🚀 nextDash

A keyboard-first, self-hosted bookmark dashboard. No accounts, no cloud, no noise.

Self-host on any machine or container. Open it in your browser, organise bookmarks across multiple pages, and navigate everything from your keyboard. Based on ThinkDashboard by MatiasDesuu.

📖 Full user manual (MANUAL.md) — step-by-step guide for new users: concepts, keyboard workflow, config, import/backup, health, extension, and efficient daily use.

📋 Changelog (CHANGELOG.md) — complete release history (new / fix).

Screenshots

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Quick Start

Docker Compose (recommended)

services:
  nextDash:
    image: ghcr.io/jordibrouwer/nextdash:latest
    container_name: nextDash
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    environment:
      - PORT=8080
      # Optional on LAN/VPS — require X-NextDash-Token on destructive API calls (see Security):
      # - NEXTDASH_WRITE_TOKEN=change-me-to-a-long-random-string
    restart: unless-stopped

docker compose up -d

Build from a git checkout: use docker-compose.prod.yml for production (only ./data is mounted; CSS/JS come from the image). Use docker-compose.yml for development (mounts ./static and ./templates so changes apply without rebuild).

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build

Build from source

go build -o nextDash && ./nextDash

By default, data is stored in ./data. Override with NEXTDASH_DATA_DIR (absolute or relative path) when you need a separate data location.

Security

nextDash is built for personal or small-team use on a trusted network. There are no user accounts — anyone who can reach the URL can read and change data unless you add protection.

Do not expose nextDash directly to the public internet. Recommended setups:

• Private overlay network — Tailscale or another mesh VPN so nextDash never gets a public listener.
• Reverse proxy with auth — Traefik, Caddy, or nginx inside your home/lab/VPC, with HTTP basic auth, OAuth2 Proxy, or SSO in front.
• Local-only — bind to 127.0.0.1 and use SSH port forwarding or a same-machine browser.

Optional write token (LAN / VPS)

Set environment variable NEXTDASH_WRITE_TOKEN to a long random string. Protected endpoints then require header X-NextDash-Token with that value. The dashboard and config pages inject the token automatically when you open them in a browser.

Protected actions include: reset all data (also requires {"confirm":true}), download or import backup, delete page, bookmark preview fetch, bookmark ping (/api/ping), search-index build, health delete / retest / merge / auto-heal / open-broken / cache-scan / update-status, clear or refresh all bookmark previews, bookmark/page/category/finder/settings saves, uploads (favicon, font, icon), and reset theme colours.

When the token is not set, behaviour is unchanged — everything stays open for local dev. When it is set, the dashboard and config pages inject the token automatically so normal browser use is unaffected. The browser extension can store the same write token in Settings → Write token.

Outbound fetches (preview, ping, icons, auto-heal) use dial-time IP validation to block DNS-rebinding to private networks unless allow localhost bookmarks is enabled in settings.

Optional CORS allowlist (LAN / VPS / extension)

By default, bookmark API responses send Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * so the browser extension and cross-origin tools work without extra config.

Set NEXTDASH_CORS_ORIGINS to a comma-separated allowlist when you want to restrict cross-origin reads/writes, for example:

NEXTDASH_CORS_ORIGINS=https://dash.example.com,chrome-extension://your-extension-id

Only matching Origin headers receive Access-Control-Allow-Origin in the response. Unset or empty keeps the default *.

Activity log (bookmark events)

Structured JSON activity lines are written to the server log for bookmark mutations and status checks by default. Opens are off unless enabled.

# Default: mutate + status (opens off)
NEXTDASH_ACTIVITY_LOG=mutate,status,open   # include opens
NEXTDASH_ACTIVITY_LOG=off                  # disable all activity logs

# Optional rotating file under the data directory
NEXTDASH_ACTIVITY_LOG_PERSIST=1
NEXTDASH_ACTIVITY_LOG_FILE=/path/to/activity.log   # optional; default data/activity.log

# Optional security events (auth denied, rate limits)
NEXTDASH_ACTIVITY_LOG=mutate,status,security

Example log line:

activity: {"ts":"2026-07-03T12:00:00Z","event":"bookmark.add","pageId":1,"name":"GitHub","url":"https://github.com","source":"dashboard"}

Status pings are deduplicated for the same URL + result for 10 minutes unless refresh=1 is passed to /api/ping. URLs appear in logs — treat log files as sensitive on shared hosts.

Rate limits (outbound & SSRF APIs)

Optional per-IP limits on server-initiated fetches and user-triggered SSRF-sensitive endpoints:

NEXTDASH_OUTBOUND_REQUESTS_PER_MIN=120   # preview, ping, favicon, auto-heal (default 120)
NEXTDASH_SSRF_API_RATE_PER_MIN=60        # /api/bookmark-preview, /api/ping, icon uploads (default 60)

When exceeded, the API returns 429 and (if enabled) logs a security activity event.

