Building the Dashboard
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Core Concept
You now have three scheduled workflows firing on their own. This chapter is where you compose them into a single view. Instead of checking three places for three outputs, you open one page. That page pulls the same live data your scheduled tasks pulled, arranged for at-a-glance consumption.
How It Works (Step-by-Step)
Step 1 - Apply the dashboard test
Before you build, name the sections you want, and run each one through the repeating, changing, scattered test from 5.1. For most knowledge workers, the following four sections pass all three.
- Today's calendar.
- Top 5 inbox priorities.
- This week's client commitments.
- Overnight Slack.
If a section only hits one or two, it doesn't belong on the dashboard. Leave it in its native app.
Step 2 - Paste the build prompt
The full prompt is in dashboard-build-prompt.md. Paste it into Cowork. It names the four sections, the refresh behavior, the visual rules, and asks Cowork to save the artifact so you can bookmark it.
Step 3 - Watch Cowork plan the layout
Cowork will propose a layout - grid, colors, order of sections. Approve or adjust. If you don't like the visual density, say so ("more compact") and it'll rework.
Step 4 - The live artifact renders
Cowork produces the dashboard as a live artifact - an HTML page hosted inside Cowork. Open it. It loads in your browser. Every section is populated with current data.
Step 5 - Hit refresh
Trigger a refresh. Watch the data update - new email in inbox, new meeting on the calendar, new Slack thread since last load. This is what makes it a live artifact and not a static page.
Step 6 - Add one section live
Prove the extensibility on camera.
"Cowork, add a section for overnight Slack mentions."
Watch it integrate. Refresh. Section is populated.
Step 7 - Bookmark it
The dashboard has a URL. Bookmark it. This is the page you open every morning from now on.
Why This Matters
The dashboard is the composition layer of the entire OS. It's where the pillars stop being separate features and start being a system. Every schedule feeds into it. Every skill you build can surface into it. It's the daily interface for the whole thing you've built across five sections.
What Should Be Possible After This
- Apply the dashboard test to identify candidate sections for your own dashboard.
- Prompt Cowork to build a live artifact with named sections.
- Add sections to a live dashboard after the initial build.
- Refresh a live dashboard and confirm the data is current.
- Bookmark the dashboard as your daily starting page.
The Dashboard Build Prompt
Full text is in dashboard-build-prompt.md. Copy it, adjust the section list to match what you actually check every day, paste into Cowork.
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Building the Dashboard
Core Concept
You now have three scheduled workflows firing on their own. This chapter is where you compose them into a single view. Instead of checking three places for three outputs, you open one page. That page pulls the same live data your scheduled tasks pulled, arranged for at-a-glance consumption.
How It Works (Step-by-Step)
Step 1 - Apply the dashboard test
Before you build, name the sections you want, and run each one through the repeating, changing, scattered test from 5.1. For most knowledge workers, the following four sections pass all three.
- Today's calendar.
- Top 5 inbox priorities.
- This week's client commitments.
- Overnight Slack.
If a section only hits one or two, it doesn't belong on the dashboard. Leave it in its native app.
Step 2 - Paste the build prompt
The full prompt is in dashboard-build-prompt.md. Paste it into Cowork. It names the four sections, the refresh behavior, the visual rules, and asks Cowork to save the artifact so you can bookmark it.
Step 3 - Watch Cowork plan the layout
Cowork will propose a layout - grid, colors, order of sections. Approve or adjust. If you don't like the visual density, say so ("more compact") and it'll rework.
Step 4 - The live artifact renders
Cowork produces the dashboard as a live artifact - an HTML page hosted inside Cowork. Open it. It loads in your browser. Every section is populated with current data.
Step 5 - Hit refresh
Trigger a refresh. Watch the data update - new email in inbox, new meeting on the calendar, new Slack thread since last load. This is what makes it a live artifact and not a static page.
Step 6 - Add one section live
Prove the extensibility on camera.
"Cowork, add a section for overnight Slack mentions."
Watch it integrate. Refresh. Section is populated.
Step 7 - Bookmark it
The dashboard has a URL. Bookmark it. This is the page you open every morning from now on.
Why This Matters
The dashboard is the composition layer of the entire OS. It's where the pillars stop being separate features and start being a system. Every schedule feeds into it. Every skill you build can surface into it. It's the daily interface for the whole thing you've built across five sections.
What Should Be Possible After This
- Apply the dashboard test to identify candidate sections for your own dashboard.
- Prompt Cowork to build a live artifact with named sections.
- Add sections to a live dashboard after the initial build.
- Refresh a live dashboard and confirm the data is current.
- Bookmark the dashboard as your daily starting page.
The Dashboard Build Prompt
Full text is in dashboard-build-prompt.md. Copy it, adjust the section list to match what you actually check every day, paste into Cowork.
Thanks for your feedback!
