Building dashboards

Dashboards let you create interactive, shareable data visualizations directly from a conversation with WRITER Agent. 

Before creating a dashboard, answer these questions:

1. Who is this dashboard for? (e.g., executive leadership, a sales team, a cross-functional operations group)

2. What should they take away from it? (key metrics, trends, or decisions)

3. What does a good result look like? (chart types, filters, data sources, brand look, layout sections)

How to create a dashboard

You can create a dashboard using the /dashboard command in chat or by selecting it from the plus menu.

WRITER Agent can detect when you want a dashboard from your prompt alone, but selecting Dashboard mode or typing /dashboard gives you the most consistent results.

You can also speak your prompt instead of typing it. Select the microphone icon and talk through your audience, metrics, and data sources. Review the transcript before submitting.

1. Open a new or existing chat with WRITER Agent.

2. Type /dashboard in the message field.

3. Describe the dashboard you want to create, including the data you want to visualize and any specific layout preferences.

4. Press Enter or select the Send button to submit your request.

WRITER Agent generates your dashboard and opens it to verify it rendered correctly. You'll see a preview of your dashboard along with a deliverable card showing the dashboard details.

Some examples of dashboard prompts you can try:

• "Build a Q3 pipeline dashboard from this CSV with deal value by stage, rep, and close quarter."

• "Create a campaign performance dashboard with channel, week, and geography breakdowns from our Google Sheets connector."

• "Build a status dashboard that pulls the latest open deals from Salesforce and refreshes when someone opens the page."

Tip: Be specific about the metrics, charts, and layout you want. Include details about time ranges, comparisons, or groupings to get more accurate results.

Choosing a theme

Every dashboard uses a WRITER theme that controls its visual appearance. You can select a theme during creation or change it after the dashboard is generated.

If your organization uses Assets or a style guide, ask WRITER Agent to follow those brand colors, fonts, and logos when it builds the page.

Available themes

WRITER provides the following built-in themes:

Selecting a theme during creation

1. After initiating a dashboard request, WRITER Agent displays the Choose a theme selector.

2. Select the theme card that matches your preferred style.

3. The dashboard generates using your selected theme.

Changing the theme after creation

1. Open your existing dashboard and select the theme picker in the top right of the dashboard. You can also:

   1. Ask WRITER Agent to change the theme of your dashboard.

   2. Select a new theme from the available options.

2. The dashboard updates to reflect the new theme.

Note: Custom themes are coming soon. 

Connecting live data sources

Dashboards can pull data from your connected data sources, including connectors, playbooks, and models. This allows your dashboard to display current information rather than static snapshots.

1. Connect the tools you need before or during the conversation.

2. Tell WRITER Agent which sources to use in your prompt.

3. After generation, open the dashboard and confirm the values update when the underlying data changes.

Supported data sources

You can connect dashboards to:

• Connectors — Pull data from integrated applications like Google Sheets, Salesforce, or other connected services

• Playbooks — Use outputs from your configured playbooks as data sources

• Models — Generate or transform data using available models

How live data works

When you create a dashboard with live data:

1. WRITER Agent identifies the data sources needed for your request.

2. The dashboard connects to those sources and retrieves the current data.. 

3. Share settings from the original data sources apply to the dashboard.

   1. Share settings control who can open the page (only you, specific people or teams, your organization, or a public link).

   2. Data permissions (Set data permissions) control whose credentials the live data runs with — Shared (builder's connectors, everyone sees the same data) vs. Individual (each viewer's own connectors, results differ by viewer).

If live data cannot be configured for a page, the dashboard can still open as a static HTML page. That is expected when a source is missing or undeclared.

After WRITER Agent generates your dashboard, a deliverable card appears in the chat. This card provides key information about your dashboard at a glance.

Sharing your dashboard

Each dashboard gets a durable, shareable link that you can send to others. Unlike sandboxed outputs, dashboards don't require waiting for a sandbox to wake up—they're immediately accessible.

How to share a dashboard

1. From your session, locate your dashboard in the chat or in your deliverables.

   1. You can also find your dashboard via My Work > Dashboards.

2. Select the Share option to set permissions and then copy the dashboard link from the deliverable card. 

3. Send the link to your intended recipients.

Recipients who select the link see the dashboard immediately.

Share settings

Share settings from your connected data sources apply to the dashboard. If you've restricted access to a connector or playbook, those restrictions carry over to dashboards that use that data.

• Share settings control who can open the page (only you, specific people or teams, your organization, or a public link).

• Data permissions (Set data permissions) control whose credentials the live data runs with — Shared (builder's connectors, everyone sees the same data) vs. Individual (each viewer's own connectors, results differ by viewer).

Tips for consistent results

• Start with what you want to achieve — identify audience, main message, and desired outcome before prompting.

• Calibrate your setup to your consistency needs — decide upfront how consistent output needs to be, then choose the right theme, skill, and playbook combination.

• Be specific in your skill instructions — use exact hex codes, full font names, and concrete layout requirements (e.g., "Use background color #1A2B3C for the header, accent color #5551FF for KPI highlights, and Inter Bold for headings. Put four KPI cards across the top and a trend chart below.").