Content-Security-Policy

nextDash sends a restrictive CSP on HTML pages by default. Set NEXTDASH_CSP=off only when a reverse proxy or custom integration requires it.

DNS rebinding (IP pinning)

Outbound HTTP(S) dials pin resolved public IPs for ~2 minutes so a hostname cannot switch to a private address between the safety check and the connection (unless allow localhost bookmarks is enabled).

Startup validation

On boot, nextDash validates PORT (1–65535, default 8080) and ensures NEXTDASH_DATA_DIR exists and is writable. Invalid config exits with a clear error before listening.

Production Docker example

docker-compose.prod.yml serves CSS/JS from the image (only ./data is mounted). Recommended LAN/VPS environment block:

environment:
  - PORT=8080
  - NEXTDASH_WRITE_TOKEN=change-me-to-a-long-random-string
  - NEXTDASH_CORS_ORIGINS=https://dash.example.com,chrome-extension://your-extension-id
  - NEXTDASH_ACTIVITY_LOG=mutate,status,security
  - NEXTDASH_ACTIVITY_LOG_PERSIST=1
  # Optional tuning:
  # - NEXTDASH_OUTBOUND_REQUESTS_PER_MIN=120
  # - NEXTDASH_SSRF_API_RATE_PER_MIN=60
  # - NEXTDASH_CSP=off
  # - NEXTDASH_DISABLE_PREFETCH=1

GET /version returns build metadata (version, commit). GET /api/data-revision returns a hash so open dashboard tabs detect bookmark/settings changes without a full reload.

Environment variables (reference)

Features

Keyboard-first workflow

Navigation

• 0 — open Inbox (when search is closed)
• Shift + I — open Inbox view directly (recommended; 0 still works)
• 1–9 — jump directly to a bookmark page tab
• Shift + ←/→ — cycle between page tabs (plain arrows move bookmarks only, not pages)
• Shift + H — open Health view directly (inside dashboard)
• , — page overview: all pages with bookmark counts (Tab / Shift+Tab move between rows; arrow keys do not affect bookmarks behind the overlay)
• ↑/↓/←/→ — move bookmark selection (first arrow key starts navigation); 1–9 page switch also selects the first visible bookmark; mouse hover softens the stale keyboard highlight until your next keypress; on Modern and Glass, keyboard-selected rows use a full-row accent fill (v2026.07.01.2)
• Tab / Shift+Tab — step linearly through all bookmarks when one is already selected
• G + 1–9 — jump to the nth category or smart collection and select its first bookmark (hold G ~300 ms, or press G then a digit; a quick tap on G opens bookmark shortcuts starting with G instead)
• G + P — jump to the first pinned bookmark on the page (hold G or G then P)
• GG — jump to the very first bookmark (second G while the chord is pending)
• Ctrl + Home / Ctrl + End — first / last bookmark on the page (Cmd on Mac)
• Enter / Space — open the focused bookmark (middle-click also counts toward open stats and smart collections)
• Esc — clear selection, close overlay, or undo an unsaved drag reorder (before the 1s save completes)

Blocking overlays — While search (>), the cheat sheet (! / F1), recent bookmarks (*), tag cloud (/), page overview (,), quick-add omnibox (&), quick-move/delete/tag popovers (Shift+M / Shift+D / Shift+T), inline edit (;), or an app modal is open, keyboard focus stays inside that overlay (Tab cycles within it) and the bookmark grid behind it is inert (not clickable). With an active tag filter, only the filtered bookmark list is inert — the filter banner and bulk toolbar stay interactive while the tag cloud is open. Closing the overlay restores mouse and keyboard access to the grid; quick-move/delete/tag popovers also restore the keyboard highlight on the same bookmark row.

Bookmarks

• + — open the full new-bookmark modal (dashboard only, when no input is focused)
• & — quick-add omnibox: type name | url | shortcut in one line
• Ctrl + Shift + A — same full new-bookmark modal from anywhere
• Ctrl + V — paste a URL on the dashboard: choose Save to Inbox or open the new-bookmark modal (blocked while inline edit or the tag word cloud is open; default under General → Paste URL default)
• ; — inline-edit the focused bookmark
• Shift + M — Move to… quick-move popover: choose a category or page with arrow keys
• Shift + T — Quick tag popover beside the focused bookmark: ↑/↓ navigate ranked tags; Enter/Space toggle a tag and advance to the next; ✓ shows tags already on the bookmark
• Shift + D — quick-delete popover with undo in the toast
• Ctrl + C / Cmd + C — copy the URL of the focused bookmark (row flashes green)
• [ — toggle the hover preview card on the focused bookmark
• Delete — delete the focused bookmark

