/add-clidash — CLI-derived read-only dashboard

clidash is a small, read-only web dashboard. You point it at any CLI that can list resources as JSON (NanoClaw's ncl, docker, kubectl, …) and it builds the dashboard at runtime: one tab per resource, a generic table over whatever columns the rows have. A new ncl resource becomes a new tab and a new column becomes a new table column with zero code changes.

It ships pre-wired for NanoClaw's ncl CLI and adds three NanoClaw-aware panels driven entirely by config:

• Agents overview — status cards joining groups + sessions + messaging groups + wirings (green <15m / amber <2h / red older).
• Activity — per-session inbound/outbound message totals and a daily series, read directly from the session DBs (ncl has no messages resource).
• Logs — last N lines of allowlisted host log files.
• Files — a read-only viewer for group skills, CLAUDE.md, and profiles.

Why it's safe

clidash is read-only by construction: the server can only execFile the argv templates in its config. {resource} is the sole substitution and is allowlist-validated against the discovered/static resource set before exec — never a shell, no free-form input reaches argv. There is no auth; the network is the auth boundary — it binds 127.0.0.1 by default. Only ever bind a private interface (e.g. a tailnet IP), never a public one.

It's distinct from /add-dashboard (which pushes JSON snapshots to a separate @nanoco/nanoclaw-dashboard npm package): clidash has zero dependencies, no build step, no push pipeline, and no edits to NanoClaw source — it just reads ncl and the session DBs.

Steps

1. Copy the tool into place

clidash is fully self-contained — copy the whole directory in:

tools/ is not a standard NanoClaw directory and cp -R won't create it, so make it first:

mkdir -p tools
cp -R .claude/skills/add-clidash/add/tools/clidash tools/clidash

That is the only file change this skill makes. Nothing in NanoClaw src/ is touched, no dependency is added.

2. Create the config

The example config is pre-wired for NanoClaw with paths relative to the repo root, so it works as-is when you run clidash from tools/clidash/:

cd tools/clidash
cp clidash.config.example.json clidash.config.json

clidash.config.json is your local config — add it to .gitignore if you don't want to commit install-specific paths:

echo 'tools/clidash/clidash.config.json' >> ../../.gitignore

The example assumes ncl is built at bin/ncl. If bin/ncl doesn't exist, build it first (pnpm run build) or point clis.ncl.bin at the right path.

3. Test

Tests use a stub CLI — no real ncl or docker needed:

npm test

All tests should pass (Node ≥ 22.5, node:test, zero dependencies).

4. Run and verify

node server.js          # serves http://127.0.0.1:4690

In another shell, confirm it's live and that ncl discovery worked:

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:4690/api/clis | head -c 400      # CLIs + discovered resources
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:4690/api/r/ncl/groups | head -c 400   # a real resource table

Then open http://127.0.0.1:4690/ in a browser. You should see the Agents overview plus a tab per ncl resource.

5. (Optional) Run as a service

clidash binds 127.0.0.1 by default. To reach it from other devices, bind a private (e.g. tailnet) IP via the BIND env var or bind in config — never a public interface.

# ~/.config/systemd/user/clidash.service   (Linux)
[Unit]
Description=clidash read-only CLI dashboard

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=%h/nanoclaw/tools/clidash
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node %h/nanoclaw/tools/clidash/server.js
Environment=BIND=127.0.0.1
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

systemctl --user enable --now clidash

On macOS, wrap node server.js (with WorkingDirectory = tools/clidash) in a launchd plist the same way the main NanoClaw service is configured.

Configuration reference

clidash.config.json keys (see tools/clidash/README.md and clidash.config.example.json for the full shape):

Key	Purpose
port, bind, refreshSeconds	server bind + UI auto-refresh cadence
clis.<name>.bin / cwd / env	how to invoke the CLI (bin is relative to cwd)
clis.<name>.discover or resources	runtime discovery (ncl help) vs a static resource list
clis.<name>.list	argv template; {resource} is the only substitution
clis.<name>.output	json or jsonlines (docker/kubectl style)
clis.<name>.unwrap	dot-path into a response envelope (e.g. data)
clis.<name>.enrich/badges/summary	table decorations (ID→name joins, status colors, summary cards)
activity	sessionsRoot + days for the message-activity charts
logs	dir, tailLines, and an allowlist of files to tail
docs	file viewer: root, a deny glob list, and collections of glob patterns

Adding a second CLI is config-only — e.g. docker is included as a jsonlines example. View plugins (views/<cli>-<view>.js) are the only per-CLI code and are optional.

Troubleshooting

• ENOENT / config not found — run from tools/clidash/ and make sure you copied clidash.config.example.json to clidash.config.json (step 2), or set CLIDASH_CONFIG=/abs/path.json.
• No ncl resources / discovery empty — bin/ncl isn't built or the path is wrong. Build it (pnpm run build) or fix clis.ncl.bin.
• docker tab errors — the docker daemon isn't running, or remove the docker CLI from config if you don't need it.
• Can't reach it from another device — it binds 127.0.0.1; set BIND=<private-ip> (tailnet), never a public interface.
• Empty Activity/Logs/Files — check that activity.sessionsRoot, logs.dir, and docs.root resolve to your NanoClaw root (relative to where you launch node server.js).

Removal

See REMOVE.md.