docs/dashboard.md

# Dashboard (`ctx-monitor`)

Local HTTP dashboard for ctx's currently supported live observables:
loaded skills, agents, MCP servers, and installed harness records; session timelines; the
knowledge graph; the LLM-wiki browser; quality grades + scores;
durable queue state; graph/wiki artifact versions; filterable audit
logs; generic-harness validation/escalation state; a live event stream;
and harness wiki/graph browsing.

```bash

ctx-monitor serve              # http://127.0.0.1:8765

ctx-monitor serve --port 8888  # custom port

ctx-monitor serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8888  # LAN-visible HTML only (explicit opt-in)

```

Zero Python dependencies added by the dashboard. Everything runs on
stdlib `http.server`, using daemon request threads so a live
`/api/events.stream` client cannot block normal dashboard or JSON API
requests. The graph page uses a built-in list renderer and does not load
third-party JavaScript.

## Usage

Every page in the dashboard has the same top nav, so getting around
is `Home -> jump anywhere`. The dashboard indexes skills, agents, MCP
servers, and harness pages in wiki/graph views. Harness installation,
update, and uninstall run through `ctx-harness-install`; dashboard
load/unload POSTs reject harnesses with the exact dry-run command to use.
Quality scoring is shown for sidecar-backed skills, agents, and MCP servers.
Generic/API/local harnesses that call ctx-core validation tools write to
the runtime lifecycle ledger. The dashboard exposes that ledger at
`/runtime` and as JSON at `/api/runtime.json`.

### Check queue and artifact state - `/status`

The status tab shows the durable wiki/graph maintenance queue and the
generated graph/wiki artifacts that ctx can ship or consume. It reports:

- queue DB availability and job counts by state (`pending`, `running`,
  `succeeded`, `failed`, `cancelled`)
- the 20 most recent queue jobs with kind, attempts, source, worker, and
  last error; counts and the recent-job window are bounded in the queue DB,
  not by loading the whole queue into dashboard memory
- explicit crash recovery state: expired leases are requeued until their
  retry budget is exhausted; exhausted leases become `failed`; operator
  cancellations become terminal `cancelled` jobs
- a visible queue DB error callout when the queue file exists but cannot be
  opened or queried
- artifact presence and byte size for generated
  `~/.claude/skill-wiki/graphify-out/{graph.json,graph-delta.json,communities.json}`
  plus the runtime skill index, falling back to the repo `graph/`
  directory during source checkouts. The status page also reports the full
  `wiki-graph.tar.gz` artifact when present.
- artifact promotion metadata, including the latest promoted hash when
  the crash-safe promotion path has recorded it

### Browse the LLM wiki — `/wiki`

The wiki tab requires full wiki markdown content from
`ctx-init --graph --graph-install-mode full` or local/private wiki entities.
The default runtime graph install powers recommendations and graph stats but
does not expand every entity page. When entity pages exist, the wiki tab is a
filterable card grid over a deterministic, bounded dashboard sample:
up to 500 pages per dashboard-supported entity type under
`~/.claude/skill-wiki/entities/{skills,agents,mcp-servers,harnesses}/`.
MCP server pages use the sharded layout
`entities/mcp-servers/<first-char-or-0-9>/<slug>.md`; the dashboard
routes `/wiki/<slug>` to the same shard convention. Harness pages use
the flat `entities/harnesses/<slug>.md` layout. Each card shows:

- the slug (click to open `/wiki/<slug>?type=<entity>`)
- the quality grade pill (A/B/C/D/F) when the entity has a sidecar,
  otherwise a `skill`, `agent`, `mcp-server`, or `harness` type badge
- the frontmatter `description`
- up to 6 tags

The **left sidebar** has a text search over the visible sample that
matches slug, description, and tags, plus skill/agent/MCP/harness type
checkboxes. Pair them to
answer questions like "show me all grade-B agents related to
testing" — check `agent`, type `testing` in the search box.

Dashboard-supported entity pages (`/wiki/<slug>?type=<entity>`) render a
bounded markdown preview and a bounded frontmatter table on the right, plus a
quality banner with deep links to `/skill/<slug>` (sidecar detail) and
`/graph?slug=<slug>&type=<entity>` (1-hop neighborhood). Long body previews and
frontmatter values are visibly marked as truncated.