Search & commands

• > — open search; empty state shows recent queries and saved searches as chips; ←/→ select a chip, Enter applies it
• / — fuzzy search; ranked by prefix → word-boundary → substring; also matches URL domain, tags, and note text
• : — command palette (lone : from the dashboard); 5 collapsible groups (Bookmarks, Search & navigate, Look & layout, Smart collections, Settings & tools) — click a header to expand; recent commands appear at the top when you reopen lone :; toggles refresh in place with (on)/(off) or ✓ after Enter (no toasts). In an open > search with text already typed, : inserts filter syntax (category:, tag:, …) instead of switching modes
• ? — finders (e.g. ?g query to search Google)
• * — recent bookmarks panel
• ! or F1 — keyboard cheat sheet (filterable with a type-to-search input; blocked while page overview , is open)
• category: / tag: / page: / status: — filter directly in the search bar; autocomplete suggests values after each prefix (single Filters group)
• :goto <url-or-domain> — navigate to a URL or bare domain (e.g. :goto github.com); :goto config / stats / health for quick navigation
• :new — open new-bookmark modal (same as + / Ctrl+Shift+A)
• :add — quick-add omnibox (same as &)
• :note — edit the note of the focused bookmark
• :move / :edit / :copy / :quicktag (:qt) — move, inline edit, copy URL, or open quick-tag popover (Shift+T) on the keyboard-selected bookmark
• :pin / :unpin — toggle pin on the keyboard-selected bookmark
• :tag — list tags; :tag <name> or :tag:<name> browse bookmarks by tag in the command palette only (dashboard unchanged); :tag +name / :tag -name add or remove on the keyboard-selected bookmark
• :category / :cat — jump to a category or smart collection by number or name
• :filter <tag> / :filter clear — apply or clear dashboard tag filter (OR logic, same as tag cloud)
• / (desktop, tag cloud on) — open tag word cloud on dashboard; toggle one or more tags (OR match); bulk toolbar stays clickable while the cloud is open; filtered bookmarks stack vertically; with an active filter the cloud anchors beside the / FAB
• :open all — open all bookmarks on the current page in new tabs
• :open pinned — open pinned bookmarks on the current page
• :open tag <name> / :open category <name> — open bookmarks matching tag or category on the current page
• :open last [n] — open the N most recently opened bookmarks on the current page (default 5, max 50; same 15-tab safe cap as :open all)
• :page — switch page by name or number (palette stays open, ✓ on current)
• :recent / :overview / :cheat / :whatsnew / :reload — recent modal (*), page overview (,), cheat sheet, what's new, reload dashboard
• :inbox / :inbox triage — open Inbox page (Shift + I) or start triage on unread items
• :config [section] — open config or a tab (bookmarks, backups, stats, …)
• :remove — delete the focused bookmark
• :sort <method> — per focused category: order / az / recent (palette shows the category name)
• :stale [days] — list stale bookmarks; optional day window (e.g. :stale 7)
• :duplicate / :duplicates — list bookmarks with duplicate URLs (opens health duplicates view)
• :health [filter] — open health view — broken, duplicate, stale, refresh, …; :health page [n] opens health with a page context
• :dark / :title / :lang / :animations / :status / :opacity — display and theme toggles
• :collections — toggle smart collections (today, recent, stale, most used)
• :backup / :export — open config backups or download a ZIP backup
• :metadata — health missing previews or config bookmarks
• :tour / :promo — start feature tour or reset discoverability promos
• :layout <preset> — default / compact / cards / masonry / list / launcher …
• :theme <name> — switch colour theme
• :density <mode> — comfortable / compact / dense
• :columns <n> — set column count (1–6)
• @ — global search across all pages at once; each result shows the page name as context
• :find <text> — hide tiles whose name or URL don't match; :find clear removes the filter
• :buttonbar <position> — move the button bar: bottom / bottom-left / bottom-right / side-left
• :save / :saved — save current query / show saved searches

Config page

• 1–9 — jump to the Nth visible config tab (order follows tab groups: System → Dashboard → Extras → Help)
• ←/→ — previous/next config tab; crosses into the next tab group at group edges (when focus is not in an input or modal)
• Alt + ←/→ — jump to the first tab of the previous/next tab group
• S — save changes
• Alt + ↑/↓ — reorder the selected bookmark on the Bookmarks tab
• Ctrl/Cmd + K — open the config command palette
• Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + K — find settings, tabs, and help sections

Config guided tours (desktop-width window, once per tab until completed or skipped) — spotlight walkthroughs on General, Bookmarks, Pages, Categories, Tags, Stats, Collections, Finders, and Theme (Stats tour re-enabled in v2026.07.02). The General tour is overview-only (Essentials / Advanced layers, no user input). Other tours may include optional hands-on demos (temporary pages, categories, tags, collections, bookmarks, finders, or a custom theme) with automatic cleanup. Replay any tour from config → general → Advanced → System & tools → Tours & onboarding (open the matching tab first).

