Dashboard tour
Navigate the CloudSignal dashboard - understand where to find clients, sessions, ACLs, and settings.
This guide walks you through the CloudSignal dashboard so you know where to find everything.
Sidebar structure
The sidebar is organized into logical sections:
Overview
Dashboard
The main dashboard shows key metrics at a glance:
| Metric | What it tracks |
|---|---|
| Messages | Total messages published and received |
| Sessions | Current and historical session counts |
| Traffic | Data transfer volume |
| MQTT users | Total registered clients |
| Topic subscriptions | Active subscription count |
| Retained messages | Messages stored for new subscribers |
Usage
Detailed analytics and quota monitoring. Features:
- Interactive charts showing message volume over time
- Period filtering (today, seven days, 30 days, custom)
- Top clients by message count
- Traffic breakdown by direction (publish/subscribe)
Connections
This section manages everything related to MQTT connections.
Clients
Create and manage MQTT client credentials. You can:
- View all clients with status badges (connected/disconnected)
- Create new clients with username and password
- Filter by connection status
- Edit or delete client credentials
Clients are the MQTT credentials your apps and services use to connect. They're different from your dashboard login.
Sessions
Monitor active and historical connections.
| View | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Active sessions | Currently connected clients with client ID, username, IP address; disconnect on demand |
| Session history | Past connections, filterable by date range, with connection duration and disconnect reason |
Auth providers
Integrate external authentication services. Connect your existing identity providers:
| Provider | Integration |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Exchange Supabase JWTs for MQTT credentials |
| Firebase | Use Firebase Auth tokens |
| Auth0 | Integrate Auth0 authentication |
| Custom | Any OIDC-compliant provider |
Native CloudSignal authentication is always available. Auth providers add additional authentication methods.
ACL rules
Control topic access with JSON-based rules. Features:
- JSON editor for creating rule sets
- Named rule sets for organization
- Default "locked" rule for deny-by-default security
- Priority-based rule matching
Logs
Debug connection and authentication issues. Log types:
- Connection events (connect/disconnect)
- Authentication failures
- ACL denials
Extensions
Enable add-on capabilities. Extensions are additional features you can turn on:
| Extension | What it does |
|---|---|
| REST bridge | HTTP-to-MQTT publishing |
| Webhooks | Event notifications |
| Advanced rate limiting | Per-topic throttling |
Team
Manage dashboard access. You can:
- Invite team members by email
- Assign roles (Admin, Member, Viewer)
- Remove team members
Settings
Settings (organization)
Configure your organization. Sections:
| Section | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Organization ID | Your unique identifier for MQTT connections |
| Organization name | Display name |
| API keys | Generate pk_ (publishable) and sk_ (secret) keys |
Billing
Manage your subscription. You can:
- View current plan and usage
- Upgrade or downgrade
- Update payment methods
- View invoices
Quick actions
From the dashboard, you can quickly:
- Create a client. Set up new MQTT credentials.
- View sessions. See who's connected.
- Check usage. Monitor quota consumption.
Common workflows
Set up a new client
- Go to Clients under Connections.
- Click Create Client.
- Enter username and password.
- Note the full connection string:
username@org-id. - Configure your client with these credentials.
Add external authentication
- Go to Auth Providers under Connections.
- Click Add Provider.
- Select your identity provider (Supabase, Firebase, Auth0).
- Configure the provider settings.
- Use the token exchange endpoint in your app.
Debug connection issues
- Check Sessions to see if the client is connected.
- Check Logs for authentication or ACL errors.
- Verify credentials and ACL rules.
Monitor usage
- Go to Usage under Overview for detailed analytics.
- Use Dashboard for a quick overview.
- Click Billing for usage versus limits.