### Explore the knowledge graph — `/graph`

The graph tab is a built-in list view over the dashboard-supported
skill/agent/MCP/harness graph. Imported skills are normal `skill`
nodes in the graph. Harness nodes are browsable and filterable here;
install/update actions remain in `ctx-harness-install`.
When you arrive with no
slug selected, the page shows:

- a stats line with the total node + edge counts
- a **Popular seed slugs** panel — the 18 highest-degree entities
  rendered as clickable entity-type chips.
  Click a chip to explore that entity's 1-hop neighborhood
- a search box — type any valid skill, agent, MCP, or harness slug and press
  `explore` (or hit Enter)
- the graph list panel itself, which activates as soon as you pick a
  seed

Inside the graph list view, entity pills identify the node type. The
focus row has `depth=0` in the page data, and neighbor rows are filterable
by entity type and shared tag/token text.

The JSON endpoint still includes blended graph edge weights, combining
semantic similarity, explicit tag overlap, and slug-token overlap where
available. **Tap any row** to
navigate to that entity's wiki page. The type checkboxes hide or show
skills, agents, MCP servers, and harnesses without reloading the graph.

### Read the quality KPIs — `/kpi`

The KPI tab is the browser equivalent of `python -m kpi_dashboard

render`. It aggregates the quality + lifecycle sidecars under

`~/.claude/skill-quality/` into a single page with six tables:



1. **Header banner** — total entity count, subject breakdown, grade

   pill counts, link to the raw `/api/kpi.json` payload, link back to

   `/skills`.

2. **Grade distribution** — A/B/C/D/F count and share.

3. **Lifecycle tiers** — counts for `active`, `watch`, `demote`,

   `archive`.

4. **Hard floors active** — which override reasons are currently

   pinning entities to F (`never_loaded_stale`, `intake_fail`, etc.)
   and how many entities each one catches.
5. **By category** — per-category count, average score, and full
   A/B/C/D/F mix. This is the row most useful for "where are my D/F
   skills concentrated?"
6. **Top demotion candidates** — up to 25 active-or-watch entities
   graded D/F, sorted by consecutive-D streak desc then raw score
   asc. Click a slug to jump to its sidecar.
7. **Archived** — slugs currently in the archive tier, with their
   last-known grade.

If the quality sidecar directory is empty (no scoring has happened
yet), the page shows a helpful empty-state pointing at
`ctx-skill-quality recompute --all`.

## Routes

### Top navigation

Every page shows the same nav bar. The eleven tabs cover the
dashboard-supported observable surface of ctx:

```

Home · Loaded · Skills · Wiki · Graph · Status · KPIs · Runtime · Sessions · Logs · Live

```

### HTML views

Harness catalog entries are visible in wiki and graph routes. `/loaded` shows
installed harness records from `~/.claude/harness-installs/*.json`, not the
full catalog. Harness installation, update, and uninstall remain
`ctx-harness-install` workflows, while harness scoring is not exposed in the
dashboard yet.
Dashboard POST actions are available only from loopback clients and require the
per-process monitor token injected into the rendered page.

| Route | What it shows |
|---|---|
| `/` | Home: seven stat cards (loaded, sidecars, wiki entities, graph nodes, runtime checks, audit events, sessions), grade distribution pills, recent sessions table, recent audit events |
| `/loaded` | **Currently-loaded skills, agents, MCP servers, and installed harness records** from `~/.claude/skill-manifest.json` plus `~/.claude/harness-installs/*.json`; skill/agent/MCP rows expose supported live actions |
| `/skills` | Every sidecar as a filterable **card grid**: left sidebar (search by slug, grade checkboxes, skill/agent/MCP toggle, hide-floored), card shows grade pill + raw score + links to sidecar/wiki/graph |
| `/skill/<slug>` | Full sidecar breakdown: four-signal score (telemetry · intake · graph · routing), hard-floor reason, computed_at timestamp, per-skill audit timeline |

| `/wiki` | **Wiki entity index** - bounded card-grid sample of up to 500 pages per dashboard-supported entity type under `~/.claude/skill-wiki/entities/{skills,agents,mcp-servers,harnesses}/`, including sharded MCP server pages and flat harness pages. Left sidebar: text search over the visible sample (slug, description, tag), skill/agent/MCP/harness checkboxes. |

| `/wiki/<slug>?type=<entity>` | Dashboard-supported wiki entity page rendered: markdown body + full frontmatter table + grade banner + deep links to sidecar and graph-neighborhood views. The optional `type` query disambiguates duplicate slugs such as `langgraph`. |

