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Brief 132

Dashboard & Density Audit

Whether a dashboard answers its question in one glance — the metric that matters winning the top-left, signal over decoration, and density chosen, not accidental.

DASHBOARD.md4 phases8 lenses~3.1k chars

Free & open · no signup · read-only — it ends by asking · nothing leaves your machine

What it does

You are working inside this repo. Mission: judge whether each dashboard and data-dense screen answers its core question at a glance — or forces the reader to hunt, scroll, and interpret before they learn anything.

Read-only pass. Walk the dashboards in the running app or read their layouts, widgets, and queries; your only write is the report file.

What it looks for

8 lenses it looks through

Phase 2 sweeps the codebase through every one of these, citing file and line for each finding.

1

One-glance answer

does the primary question resolve in the first few seconds and the top-left, or is it buried among peers

2

Signal ranking

widget prominence matches importance; the vanity metric outsizing the one people act on

3

Earns its place

every tile pays rent in decisions; the widget nobody uses taking prime space

4

Density fit

dense where scanning rewards it (ops, tables), airy where focus does; density chosen, not accidental

5

Comparability

consistent units, time ranges, and scales across tiles so numbers can be compared, not just displayed

6

Context for numbers

a value with its trend, target, or baseline, versus a bare figure with no "good or bad"

7

Scan pattern

layout guiding the eye in a deliberate order; the grid that reads as noise with no path

8

Load & empty

partial-data, still-loading, and no-data states; the dashboard that is useless until every query returns

The deliverable

What lands in your repo

One structured report at the repo root — or in reports/, if you keep one — the same shape every time, ready for a teammate — or the optional Studio — to act on.

DASHBOARD.md
1
Dashboard table
screen · the question it answers · read in one glance? · what wins the eye
2
Findings
each: lens · screen/widget · what the reader cannot learn fast · the fix
3
Cut list
the tiles that do not earn their space
4
The one rule
the density and layout convention this codebase should adopt
One file. Evidence-backed. It ends by asking before touching anything.
How it works

What it makes the agent do

Every Goal Prompt follows the same four steps, so results are consistent and repeatable — no matter which one you run.

1
Phase 1

Frame each dashboard

List the dashboards and dense screens (overviews, admin panels, reports, big tables).

2
Phase 2

Audit through 8 lenses

Cite the screen and widget for every finding.

3
Phase 3

Curate

Rank by decisions-per-screen.

4
Phase 4

Report

Create DASHBOARD.md at repo root.

Get started

Three ways to run this Goal Prompt

01 · COPY

Paste it in

Copy it and paste it into your agent inside the repo you want checked.

02 · INSTALL

As a slash command

Install the goal plugin once — two commands — then just type /goal:dashboard-density.

1/plugin marketplace add GhostlyGawd/goal-prompts
2/plugin install goal@goal-prompts

Or install only this Goal Prompt as /goal-dashboard-density:

curl -fsSL https://goal-prompts.vercel.app/install | BRIEF=132 sh
03 · AGENT

From an agent (MCP)

Let an agent fetch it mid-conversation, or pull the raw Goal Prompt by URL.

https://goal-prompts.vercel.app/raw/132.md
Transparency

The exact prompt

Nothing hidden — this is the whole Goal Prompt, verbatim. Read it in a minute, edit it, or copy it as-is.

Read the full brief (3,076 characters)
# Goal: Dashboard & Density Audit

You are working inside this repo. Mission: judge whether each dashboard and data-dense screen answers its core question at a glance — or forces the reader to hunt, scroll, and interpret before they learn anything.

Read-only pass. Walk the dashboards in the running app or read their layouts, widgets, and queries; your only write is the report file.

## Phase 1 — Frame each dashboard
- List the dashboards and dense screens (overviews, admin panels, reports, big tables).
- For each, write the one question it exists to answer and who reads it, before auditing — so the audit can disagree.
- Inventory the widgets, the reading order, and what sits above the fold.

## Phase 2 — Audit through 8 lenses
Cite the screen and widget for every finding.
1. **One-glance answer** — does the primary question resolve in the first few seconds and the top-left, or is it buried among peers
2. **Signal ranking** — widget prominence matches importance; the vanity metric outsizing the one people act on
3. **Earns its place** — every tile pays rent in decisions; the widget nobody uses taking prime space
4. **Density fit** — dense where scanning rewards it (ops, tables), airy where focus does; density chosen, not accidental
5. **Comparability** — consistent units, time ranges, and scales across tiles so numbers can be compared, not just displayed
6. **Context for numbers** — a value with its trend, target, or baseline, versus a bare figure with no "good or bad"
7. **Scan pattern** — layout guiding the eye in a deliberate order; the grid that reads as noise with no path
8. **Load & empty** — partial-data, still-loading, and no-data states; the dashboard that is useless until every query returns

## Phase 3 — Curate
- Rank by decisions-per-screen: fixing the primary question's visibility beats rearranging secondary tiles.
- Separate "wrong priority", "over/under-dense", and "no context"; fix priority first.
- For each, name the screen and the move — promote, demote, merge, or cut.

## Phase 4 — Report
Create `DASHBOARD.md` at repo root:
1. **Dashboard table** — screen · the question it answers · read in one glance? · what wins the eye
2. **Findings** — each: lens · screen/widget · what the reader cannot learn fast · the fix
3. **Cut list** — the tiles that do not earn their space
4. **The one rule** — the density and layout convention this codebase should adopt

Start the report with today's date. If `DASHBOARD.md` already exists from a previous run, read it first and lead with what changed since.

## Rules
- Every finding names the screen and widget, with the query or data behind it where it matters
- A number without a baseline is decoration; context is what makes it a signal
- No dashboards in this repo? Say so in a one-paragraph null report and stop — a null result is a valid finding.
- If a `reports/` directory exists at the repo root, write the report there instead of the root.
- Before asking, present the top findings as a ranked list in plain words
- Report only — end by asking which dashboard fixes to make

House rules for this Goal Prompt

  • Every finding names the screen and widget, with the query or data behind it where it matters
  • A number without a baseline is decoration; context is what makes it a signal
  • No dashboards in this repo? Say so in a one-paragraph null report and stop — a null result is a valid finding.
  • If a reports/ directory exists at the repo root, write the report there instead of the root.
  • Before asking, present the top findings as a ranked list in plain words
  • Report only — end by asking which dashboard fixes to make
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