Desktop discoverability promos (desktop dashboard, once per feature until dismissed) — contextual Got it balloons beside search modes (>, :, ?, filters), grid arrow navigation, G+jump (hold G ~300 ms or G then 1–9, G+P, or GG — quick tap G opens shortcuts starting with G; promo may appear on hold and retries when blocked by What's new), smart collections, inline edit, tag cloud, tag-filter bulk toolbar, recent bookmarks (*), preview ([), quick-add (&), week overview, category collapse, category rename (first long-press or double-click rename), quick move (Shift+M), quick tag (Shift+T), quick delete (Shift+D), page overview (,), keyboard cheat sheet (! / F1), and weather location when geolocation is blocked. Dismissed promos persist in settings.json (discoverabilityState) and sync across browsers (v2026.07.01.1). Reset all dashboard promos or individual resets (G+jump, cheat sheet, weather location) from Tours & onboarding.

Settings search promo (desktop config, once until dismissed) — first visit may highlight Search settings… in the breadcrumb row with a New badge and speech balloon beside the field (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+K for settings navigation vs Ctrl/Cmd+K quick actions). Reset from Tours & onboarding → Reset settings search promo.

Inbox snooze, keyboard triage & Health always-on (v2026.07.16) — Inbox can snooze links (3h / tomorrow / weekend / next week) with a Snoozed filter and z, gains Health-style keyboard navigation (j/k/g/G, Enter/p/r/n/z/d), per-row notes, mark-read + bulk Mark all read / Clear read, and a preview loading pulse for fresh links. Promoting an Inbox item with status checks on immediately health-checks that URL. Health is always available in the header (the old hide toggle is gone), can optionally re-check in the background under Config → General → Status monitoring, opens Edit in the dashboard inline editor, and deep-link filters (stale / unused / missing preview / …) match the right rows again.

Health dashboard view + quick shortcuts (v2026.07.15) — the heartbeat icon opens Health inside the dashboard shell (like Inbox), so issue triage stays in one place; old /health links now redirect to this view. Keyboard entry points are mnemonic: Shift+H opens Health and Shift+I opens Inbox (legacy 0 still works). Config header navigation is cleaner too: only back to dashboard remains. All new Health-view labels and related cheat-sheet entries are localized consistently across EN / NL / DE / FR.

Health repairs & score breakdown (v2026.07.14.2) — fixing a bookmark in the health view now sticks: a re-checked link turns green immediately instead of staying broken for up to three minutes, Retest statuses no longer skips the very bookmarks flagged as broken (and says so when there is nothing to test), and an applied redirect is verified against the new address before the row counts as healthy. Click any score badge — or press s — to unfold what the score is made of: every bookmark starts at 100, and each issue shows what it costs. The view is keyboard-first: Tab steps row by row instead of through every control, with s score, p re-check, f favicon, x select, m more actions and g/G for first/last, all listed in the legend under the feed.

Glass layout retired (v2026.07.14.2) — the Glass layout is gone; Classic and Modern remain. Dashboards set to Glass switch to Classic automatically and show a one-time note. Change layout in config → general → Basics.

Drag feedback for sorted categories (v2026.07.14.1) — a category sorted A–Z or Recent can't have its bookmarks dragged to reorder (the sort would just undo it). Instead of nothing happening, the category now shows a hover tooltip, a not-allowed cursor, and a brief note when you try to drag — a reminder to switch that category back to manual order first. A plain click still opens the bookmark.

Dashboard organising (v2026.07.14) — drag a bookmark from anywhere on its row to reorder it within a category or move it to another one (a single click still opens it; a long press still opens the inline editor), and dragging across columns no longer makes the columns flicker. Press . anywhere on the dashboard — or the new toolbar button — to collapse or expand every category at once (remembered per page), and the // in front of a category title is a drag handle again for reordering whole sections across columns. The add-bookmark form's Page and Category dropdowns each gain a + New… option that creates and saves a page or category inline, without adding a bookmark first.

Backup restore & polish (v2026.07.13.1) — each stored automatic backup now has a Restore button beside Download and Delete, so you can roll back to it in one click (it replaces all current data after a confirmation, then reloads) without downloading and re-importing the ZIP. The Automatic Backups section also shows a totals line (count and combined size), Back Up Now refreshes the Last backup date, and several backups made within the same second are saved as separate files instead of overwriting one.