| `/graph` | **Graph explorer landing page** - node/edge count header, a "Popular seed slugs" block (18 highest-degree skill/agent/MCP/harness entities as clickable chips), search box for any skill/agent/MCP/harness slug, and the built-in graph list panel. Clicking a seed chip navigates to `/graph?slug=<slug>&type=<entity>`. |

| `/graph?slug=<slug>&type=<entity>` | **Built-in** 1-hop neighborhood around the target skill/agent/MCP/harness slug. Entity pills identify skill, agent, MCP server, and harness rows. Tap any node to navigate to that entity's typed wiki page. Type and tag filters run client-side. |

| `/status` | Durable queue and artifact status: job counts by state, recent queue jobs, graph/wiki artifact sizes, and crash-safe promotion metadata. |

| `/kpi` | **KPI dashboard** — total entity count with subject breakdown, grade distribution pills, two-column tables for grade counts and lifecycle tiers (active · watch · demote · archive), hard-floor reasons with counts, **By category** table (count · avg score · A/B/C/D/F mix per category), **Top demotion candidates** (active/watch entries graded D or F, sorted by consecutive-D streak desc then score asc), and the **Archived** list. Same shape as `python -m kpi_dashboard render` but HTML |
| `/runtime` | Generic harness runtime ledger from `CTX_RUNTIME_LIFECYCLE_DIR` or `~/.ctx/runtime/events.jsonl`: validation totals, failed/error checks, recent validation rows, and open escalations. |
| `/sessions` | Index of every session (audit + skill-events), first/last seen, counts of skills loaded/unloaded, agents loaded/unloaded, MCPs loaded/unloaded, and lifecycle transitions |
| `/session/<id>` | Per-session audit timeline showing the load → score_updated → unload triad with timestamps |

| `/logs` | Last 500 audit events in a filterable table (client-side filter on event name, subject, session id) |

| `/events` | Live SSE stream of new audit events |



### JSON API



| Route | Returns |

|---|---|

| `GET /api/sessions.json` | All sessions with aggregated counts |

| `GET /api/manifest.json` | Raw `skill-manifest.json` passthrough |

| `GET /api/status.json` | `{queue, artifacts}` payload: durable queue counts/recent jobs plus graph/wiki artifact file status and promotion metadata |

| `GET /api/skill/<slug>.json` | Raw sidecar for one slug |

| `GET /api/graph/<slug>.json?type=<entity>&hops=1&limit=40` | Dashboard-shaped skill/agent/MCP/harness `{nodes, edges, center}`; `type` is optional but recommended for duplicate slugs, `hops` is [1, 3], `limit` is [5, 150]. |

| `GET /api/kpi.json` | `DashboardSummary` passthrough — `{total, by_subject, grade_counts, lifecycle_counts, category_breakdown, hard_floor_counts, low_quality_candidates, archived, generated_at}`. Returns `{total: 0, detail: "no sidecars yet"}` when the quality directory is empty |
| `GET /api/runtime.json` | Runtime lifecycle summary: source path, validation count, failed/error count, open-escalation count, latest validation, recent validations, open escalations, and session IDs. |
| `GET /api/events.stream` | Server-sent events tail of `~/.claude/ctx-audit.jsonl` |

### Mutation endpoints

Dashboard GET views are read-only. When `ctx-monitor` is bound to a
non-loopback host, `/api/*` JSON and SSE routes are disabled; keep the
default loopback bind for local automation. Both POST endpoints enforce
same-origin (browser tab open on another origin can't forge a request), require the per-process
`X-CTX-Monitor-Token` injected into the dashboard page, and reject any
slug failing the shared safe-name validator. That validator blocks path
separators, Windows drive-relative strings, malformed names, and Windows
reserved device names such as `con.txt` and `nul.`. There is no harness
load/unload mutation endpoint yet.

| Route | Body | Calls |
|---|---|---|
| `POST /api/load` | `{"slug": "...", "entity_type": "skill"}` | `skill_install.install_skill(slug)` |
| `POST /api/load` | `{"slug": "...", "entity_type": "agent"}` | `agent_install.install_agent(slug)` |
| `POST /api/load` | `{"slug": "...", "entity_type": "mcp-server"}` | `mcp_install.install_mcp(slug, command?, json_config?, auto=True)` |
| `POST /api/unload` | `{"slug": "...", "entity_type": "skill"}` | `skill_unload.unload_from_session([slug])` |
| `POST /api/unload` | `{"slug": "...", "entity_type": "agent"}` | remove the agent row from `skill-manifest.json` and append an unload row |
| `POST /api/unload` | `{"slug": "...", "entity_type": "mcp-server"}` | `mcp_install.uninstall_mcp(slug, wiki_dir=...)` |

Harness load/unload POSTs are rejected with the exact
`ctx-harness-install ... --dry-run` command to run instead. Skill rows emit
`skill.loaded` / `skill.unloaded`, agent rows emit `agent.loaded` /
`agent.unloaded`, and MCP rows emit `toolbox.triggered` with
`meta.entity_type="mcp-server"` and `meta.action` set to `loaded` or
`unloaded`. All dashboard-driven rows use `actor=user` and
`meta.via="ctx-monitor"` so they appear in the session timeline.

