http://<your-server-ip>:8787. It is the main place to see health, live charts, crashes, mods, and backups.

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At a glance

• You must sign in — visitors without a login only see the sign-in screen
• First login: watchtower / password — change password right away (Security and Access)
• Side menu — tabs grouped as Monitor, Fix problems, and Day to day
• Top bar — run a report, open Settings, Help, Docs, theme, logout
• Settings (gear) — schedule, backups, login security, version info
• Help (?) — short guide and tour; full articles in Docs
• Docs (book icon) — all guides built in, with search

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First visit

1. Sign in and change your password
2. The setup wizard opens automatically on first visit — it runs an initial audit (logs, crashes, mods, backups) and a 30-day baseline report, then walks you through scheduled reports and optional security
3. Run Report in the top bar runs a full health check anytime (same as /watchtower run)
4. Optional: start the guided tour from Help → Tour or Settings → About

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Top bar — what each button does

Button	What it does
Report dropdown	Switch between saved health reports
Run Report	Run a new full health check now
Settings	Schedule, backups, security, about
Docs	Full guides with search
Help	Short guide and walkthrough
Theme	Light / dark / black
Logout	Sign out

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Settings (gear icon)

Section	What you can do
General	Report schedule, how far back to look, warning levels
Monitoring	See (read-only) how often things are checked
Backups	Tell Watchtower where backups live
Security	Password, username, 2FA
About	Version and update check

Most changes apply immediately. A few advanced options need a server restart — Settings links to those.

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Help and Docs

• Help (?) — quick answers and a ~2 minute tour
• Docs — full guides: installation, tabs, backups, security, troubleshooting, and more. Search or browse by topic.

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Banners you might see

Banner	Meaning
Exposure warning	Dashboard may be reachable from outside — see Security and Access
Update available	A newer Watchtower release exists
Environment	Hosted server context (e.g. CPU limits)
Report stale	No full report in the last 24 hours

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Public server? Connect safely

If your server is on the internet, do not leave the dashboard open on 0.0.0.0:8787. Bind to localhost and use an SSH tunnel instead. Steps in Security and Access.

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Technical details

• UI layout: collapsible side rail, command palette (⌘K), wide main area
• Report files: watchtower-facts-*.json snapshots in the report dropdown
• Support bundle: Overview can download latest brief + facts zip for Discord or support
• /watchtower url — in-game command to print dashboard URL

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Related

• Dashboard Tabs — what each tab shows
• Understanding-Data-Sources — live vs background vs full report
• Commands
• Security and Access