For AI agents: The documentation index is at https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of pages use the same URL with index.html.md in place of the HTML page (for example, append index.html.md to the directory path instead of opening the HTML document).

Dashboards let you visualize and compare metrics from supported DigitalOcean resources in one place. You can customize dashboards with charts, queries, variables, and groups to monitor resource health and performance over a selected time range.

To access your dashboards, go to the DigitalOcean Control Panel, in the left menu, click DATA & LEARNING, click Insights, and then click the Dashboards tab.

The Dashboards tab lists your existing dashboards and provides options to create, edit, and delete dashboards.

Enable Insights During Resource Creation

After you opt in to the public preview, you can enable the available Insights telemetry from the resource creation page when you create a supported DigitalOcean resource. For Droplets and GPU Droplets, select Install the Observability agent to install the agent during resource creation.

For supported managed resources that do not require the Observability agent, the resource creation page displays the available logs and traces options directly. When creating Managed Agents resources, Insights is enabled by default.

Create Dashboard

Create a dashboard to monitor related metrics from supported resources in one place. After creating the dashboard, add charts, groups, and variables to customize how it displays data. Alternatively, use a dashboard template to start with a predefined layout and configuration.

To create a dashboard, in the top-right corner, click Create dashboard to open the Create dashboard window.

Choose a Name

In the Name field, enter a descriptive name that identifies the application, environment, or resources the dashboard monitors. For example, “Production API”.

Add a Description

Optionally, in the Description field, enter a brief description of the dashboard’s purpose and the metrics it displays, if needed. For example, “Monitors CPU utilization, memory usage, and request latency for the production API”.

Import a Dashboard

You can create a dashboard by importing a dashboard file from your local machine or by starting from a predefined dashboard template:

After you create the dashboard, set up and customize it.

View a Dashboard

When viewing a dashboard, you can select the region and variable values used to display metric data, and adjust the time range and refresh interval.

Choose a Region

When viewing a dashboard, click the Region dropdown menu to select the region whose metrics you want to display.

Select a Variable

If the dashboard includes variables, use the variable controls next to the region selector to select or set the values used by the dashboard.

Set the Time Range

To set the time range, in the top-right corner, click the Time range dropdown menu to select a relative range from Last 5 minutes through Last 7 days, or specify an absolute From and To range.

Use the Timezone field to select the timezone used to display metric timestamps. The default is your local browser timezone.

Set the Refresh Interval

To set the refresh interval, in the top-right corner, click the Refresh interval dropdown menu to select Off, 15 sec, 30 sec, or 60 sec.

Click the refresh icon to refresh the metric data immediately.

To change the time range and refresh interval used by default when you open the dashboard, edit the dashboard.

Edit Dashboard

To edit your dashboard, find and select the dashboard you want to edit, and then in the top-right corner, click Settings to open the Dashboard Settings window.

In the General tab, you can edit the following:

• In the Name field, enter a descriptive name that identifies the application, environment, or resources the dashboard monitors, such as “Production API”.
• In the Description field, enter a brief summary of the dashboard’s purpose and the metrics it displays.
• Click the Default time range dropdown menu to select the time range shown when the dashboard opens. Options range from 5 minutes through 7 days. The default is 1 hour. Use shorter ranges for recent activity and longer ranges for broader trends.
• Click the Default refresh interval dropdown menu to select Off, 15 sec, 30 sec, or 60 sec. The default is 30 sec. Select a shorter interval for frequently changing metrics or Off when automatic updates are unnecessary.
• To delete the dashboard, in the bottom-left corner, click Delete dashboard to open the Delete dashboard window. Deleting a dashboard permanently removes the dashboard and its panel layout configuration. In the Dashboard name field, enter the dashboard name to confirm the deletion. Then, click Delete.

After updating the settings, click Save.

Edit Dashboard Variables

To edit the dashboard’s custom variables, click the Variables tab. Variables let you define reusable values that you can reference across dashboard queries and controls.

To add a custom variable, in the top-right corner, click + Add variable.

In the Variable field, enter a unique name for the variable. Use a name that identifies the value the variable represents, such as environment.

In the Display Name field, enter the name shown in the dashboard’s variable controls, such as “Environment”.

Then, select Text or List. If you select List, choose the source that populates the list (either Static List, Label names, or Label values).

After configuring the list, in the Dropdown Options section, configure how the list appears and behaves.

In the Default Value field, enter the value selected by default, such as prod.

Then, enable the Allow multiple values toggle to let users select more than one value. To configure multiple default values, enter them as a comma-separated list in the Default Value field.

Then, enable the Allow all values toggle to add an option that selects all available values. In the Custom all value field, enter the value to use when all options are selected. The default is $__all.

Then, click the Sort dropdown menu to select how to order the available values (which are None, Alphabetical, Case-insensitive, or Numerical).

After configuring the variable, click Add Variable. To manage an existing variable, click the eye icon to show or hide it, or click the trash icon to delete it.

To save your changes, in the top-right corner, click x to close the settings page. Then, in the top-right corner of the dashboard, click Save to save the dashboard and display the variable.

Edit Dashboard Schema

To edit the dashboard’s schema, click the JSON tab. The schema contains the dashboard’s underlying configuration and is intended for advanced edits.

After editing the schema, click Apply.

To save your changes, in the top-right corner, click x to close the settings page. Then, in the top-right corner of the dashboard, click Save to save the dashboard.

Delete Dashboard

To delete a dashboard, find and select the dashboard you want to delete, click …, and then click Delete to open the Delete dashboard window.

Deleting a dashboard permanently removes the dashboard and all of its chart, group, variable, and layout configurations.

In the Dashboard name field, enter the dashboard name to confirm the deletion. Then, click Delete.