Automatic weekly backups (v2026.07.13) — nextDash now creates a full ZIP backup of your data once a week and keeps it on the server under Config → Backup → Automatic Backups. The latest 3 are kept — when a new one is made, the oldest is removed automatically. Each stored backup shows its date and size with Download and Delete buttons, there's a Back Up Now button for on-demand copies, and a countdown shows when the next automatic backup is due. The weekly backup can be turned off with a single toggle (on by default); turning it off never affects Back Up Now or your existing backups. Scheduling is robust across container restarts (it runs whenever the newest backup is older than 7 days). This release also fixes health-dashboard bulk delete removing the wrong bookmark and health favicons with unusual filenames failing to load.

Fresh defaults & dashboard polish (v2026.07.12) — new installs now open on the Kelp Drift (dark) theme with auto dark mode on, so the dashboard follows your system light/dark preference out of the box, and the starter bookmarks seed a Tech category (Unraid, Phoronix) and a Social category (Bluesky) instead of Facebook/Instagram. The & quick-add omnibox is restyled to match the search/commands/finders overlays (rounded, blurred glass, spring animation), Config → Bookmarks now opens on your first page each fresh load while remembering the page you switch to for the session, and bookmark/category icons with unusual filenames load reliably. Existing dashboards keep their current theme and bookmarks.

Smoother dialogs (v2026.07.11.4) — dialog windows now hand keyboard and screen-reader focus back cleanly when they close (focus returns to the control that opened them before the dialog is hidden), and the browser console no longer warns about focus being trapped in a hidden element.

Bulk tags (v2026.07.11.3) — select several bookmarks in Config → Bookmarks and the bulk toolbar now has a Tags control: type one or more comma-separated tags, choose Add, Replace, or Remove, and apply them to every selected bookmark at once. The field suggests tags you already use as you type.

Tags within reach & collection autocomplete (v2026.07.11.2) — the Tags field moves above the fold in both bookmark forms (out of More options, right under Page/Category), and the dashboard inline editor is reordered to match (Page → Category → Tags → Note). Building a custom collection now autocompletes each rule's value from the tags, categories, and shortcuts already in use (shortcut suggestions keep their casing). The dashboard and config pages no longer opt out of the browser's back/forward cache, so returning to a page you just left is instant again.

Clearer General settings (v2026.07.11) — the busiest General config sections are split into small labelled sub-groups so related options sit together: Localization into language / date & time, Appearance & Style into theme / text / extras, and Layout into grid / spacing / extras. Same settings and tabs — just easier to scan (classic layout). The Stats, Pages, Tags and Theme config tours no longer auto-start — run any of them from Config → General → Tours & onboarding. Accessibility polish: config number spinners now announce a name to screen readers, the health page gained a skip-to-content link, and the dashboard shows a clear "JavaScript required" message instead of a stuck skeleton when JS is off.

Faster loads & quieter health borders (v2026.07.10.2) — the server now gzip-compresses HTML/JS/CSS/JSON responses, so pages transfer 70-90% smaller (e.g. the main search script drops from ~98 KB to ~19 KB), and non-essential scripts no longer block first paint (config guided tours ~374 KB, plus ~107 KB of on-demand dashboard features like weather, tag cloud, and drag-reorder). The dashboard inbox tab gets a monochrome line-style icon matching the health icon. The health page also gets the same border cleanup as config: softer borders on the stat tiles and panels, the intro frame dropped, and sections separated by spacing and headings (classic layout).

Quieter config borders (v2026.07.10.1) — the config page reduced a pile-up of nested frames (save bar, tab bar, group labels, intro, quick-links sidebar, per-row lines). Borders are now reserved for the outer tab surface and real dividers; sections and topics are separated by spacing and headings instead, so the page reads calmer while staying easy to scan. Classic layout only (modern/glass early beta unchanged).

Self-hosted font & faster first paint (v2026.07.10) — the default Source Code Pro font is now bundled with nextDash instead of loaded from Google Fonts, so there's no third-party request, the app works fully offline, and no font call leaves your machine. Non-essential discovery/tour promo scripts no longer block the dashboard from rendering (they load after the page is interactive), so bookmarks appear sooner.

Per-theme browser colour (v2026.07.10) — the mobile browser bar and installed-app (PWA) chrome now match the background of whatever theme you pick, including every built-in and custom theme (previously only light/dark were correct and everything else fell back to blue).

Longer What's new history (v2026.07.10) — the What's new modal now shows the 25 most recent releases instead of 7; the newest loads first and the rest still load on demand as you scroll, so opening it stays fast.

Health icon & counter (v2026.07.09) — the dashboard header health link is now a heartbeat icon with an inline counter pill (broken/warning count; red for broken, amber for warnings, hidden when healthy), styled like the inbox tab. Always on for all users (v2026.07.16 removed the Header & buttons hide toggle).