## KPIs, measures, scores

The dashboard surfaces every quality signal ctx currently computes for
sidecar-backed skills, agents, and MCP servers. Harness scoring is not
yet exposed in the dashboard. Nothing is aggregated-only — you can
always drill from a headline number to the raw sidecar that produced it.

### On the home page

| Card | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Currently loaded** | Count of entries in `skill-manifest.json[load]`. Clicking the card drills to `/loaded` |
| **Sidecars** | Total sidecars in `~/.claude/skill-quality/` |
| **Wiki entities** | Count of dashboard-supported wiki pages (skills + agents + MCP servers + harnesses) |
| **Knowledge graph** | Dashboard-supported skill/agent/MCP/harness node count + edge count from `graphify-out/graph.json` |
| **Runtime checks** | Validation totals, failed/error checks, and open escalations from the generic runtime lifecycle ledger |
| **Audit events** | Line count of `~/.claude/ctx-audit.jsonl` |
| **Sessions** | Unique session IDs seen across audit + events |
| **Grade pills** | A / B / C / D / F counts across all sidecars, colored |

### On `/skills`

Every card shows:

- **grade** — A / B / C / D / F pill (A=green, F=red)
- **raw score** — float in [0, 1] before the hard-floor override
- **subject_type** — skill, agent, or mcp-server

- **hard floor reason** — `never_loaded_stale`, `intake_fail`, etc.

  when the floor is active



Cards sorted by `(grade, -raw_score)` so high-scoring A's come first.



### On `/skill/<slug>`



The full four-signal breakdown from the sidecar:



| Signal | Weight (default) | What it measures |

|---|---:|---|

| **Telemetry** | 0.40 | Load frequency + recency from `skill-events.jsonl`. Rewards skills that are actually used. |

| **Intake** | 0.20 | Structural health: frontmatter fields present, H1 present, minimum body length, description length. Zero if `intake_fail` floor is active. |

| **Graph** | 0.25 | Connectivity in the knowledge graph: degree, average edge weight, community size |
| **Routing** | 0.15 | Router hit rate from `~/.claude/router-trace.jsonl`: how often this skill was among the top-K recommendations when surfaced |

The final score is `sum(weight[i] * signal[i])`. A hard floor
(`never_loaded_stale`, `intake_fail`) can override the score to
force an F grade regardless of other signals.

The skill detail page also shows the audit timeline for this slug
specifically: every `skill.loaded`, `skill.unloaded`,
`skill.score_updated` row with its session_id, so you can trace

exactly why the score changed when it did.



### On `/session/<id>`



The per-session view lets you watch a skill's lifecycle inside one

session:



```

skill.loaded        fastapi-pro       session-abc  @ 10:23:05

skill.score_updated fastapi-pro       session-abc  @ 10:31:47   grade C->B
skill.unloaded      fastapi-pro       session-abc  @ 11:04:02
```



The `load → score_updated → unload` triad is the canonical

observability proof that ctx's telemetry pipeline is live.



## Security



- **Binds to 127.0.0.1 by default**. Use `--host 0.0.0.0` only if

  you actually want LAN-visible. No authentication; the server is

  intended for a local developer's own machine.

- **Same-origin gating on mutation**. Any POST with an `Origin`

  header that doesn't match `Host` returns 403. Curl and direct

  tool calls are allowed (no Origin header at all).

- **Slug allowlist on all paths**. Anywhere the dashboard resolves

  a skill, agent, MCP, or harness slug to a file path (`/wiki/<slug>`,

  `/graph?slug=<slug>&type=<entity>`, `/api/graph/<slug>.json`), the slug is

  validated through the shared

  safe-name helper — no path traversal, no absolute paths, no UNC

  shares, no Windows reserved device names.



## Stopping



Ctrl+C in the terminal. Request handling is threaded for local dashboard

responsiveness, and shutdown signals any open SSE workers. The monitor is

still not suitable for shared/production serving.