Embedded web UI
The dashboard's URL paths, DOM structure, and CSS class names can change without a deprecation cycle. Treat it as a browsing convenience and do not script against its HTML.
DearDiary serves a dashboard next to the REST API. Every page is rendered on the server from the same service layer the API uses, so a page shows exactly what the store holds at the moment it loads. The pages are plain HTML with an inlined stylesheet and a small script; the fonts ship with the package, so the dashboard makes no requests to third-party hosts.
Configuration
The UI starts by default. Three env vars control it:
DEARDIARY_ENABLE_UI=true # set to false to skip booting the UI server
DEARDIARY_UI_HOST=127.0.0.1 # bind address
DEARDIARY_UI_PORT=9001 # port the dashboard listens onDearDiary.run(; env_file=".env") boots the REST API and the dashboard on their respective ports. DearDiary.stop() closes both servers together.
Pages
Each entity has its own URL, so a page can be bookmarked, shared, or opened from a training log.
| Path | What it shows |
|---|---|
/ | The projects the viewer can read, with totals for experiments, iterations, and registered models across the workspace. |
/project/<id> | The project's experiments (status, iteration count, an outcome bar of succeeded, failed, running, and killed iterations, last activity, tags) and its model registry. |
/experiment/<id> | An iterations table with one column per parameter and per final metric value, child iterations listed under their parent; one chart per metric key comparing iterations; and the experiment's artifacts with download links. |
/iteration/<id> | A tile per metric with its latest value and a sparkline, a step chart per metric series, the parameters, notes and captured error text, lineage (parent and children), model versions registered from the iteration, and the environment snapshot: Julia version, git commit, entrypoint, and the recorded Project.toml and Manifest.toml with a ready-to-paste restore call. |
/model/<id> | The model's versions with stage, source iteration, and artifact. |
/resource/<id>/download | The artifact bytes as a file download. |
Tables sort when you click a column header, and the filter box above a table narrows its rows as you type. Charts show the value of every series at the hovered step; clicking a legend entry hides that series, and on the experiment page clicking a line opens its iteration. A page that contains a running iteration reloads every 15 seconds, and the pill in the page header pauses that.
The dashboard follows the operating system's colour scheme. The toggle in the top bar overrides it, and the browser remembers the choice. Every control works from the keyboard: Tab reaches each editor, menu, and sortable column header, Enter saves an inline edit, and Escape cancels it or closes the actions menu. Text keeps at least the 4.5:1 contrast of WCAG AA in both themes, and the layout works from phone width up without horizontal scrolling, with wide tables scrolling on their own.
Editing records
Records are edited in place, the way issue trackers and notebooks do it: a pencil next to the name, description, or notes swaps the text for a small form (Enter saves, Escape cancels), the status or stage badge is a menu that applies on change (from the keyboard, an Apply button appears instead), and a dashed + Tag chip adds a tag. Lifecycle and destructive actions live in the ⋯ menu at the top right of the page. Controls appear only when the viewer holds the matching permission; an action that exists but is unavailable right now (killing an iteration that has ended, deleting an iteration a model version still points at) stays visible in the menu but inert, with the reason in a tooltip. Everything a run recorded about itself stays read-only.
| Record | Edited in place | Actions menu | Required permission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project | Name, description, tags | Delete | Administrator |
| Experiment | Name, description, status, tags | Delete | Update; create for tags; delete |
| Iteration | Notes and tags, while it is running | Kill a running iteration; delete | Update; create for tags; delete |
| Model | Name, description | Delete | Update; delete |
| Model version | Stage and description, in the versions table | Delete | Update; delete |
Finishing or stopping an experiment records its end time, and reopening it clears the time. Parameters, metrics, artifacts, environment snapshots, timestamps, and ids cannot be changed from the dashboard, and an iteration that has ended is locked like it is in the API. Deletes cascade and are blocked by the registry exactly as described in Deleting records; a blocked delete shows which versions hold the record.
Signing in
With DEARDIARY_ENABLE_AUTH=false (the default) every page renders as the seeded default administrator and no sign-in is shown. With authentication enabled, the dashboard asks for the same username and password the REST API accepts at POST /auth, then keeps the issued token in a cookie that expires with the token (see Authentication). Visiting any page without a valid session redirects to /login; the Sign out button in the top bar ends it.
Members see the projects they hold read permission on; administrators see everything.
Users and settings
| Path | Who | What it does |
|---|---|---|
/settings | Everyone | Edit your first and last name and change your password. |
/users | Administrators | List every account with its role and project access; create accounts, optionally as administrators. |
/users/<id> | Administrators | Edit an account: profile, password, role, per-project read, create, update, and delete permissions, and deletion. |
The same rules as the REST API apply: only administrators change roles, you cannot change your own role or delete your own account, and the seeded default account cannot be deleted or demoted. Every form carries a per-session token and is accepted only from the dashboard's own origin.
Disabling the UI
Set DEARDIARY_ENABLE_UI=false in the env file. The REST API on DEARDIARY_PORT continues to run unchanged. Use this for a headless CI runner or a container image that needs no browser-facing surface.
Known limitations
- No self-service accounts. Only an administrator creates accounts, on
/usersor through the REST API. - Logging happens elsewhere. New projects, experiments, iterations, parameters, metrics, artifacts, and registry entries come from the REST API or the Julia client; the dashboard edits what is listed under Editing records and nothing else.
- Polling, not streaming. Pages with running iterations reload on a timer rather than receiving pushed updates.
- Chart cap. The experiment page plots the 40 most recent iterations per metric so large sweeps stay readable; the table still lists every iteration.