Dashboard margins & status rows (v2026.07.09) — side margins are a fixed clamped buffer instead of a fixed percentage, so narrowing the window shrinks the whitespace before the columns; roomier margins on wide screens keep the columns closer together. Config and health pages share the dashboard's content box (including above 1600px), so their header and nav links line up across pages. Online/offline/checking status rows get a consistent left inset, rounded corners, and extra space so the status border does not crowd favicons.

Config header icon parity (v2026.07.09) — on the config page, the header now uses the same heartbeat health icon + inline counter pill styling as the dashboard and keeps only the health icon plus a back-to-dashboard link (the config inbox pill was removed).

Stats inbox insights (v2026.07.09) — a new Inbox section in Config → Stats shows current inbox health and lifetime triage throughput (added / converted / discarded, average time to triage, conversion bar, added-vs-triaged trend, source/domain tables), backed by data/inbox-stats.json and /api/inbox-stats. Stats and Help gain Expand all / Collapse all, and Stats sections remember their open/collapsed state across visits.

Config tab consistency (v2026.06.31) — list tabs share intro copy, toolbars, filters, and empty states; on Classic layout, toolbar + list fuse into one surface card. The breadcrumb row shows tab save mode (Requires save / Auto-save / Read-only) and sub-context on Bookmarks and Categories. Config → Bookmarks uses a collapsible Context panel (page/category switcher; structure edits on Pages/Categories tabs) that remembers open/closed state. Unified save status beside Save replaces the old unsaved badge. Opening #bookmarks on a phone shows a desktop-only card instead of a broken editor.

Config tab bar v5 (v2026.07.01) — tabs are grouped as System, Dashboard, Extras, and Help (Keyboard lives in System). Compact save strip with save-mode pill and dirty-only Undo/Discard; proportional group widths; tab scroll hint when the bar overflows. On Modern and Glass, the header + save row + tabs fuse into one chrome card and list tabs use a single fused surface. On Classic (v2026.07.01.3), the configuration title and header links stay separate from the save row and grouped tabs — each in its own bordered card with spacing between them. ←/→ cross tab groups; Alt+←/→ jump between groups. Compact breadcrumb (tab › context).

Config surface parity (v2026.07.01.1) — Keyboard, Bookmarks, Stats, Backups, and Help tabs use the shared config-tab-surface list-shell: toolbar + content in one card with divided rows (no nested floating cards). Bookmarks search matches other list-tab filter styling; Stats moves Refresh/Export CSV into the in-surface toolbar. Health links show a compact count-only badge pill. Dismissed discoverability promos and What's new progress sync via settings.discoverabilityState in settings.json across browsers.

Config polish (v2026.07.01.4) — Pages and Categories list tabs show a Usage column (Tags-style popularity bar + bookmark count). Unsaved changes show a dot on the tab group label (e.g. System ●). Config tab chrome respects prefers-reduced-motion. The Stats guided tour is temporarily disabled.

Config surface polish (v2026.07.01.5) — Bookmarks Context and Collections editor fused into tab surfaces; list tabs share the config-list-tab shell; breadcrumb shows Tags filter, Stats period, and Collections edit context; Skip tour always persists completion on the server. Health redirect check no longer freezes the app.

Config polish continued (v2026.07.01.8) — unsaved dot on Extras ● when only Collections changes (C14); broader prefers-reduced-motion coverage for tag cloud, keyboard pulse, health shimmer, and settings-search promo (C15).

General Advanced toolbar (v2026.07.01.9) — Essentials / Advanced buttons align flush with the fused General surface; no gap or overlap with Expand/Collapse bulk actions on the Advanced layer.

Security & self-hosting (v2026.07.03) — activity log (NEXTDASH_ACTIVITY_LOG), CSP headers, outbound/SSRF rate limits, DNS IP pinning, startup validation for PORT and NEXTDASH_DATA_DIR. README, MANUAL, and Config → Help document write token, CORS, and production Docker.

Activity log (v2026.07.03) — structured JSON lines for bookmark mutations, status checks, optional opens, and security events; optional rotating activity.log under the data directory.

Extension shortcuts (v2026.07.03) — optional shortcut when saving a tab; auto-suggest from bookmark name; 409 when the shortcut is already taken on that page.

Dashboard sync hardening (v2026.07.03) — hash-based GET /api/data-revision; stale-cache detection for name, URL, and shortcut; preview metadata cache flushes periodically; shared cache-bust tokens across dashboard, config, and health.

What's new modal (v2026.07.03) — scroll to load up to the 7 most recent releases (lazy per-version JSON).