• Create separate playbooks for different use cases — build a dedicated playbook for each distinct use case (e.g., "Weekly pipeline review," "Campaign performance," "Ops status board").

• Let WRITER Agent validate your skill automatically — run /skill-creator to let the agent check instructions for formatting and metadata issues.

• Refine one change at a time — use specific, targeted feedback (e.g., "On the revenue chart, switch to a line chart and move the KPI cards above it.") rather than broad redo requests.

• Prefer live connectors when the page should stay current — attach connectors or Playbooks for dashboards that need to stay up to date; use uploaded files for one-time analysis.

Use cases

Not sure where to start? Browse the use cases below to start exploring what dashboards you can build.

Sales and revenue

• Pipeline overview — Pull opportunities from Salesforce to show deal stages, values, and close dates. Filter by rep, region, or quarter.

• Quota attainment tracker — Compare individual and team performance against targets using CRM data.

• Win-loss analysis — Visualize closed-won vs. closed-lost deals by reason, competitor, or deal size.

Marketing

• Campaign performance — Connect Google Sheets or your marketing platform to show spend, clicks, conversions, and cost-per-across channels.

• Content engagement — Display page views, time on page, and conversion rates for published content.

• Lead funnel — Track leads from acquisition through qualification to conversion.

Finance and operations

• Budget vs. actuals — Pull financial data to compare planned spending against actuals by department or category.

• Cash flow snapshot — Visualize inflows and outflows over time using accounting connector data.

• Vendor spend dashboard — Aggregate spending across suppliers to identify cost-saving opportunities.

Customer success

• Account health — Combine usage data, support tickets, and NPS scores to flag at-risk accounts.

• Support metrics — Show ticket volume, resolution time, and CSAT trends from your support connector.

• Renewal pipeline — Track upcoming renewals with contract value, renewal date, and health status.

Product and engineering

• Feature adoption — Visualize how many users engage with specific features over time.

• Release status board — Track deployed features, open issues, and sprint progress.

• Error rate monitoring — Pull error logs to display frequency, type, and affected services.

Team productivity

• Playbook performance — Show how often playbooks run, their outputs, and turnaround times.

• Workload distribution — Visualize task assignments and completion rates across team members.

• Deliverable output tracker — Monitor the volume and type of deliverables produced over a period.

Executive reporting

• OKR progress — Combine data from multiple sources to show objective completion across the organization.

• Weekly business review — Pull KPIs from sales, marketing, and finance into a single shareable view.

• Board-ready summary — Use WRITER themes to present key metrics in a polished format suitable for leadership.

FAQs

How do I access the dashboards feature?

Type /dashboard in any chat with WRITER Agent, or select Dashboard from the + (plus) menu in the chat input area.

Can I edit a dashboard after it's created?

Yes you can chat with WRITER Agent in the same session you created the dashboard in to make changes at any time. Additionally, you can use the dashboard in a new session to edit without impacting the original dashboard.

What's the difference between dashboards and presentations?

Dashboards are interactive data visualizations with live data connections and shareable links. Presentations are slide-based content for communicating narratives. 

Do viewers need a WRITER account to see my dashboard?

This depends on the sharing settings allowed by your admin team. If allowed you will have the option when sharing to share the dashboard with those outside of your WRITER org.

Can I use custom themes for my dashboards?

Custom themes are not yet available but are coming soon. Currently, you can choose from six built-in themes: Default, Ocean blue, Forest green, Sunset, Rose, and Slate. 

What happens if my data source is disconnected?

If a connector or data source becomes disconnected after you create a dashboard, the dashboard may display stale data or show an error for the affected visualizations. Reconnect the data source to restore live data.

What is the difference between a theme and a skill?

A theme sets the visual foundation (colors, fonts) through the preset picker or by asking WRITER Agent. A skill contains design rules, layout preferences, and other instructions in plain language. Using both gives the best consistency.

What is the difference between a skill and a playbook?

A skill captures rules and logic for how WRITER Agent should build a dashboard. A playbook is the workflow that determines when and how to run that process (what data to pull, what inputs to collect, what steps to follow). Build and test your skill before creating a playbook that uses it.

What is the difference between Shared and Individual data permissions?

Shared runs live data with the builder's connectors so every viewer sees the same results. Individual runs live data with each viewer's own connectors, so results can differ and each viewer needs that connector set up.

Why can't my teammate open the link?

Check the share settings. The link only works for people allowed by the current access setting. Update who can access the dashboard, then have them try again.

Can I change the theme after I create a dashboard?

Yes. Ask WRITER Agent to apply a different preset theme, or open the HTML deliverable in preview and use the Dashboard theme picker. You can also ask WRITER Agent to follow your organization's Assets or style guide.

Why does it take time to generate my dashboard?

Dashboard generation involves reasoning through content, laying out charts and sections, and wiring live data sources. Clear prompts, skills, and playbook steps speed things up.

How do I make my dashboards accessible?

Add accessibility requirements directly to your skill instructions. Specify a minimum text contrast ratio (e.g., 4.5:1), a minimum font size, and a requirement that all charts include clear data labels.

Does WRITER train its models on my dashboard data?

No. WRITER does not train its LLMs with customer data. WRITER adheres to global privacy laws and security standards.