Glossary
100 key terms, each in one line with a link to where the manual explains it.
A · B · C · D · E · F · H · I · L · M · N · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W
A
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Action buttons | The fixed buttons beside the grid: add, search, commands, finders and the rest, each with its key. | The dashboard › The action buttons |
| App discovery | nextDash noticing which containers are web apps and offering them as bookmarks, with their icon, a status check and a link to the container. | Containers › Apps it finds on its own |
| Activity trail | A machine-readable record, one JSON line per event, kept apart from the readable log. | Logs › Activity trail |
| Alert | A message posted when a monitored bookmark goes down and again when it recovers, with how long it was down; when a host takes many bookmarks down at once, the alerts become one message. | Checks & health › Alerts |
| Analytics | Anonymous usage statistics sent to a self-hosted Umami instance, off until you turn them on. | Security and self-hosting › Analytics |
| Automatic backups | A backup made on its own every day, week (default), two weeks or month; the newest three are kept. | Data, backups and import › Backups & data |
| Availability mode | Off, Periodic or Monitor: how often, and by whom, a bookmark is checked. | Checks & health › Availability modes |
B
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Backdrop | What is drawn behind the bookmarks; every theme has one of its own, and you can pick any of more than 260. | Appearance › Type and background |
| Backup | A ZIP of the whole data directory, downloaded or stored on the server, by hand or on a schedule. | Data, backups and import › Backups & data |
| Bookmark | A saved link with a name, address, page and category, tags, an optional shortcut, a note and a pin. | Core concepts › Bookmarks |
| Bookmarklet | A button for your browser's bookmarks bar that saves the page you are on to nextDash, from any browser. | Browser extension and capture › Capture without the extension |
| Bookmarks view | The library: every bookmark on every page in one workbench, with a rail of filters, a list and a side panel. | The Bookmarks view |
| Browser notifications | Push messages that reach a device even with nextDash closed; switched on per device with Enable on this device. | Checks & health |
C
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Category | A named section on a page, with its own sort order and, if you like, an icon and several columns. | Pages, categories and collections › Categories |
| Certificate | A monitored site's certificate: warnings go out 30, 7 and 3 days before it expires, and the Certificates widget lists those expiring soon. | Checks & health › Alerts |
| Character | One of twelve archetypes a theme names; it decides what kind of surface the theme draws, such as lacquer, glass or neon. | Appearance › Character |
| Cheat sheet | A searchable list of keys and commands, opened with ! or F1. | Keyboard › The cheat sheet |
| Collection health | A modal with Overview, Monitors and Trend tabs for the whole library, opened with h in the Bookmarks view. | The Bookmarks view › Collection health |
Command (:) | A line typed after : in the command palette to change or open something. | Search, commands and finders › Commands (😃 |
| Config | A view inside the dashboard, in the same tab, where every setting lives in sections. | Config |
| Container | A Docker container on the machine nextDash runs on, listed and managed in the Containers view. | Containers |
| Containers view | The view for those containers, opened with Shift + Y or :docker, with a Containers and a Disk tab. | Containers › Opening it |
| Corner card | A card in the corner that offers something once, such as a review round or browser notifications; one at a time, and each can be dismissed. | The dashboard |
| Custom theme | A theme of your own, made or recoloured in the theme editor and listed beside the packaged ones. | Appearance › Custom themes |
| Custom widget | A widget that reads figures from any service that answers with JSON. | Widgets › The Custom widget |
D
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard grid | The page of categories and widgets, as distinct from the Bookmarks view. | Core concepts › Views |
| Data directory | Where nextDash keeps all its data: ./data by default, NEXTDASH_DATA_DIR to put it elsewhere. | Quick reference › Data location |
| Density | Comfortable, Compact, Dense or Auto: how tight rows sit, for the dashboard, inbox and Containers view alike. | Appearance › Layout and rows |
| Disk tab | Shows what images, volumes and the build cache take up, with clean-ups that ask first. | Containers › Disk |
| Docker control | NEXTDASH_DOCKER_CONTROL=1: lets nextDash start, stop, pause, restart, update and remove containers; off by default, so a mounted socket only reads. | Containers › Actions and updates |
| Docker socket | How nextDash talks to Docker; without it the Containers view shows a setup card. | Containers › What it needs |
| Drift | A page that still answers but is no longer the page you saved: it redirects, has been retitled or was rewritten. | Checks & health › Drift |
E
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Environment variables | Settings the server reads from NEXTDASH_… variables before it starts, such as the data directory, the write token and Docker access; the full list is in the README. | Security and self-hosting › Production Docker |
| Expected response | What a monitored page must say or return to count as healthy: a phrase, or status codes. | Checks & health › Expected response |
| Extension | The nextDash Bookmark Saver for Chrome and Chromium, which saves the current tab to a page or the inbox. | Browser extension and capture › The extension |
F
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Filter | A way to narrow what is shown: tag:, category:, status: and more in search, and the rail's groups in the Bookmarks view. | Search, commands and finders › Filters |