General layer scroll (v2026.07.03) — Essentials/Advanced toggle preserves the General layer toolbar viewport position when scroll is within both layers.

Playwright E2E (v2026.07.03) — full test suite green with isolated temp data per run; config, tags, finders, and layout-nudge tests aligned with current behaviour.

Inbox (v2026.07.06) — lightweight link capture page separate from bookmark pages: save via paste (Ctrl+V), browser extension, or API; filter unread, triage one-by-one (J/K/O/P/R/D), promote to a full bookmark; shortcuts 0, :inbox, :inbox triage; one-time intro modal; EN/NL/DE/FR. v2026.07.16 adds snooze, list keyboard navigation, notes, mark-read / bulk clear, and promote-time health checks.

Page overview & tips (v2026.07.06) — pages button opens a centered AppModal with card-style rows; rotating footer tips off by default (:tips on to enable); :quicktag removed from the command palette.

What's new hotfixes (v2026.07.05.1) — ★ corner FAB below / tag cloud again (not in the centre dock toolbar); Config → Help Show what's new with dashboard-matching modal chrome; status-row hover/selection and config save-indicator fixes; merge-regression restores for config load and dashboard assets.

Config shell & polish (v2026.07.05) — Help split-shell with chip nav (B5); Tags/Backups divided rows; Theme Colors toolbar matches General chrome; Theme dirty state via save row only (B10); broader prefers-reduced-motion (C15).

Dashboard chrome (v2026.07.05) — unified header chips and toolbar hierarchy; theme surface tokens on footer buttons; lighter card rows; shared toolbar modal chrome; polished empty states, search overlay anchoring, and layout radii; page overview icons and tag-filter recovery.

Recent modal & status rows (v2026.07.05) — rank, recency badge, and open count in recent bookmarks (D8); status-row hover/selection via shared bookmark-row tokens (D12).

Fresh-install toolbar (v2026.07.05) — new installs show Search, Commands, Finders, and + Add bookmark in the centre dock only; Recent and cheat sheet off until enabled in Config → General → Header & buttons (★ What's new is a separate corner FAB — see v2026.07.05.1).

Status loading default (v2026.07.05) — show status loading indicator is off unless explicitly enabled.

Classic layout default (v2026.07.05) — onboarding keeps Classic; Modern/Glass show a one-time early-beta notice. Classic config header stays separate from save row and tabs (v2026.07.01.3 — C10 reverted).

Config surface polish (v2026.07.04) — General layer switcher (Essentials / Advanced / Show all in one row); stronger active tab group styling; list tabs share config-list-tab intro shell; button visibility as divided rows.

Bookmarks master/detail (v2026.07.04) — filters and bulk actions above a split view: bookmark list (master) + detail editor (pane) inside one fused surface.

Stats split-layout (v2026.07.04) — chip navigation and sidebar index inside one fused Stats surface (Help-style split shell).

Theme colors divided list (v2026.07.04) — color rows, custom themes, and preview use divided-list rhythm inside the fused Theme surface (no nested cards on Modern, Glass, or Classic).

Bookmark category sync (v2026.07.02) — new bookmarks and category changes appear in the correct dashboard column right away; GET /api/data-revision keeps open tabs in sync after saves and server restarts.

Bookmark tag sync (v2026.07.02) — tag edits re-render smart collections and the tag-filter view; stale-cache detection includes tags.

Config polish (v2026.07.02) — Stats guided tour re-enabled; General spacing (B6), shared tab intro (B7), uniform label width (A8), keyboard row rhythm (A10), persistent empty hints (B11), broader reduced-motion (C15).

Inline edit focus (v2026.07.01.8) — long-press inline editor uses a nearly opaque panel and tour-like full-page blur so labels and fields stay readable on glass and launcher layouts.

General split-shell (v2026.07.07) — Config → General uses the same sticky-sidebar layout as Stats and Help: a quick links column lists every section and stays in view while you scroll, highlighting the section currently on screen. Opening a section — from the sidebar or by clicking its own title — collapses whichever other section was open (single-section accordion); a second click on an already-open, in-view section closes it again, and clicking the link for an open section scrolled out of view scrolls back to it instead of closing it invisibly. Advanced splits into smaller cards — Search & input, System & tools, and a standalone Tours & onboarding — instead of one long block. Offline retries, Retry delay, and Minimum bookmarks per tag number inputs now use the same themed styling as other fields.

