Dash

A local dashboard for managing the projects on this machine: run commands, processes (start/stop/restart, background), live logs, Python envs (conda / venv / uv) and packages (pip, uv, npm, yarn, pnpm, bun). Everything is configured in the UI and saved to a single JSON file.

It uses only built-in Node modules, so there is no npm install.

Run

node server.js          # http://127.0.0.1:8899
PORT=9000 node server.js

Requires Node ≥ 20 and Linux (it uses /proc, ss and ps). On first run Dash creates an empty projects.json; add projects with + Add project or Scan.

Stop Dash with Ctrl+C. Foreground commands are stopped with it. Background commands keep running and are re-adopted the next time Dash starts (their stats line shows adopted).

Layout

One page. The left sidebar lists projects. The top of the right side always shows the stats and the Running table. Below that is the project grid, or, when a project is selected in the sidebar, that project's details (Commands, Env, Packages, Config). The ☾/☀ button in the top bar switches between light and dark themes; the choice is remembered per browser.

Features

• Commands: each project has any number of commands (dev server, build, test, docker…). A command can set a working subfolder, port, URL, its own stop command (e.g. docker compose down), background mode, autostart when Dash starts, and auto-restart on failure (at most 5 times per 60s). Commands can be reordered with ↑/↓.
• Processes: every command runs in its own process group, so Stop also stops child processes (SIGTERM, then SIGKILL after 10s). Shows PID, uptime, CPU, memory and port status.
• Logs: live view with error/warning highlighting, download and clear. Logs live in logs/<project>/<command>.log and rotate at 5 MB.
• Quick shell: run any command in the project's folder and env (↑/↓ for history).
• Env: choose conda / venv / uv, create it, install packages from requirements.txt or pyproject.toml, delete it. Project commands run with the env's bin/ first on PATH, so no activate is needed.
• Packages: list installed packages, check outdated, search PyPI/npm, install, uninstall, upgrade. For Python, installs/uninstalls can update requirements.txt. Projects with backend/ and frontend/ get a separate manifest for each.
• Project detection: Flask, FastAPI, Django, Streamlit, React/Vite, Next.js, Vue, Svelte, Angular, Express, NestJS, Docker Compose, Go, Rust, CMake, static sites. Dash suggests run commands and an env.
• Ports: lists listening ports, the owning process and matching project, and can kill the process holding a port.
• Settings (top bar): projects folder, Python used to create venvs, editor command, default terminal (a table of known terminals with editable command templates and install status), and Dash's host and port. Edit JSON (advanced) opens the raw config editor.
• Open a project in VS Code, the terminal or the file manager; see the git branch, number of changes and ahead/behind.

projects.json

You normally don't edit this by hand: everything below can be changed in the UI and Dash writes the file. It is not committed (it is in .gitignore). Use DASH_CONFIG=/path/to/file.json to move it.

{
  "settings": {
    "host": "127.0.0.1",                    // listen on this machine only
    "port": 8899,
    "python": "python3",                    // interpreter used to create venvs
    "projectsRoot": "/home/me/Projects",    // default folder for Scan
    "editor": "code {dir}",
    "terminal": "wezterm start --cwd {dir}" // empty = auto-detect
  },
  "projects": [
    {
      "id": "shop",
      "name": "shop",
      "path": "/home/me/Projects/shop",
      "description": "",
      "tags": ["fastapi", "vite"],
      "url": "http://localhost:5173",
      "env": { "type": "venv", "path": "backend/.venv", "python": "3.12" }, // or {"type":"conda","name":"..."} / {"type":"uv","path":".venv"} / {"type":"none"}
      "envVars": { "DEBUG": "1" },
      "commands": [
        {
          "id": "api",
          "name": "API",
          "cmd": "uvicorn app.main:app --reload --port 8000",
          "cwd": "backend",
          "background": true,      // keeps running when Dash exits
          "port": 8000,
          "url": "http://localhost:8000/docs",
          "stopCmd": "",           // runs when Stop is clicked (e.g. "docker compose down")
          "autostart": false,
          "autoRestart": false
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Other local files, also not committed: .dash-state.json (PIDs of running processes), logs/, and .cache/ (the PyPI package name index used for search, refreshed every 7 days).

Security

Dash can run arbitrary commands, so by default it only listens on 127.0.0.1. The server rejects requests with an unknown Host header (DNS rebinding), and every state-changing request must carry the X-Dash: 1 header (cross-site requests). Don't set host to 0.0.0.0 on an untrusted network.

Structure

server.js               HTTP server, API, SSE logs
src/store.js            read/write and normalize projects.json
src/process-runner.js   start/stop/adopt processes, logs, auto-restart
src/python-env.js       conda / venv / uv
src/package-manager.js  list, search, install, uninstall, upgrade packages
src/project-detect.js   framework detection, command suggestions
src/system-tools.js     ports, git, open editor/terminal
public/                 UI (plain HTML/CSS/JS)