Finder (?) | A shortcut that sends a query to another site, as in ?g nextdash. | Search, commands and finders › Finders (?) |
| Watch feeds | Follows the RSS or Atom feed of a site you choose and tells you when it publishes something. | Watch feeds |
| Glances | A server that reports one machine's processor, memory, disks, processes and containers. nextDash reads a Glances 4 host for its Glances page and widget. | Glances |
| Glances page | The view for one Glances host, opened with Shift + G or :glances, with Overview, Processes, Containers, Disks, Network, Insights, History, Alerts and Hosts sections. | Glances › Opening it |
H
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Header | The top of the dashboard: clock, weather and view name on the left, the page switcher in the middle, the destinations on the right. | The dashboard › The header |
| Hypr mode | A click opens the bookmark in a new browser tab and then closes the installed app's window. | Opening and editing bookmarks › Hypr mode |
| Incident (Glances) | A moment a reading stayed past its red line for a few readings in a row, drawn as a red band on the graphs. | Glances › The record, History and incidents |
I
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Image update | A newer tag of a container's image, found by checks on request and on an interval; it can be skipped, held or applied automatically. | Containers › Actions and updates |
| Import | Reads a browser's bookmark file, other bookmark tools' exports, a Homepage, Dashy or Homer configuration or a CSV, showing a preview first and skipping duplicates; export goes the other way, as HTML or CSV. | Data, backups and import |
| Inbox | Where links wait until you decide where they go; a list of its own, not a page. | Inbox |
| Installed app | nextDash added to the home screen or installed from the browser, with the custom title and favicon; it also receives shared links. | Phones, tablets and the installed app |
L
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Layout history | The earlier arrangements nextDash keeps of a page's widgets and block order, which Find settings can restore. | Config |
| Link preview card | The card that opens when you hover a bookmark or press Shift + V: what the page is, what it says, your note and tags. | The dashboard › The link preview card |
| Logs window | A window that follows a container's log as it is written, with search and filter. | Containers › The logs window |
| Look | A ready-made combination of backdrop, surface, headers and type that leaves the theme's colours alone. | Appearance |
M
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance window | A recurring period when downtime is expected: failures in it send no alert and do not count against uptime. | Checks & health › Maintenance windows |
| MCP endpoint | An address at /mcp where MCP clients can search, add and (with switches) edit bookmarks, read Health, the Inbox and containers, and act on containers; off until you switch it on. | Security and self-hosting › The MCP endpoint |
| Assistant | Ask about your bookmarks in plain words with Claude, OpenAI or a server of your own; it looks things up and proposes changes you apply one by one; off until you switch it on. | Security and self-hosting › The assistant |
| Monitor | The availability mode where the server checks a bookmark on its own interval and keeps 30 days of history, uptime, outages and alerts. | Checks & health › Availability modes |
| Mute | Holds back the alerts for one bookmark, which is still checked and shows as down with a Muted badge; a container's notices can be muted too. | Checks & health, Containers › Notices |
N
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Note | Plain text on a bookmark; search matches it and the preview card shows it. | Tags › Notes |
| Notice | A message sent when a container stops unexpectedly, keeps restarting or turns unhealthy, and again when it recovers. | Containers › Notices |
P
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Page | A separate set of categories and bookmarks, such as Work or Home. | Pages, categories and collections › Pages |
| Page switcher | The control in the header that moves between pages; its look is a setting. | The dashboard › The page switcher |
| Page template | A page saved as a file, with its layout, categories, widgets and links, to import on another install. | Pages, categories and collections › Page templates |
| Path | The route to one value in a service's answer, such as server.disk[0].used; a Custom widget reads one figure per path. | Widgets › Paths and shapes |
| Pin | Keeps a bookmark at the top of its category, whatever the sort. | Core concepts › Bookmarks |
| Preset | A Custom widget filled in for one service: its address, figures, sign-in type and refresh interval. 42 are included. | Widgets › Presets |
| Promote | Move an Unsorted bookmark onto a real page, with a page and category, through the bookmark form. | The Bookmarks view › Unsorted and Promote |
Q
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| QR code | A bookmark's address drawn as a code to scan with a phone, from Shift + J or the row menu; drawn in the browser, so the address goes nowhere. | Opening and editing bookmarks |
Quick add (&) | Press &, type a name, address and optional shortcut on one line, and press Enter. | Adding bookmarks › Quick add (&) |
| Quick start | The bar at the bottom of a new install's dashboard, and the guide it opens: what to do with the example links, the language, the weather and ten next steps. | Installation and first launch › First launch |
| Quiet hours | A window in which alerts are held and then summed up in one message when it ends; the downtime still counts. | Checks & health |
R
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Rail | The column beside the Bookmarks view's list: a summary and filter groups for views, health, pages, categories and tags. | The Bookmarks view › The rail |
Recent bookmarks (*) | A narrow panel with what you opened recently on this page. | Opening and editing bookmarks › Recent bookmarks () |
| Reminders | Another message for a monitor or container that is still down, after 15 minutes up to 4 hours, up to a number of times you choose. | Checks & health |
| Rollback | Puts a container back on the image its last update replaced, while that image is still on the host. | Containers › Actions and updates |
| Rot report | A list of what has gone, moved, failed for over a month or broke this week. | The Bookmarks view › Rot report |
| Row menu | The menu on a Bookmarks view row, from a right-click, Shift + F10 or m: open, copy, share, edit, checking, health details and more. | The Bookmarks view › The row menu |
S
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Selecting several | Tick several bookmarks with x or X and act on them together: move, tag, pin, check, open, copy or delete. | Keyboard › Selecting several |
| Server logs | What the server has been doing — background jobs, imports, checks and requests — readable without shell access; recording is off until you switch it on. | Logs › Server logs |
| Shortcut | One or two letters on a bookmark that open it from the dashboard. | Core concepts › Bookmarks |
| Side panel | Opens beside a focused row: Details, Health and Usage in the Bookmarks view; Overview, Resources, Logs and What's new in the Containers view. | The Bookmarks view › The side panel, Containers › The side panel |
| Smart collection | A group nextDash fills for you from how you use your bookmarks, such as Today, Most used or Stale; switched on under Structure. | Pages, categories and collections › Smart collections |
| Source | A service bookmarks keep arriving from, with its own token and an import that previews before it writes. | Data, backups and import › Sources |
| Spread across columns | Lets one category run across several columns, from its header's right-click menu or Shift + W. | Pages, categories and collections › Spreading a category across columns |
| Stale | A bookmark not opened within the stale threshold (count as neglected after in Config → Bookmarks). | Pages, categories and collections › Smart collections |
| Statistics | Config → Statistics: counts of what you have and what you use, worked out from the data on your server. | Statistics |
| Surface | How a theme is drawn: depth, glow, effects and card glass, each starting on Follow the theme. | Appearance › Surfaces |
T
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Tag | A free label on a bookmark, stored in lower case, with an optional colour. | Tags › Tags on a bookmark |
| Tag cloud and tag view | Every tag from every page in three sizes with counts; pick one to open its tag view — all its bookmarks from every page in a table, with related tags, bulk actions and rename, merge or remove for the tag. Shift to stack, type to find. | Tags › Filtering by tag |
| Tag collection | A group nextDash makes of every tag that enough bookmarks use. | Pages, categories and collections › Custom and tag collections |
| Tag suggestions | Proposals for one tag for a whole group of bookmarks, from your own rules and other sources. | Tags › Tag suggestions |
| Theme | A colour scheme; 190+ families each come in a light and a dark half, picked on the Theme tab or in the theme studio. | Appearance › Themes |
| Theme browser | The panel beside the dashboard, opened with Shift + A, for themes, backdrops, surfaces, headers, type and looks. | Appearance › The theme studio |
| Theme editor | The page for recolouring a packaged theme or building a theme of your own, opened from the Theme tab; not the theme studio. | Appearance › Custom themes |
| Timeline | A container's history in its side panel: crashes with exit code, out-of-memory kills, health changes, updates and rollbacks. | Containers › The side panel |
| Trash | Deleted bookmarks, pages and categories stay here for 30 days. | Data, backups and import › Trash |
| Triage | Takes you through unread inbox links one at a time, in the same shape as Work through. | Inbox › Triage |
U
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Unraid | The server nextDash can read through its API: seven read-only widgets and alerts, set up once in Config. | Guide, Widgets › Unraid widgets |
| Unsorted | A hidden page for bookmarks kept from the inbox with no page yet; they stay off the dashboard. | The Bookmarks view › Unsorted and Promote |
| Uptime | How much of the time a monitored bookmark answered, over 24 hours or 30 days; shown in the rail, Statistics, the Uptime widget and, if switched on, as a badge. | Checks & health |
| Usage | Every open adds one to a bookmark's open count and records the time; it feeds Recently opened, Most used, Stale and statistics. | Opening and editing bookmarks › Usage |
V
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| View | One of five parts of the page: the dashboard grid, Bookmarks view, inbox, Containers view and config. | Core concepts › Views |
W
| Term | Meaning | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| Web search | Optional search of the web from nextDash's search, off by default, through your own SearXNG or the Brave Search API; the engine sees your server, never your browser. | Search, commands and finders › Searching the web |
| Webhook | A receiver that another program is told about the moment something happens here. | Data, backups and import › Webhooks |
| What's new | The release notes, opened once after an upgrade and later from the ★ button, :whatsnew or Help. | Config |
| Widget | A block beside the categories that shows something other than links. | Widgets |
| Work through | Takes you through the bookmarks that need a decision, one pile at a time; f in the Bookmarks view. | The Bookmarks view › Work through and the header band |
| Write token | A secret in NEXTDASH_WRITE_TOKEN that every write or destructive API call must then carry. | Security and self-hosting › The write token |