Help rework & shell polish (v2026.07.08, hotfixed in v2026.07.08.1) — Config → Help's topics are consolidated into fewer, reordered sections (Getting started, Configuring nextDash, Keyboard shortcuts, Search/commands/toolbar, Finders, Appearance & display, Organizing bookmarks, Pages/categories/bulk editing, Tags & collections, Inbox, Health & status, Data & backups, Self-hosting & troubleshooting) and now shares General's sticky quick links sidebar and single-section accordion. Quick-link clicks always land on the section title instead of scrolling partway in. The Support me on Ko-fi button gets the same twinkling-star glow animation as the What's New modal's donate CTA, centered on its own row; the jordibrw.nl signature link is larger and accent-themed. General's sections now have a dividing border between them like Help's, and the vertical divider between the quick-links sidebar and content now runs the full height of the page on both tabs instead of stopping partway down. v2026.07.08.1 fixes the same scroll-offset issue on General's own quick links, which still landed a few lines past the section title.

Tours, rotating tips, discoverability promos, and promo banners do not run on the mobile layout. After first-run onboarding finishes or is skipped, rotating footer tips wait one minute before appearing (desktop).

Config → General (for self-hosters)

Essentials vs Advanced — On config#general, everyday options (language, appearance, layout, bookmarks, smart collections summary, status overview) live under Essentials. Power features (full status tuning, branding, search behaviour, backups) are under Advanced. First visit always opens Essentials; your Essentials / Advanced / Show all choice is remembered only after you pick a layer explicitly (toolbar buttons, Advanced settings → links, or settings-search navigation). A sticky quick links sidebar (v2026.07.07) lists every section next to the settings and stays in view while you scroll. Click a section title, or its quick link, to expand or collapse it — opening one collapses whichever other section was open, so only one stays expanded at a time. Show all sections on one page flattens everything with Expand all / Collapse all. Hash links (#general/advanced/…) restore layer and open collapsed panels once a preference exists. Save row and main tab bar use a solid background so scrolling content does not show through.

Phone vs tablet — Only phones (≤768px width) limit config to General + Help with language, theme, and layout panels, and use the reduced dashboard footer (Search + + Bookmark only). Portrait tablets and wider touch layouts keep the full config, Essentials/Advanced layers, guided tours, and the desktop dashboard toolbar.

↺ Reset — per-control reset buttons beside many General fields restore defaults (marks dirty until Save). Advanced Reset to defaults card requires expanding before the destructive button is enabled.

Search settings… — Ctrl+Shift+K / Cmd+Shift+K in the breadcrumb row finds tabs, General panels, labels, stats sections, theme groups, keyboard bindings, and Help blocks; matching panels expand before scroll. On mobile, a subset search lives inside the General tab. Ctrl+K / Cmd+K opens quick actions only (save, open dashboard, tour resets). The General guided tour includes a desktop step for settings search.

ℹ info buttons — Click the small ℹ next to any setting label for a short explanation in your current language (EN / NL / DE / FR). No need to leave the page or search the README for what a toggle does.

Branding & PWA — Custom title and favicon under Advanced → Branding apply to the browser tab, the web app manifest (/manifest.webmanifest), and “Add to Home Screen” / installed PWA name and icon. Advanced → HyprMode includes an Add to home screen panel with platform steps and a browser install button when available.

In-app help: Config → Help tab → General settings (same content, translated).

Config → Keyboard

Open config#keyboard (link from Help → Keyboard shortcuts or the footer tip). Fixed defaults at the top match the cheat sheet — add bookmark (&, + / Ctrl+Shift+A, :new, Ctrl+V), quick actions on a selected row (Shift+M, Shift+T, Shift+D, Ctrl+C, [, Delete), grid navigation chords (G+1–9, G+P, G G, Shift+←/→, Home/End, Tab, F1), and a Config tab bar section (1–9, ←/→ with group wrap, Alt+←/→ between groups, S, Ctrl/Cmd+K, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+K, Alt+↑/↓ on Bookmarks). Rebindable keys below include search (>), command palette (:), page overview (,), global search (@), tag cloud (/), inline edit (;), arrows, Enter, and page tabs 1–9. Click Rebind, press a key, then Save — conflicts with fixed or existing bindings show a warning. Export / import your rebindable preset as JSON from the toolbar; fixed shortcuts stay on the cheat sheet.

Search filters

Type these directly in the search bar (> mode, or after opening search). Expand Filters in the empty state or start typing a prefix for autocomplete:

• category: — filter by category name
• status:online / status:offline / status:broken / status:ok
• status:pinned / status:unpinned / status:checked / status:unchecked
• page:current / page:all / page:2
• tag:name — filter by tag

Partial values (e.g. status:on) keep showing suggestions until the filter is complete. status:online uses persisted reachability on monitored bookmarks, not only the live status cache.

Organisation

• Unlimited pages and categories
• Drag-and-drop reorder within and between categories (drag strip on the left); saves debounce 1s with a success toast on the dashboard; bulk tag-filter move/delete groups rapid toasts into one message
• Per-category sort — A–Z and Rec chips in each category header (including Other and unknown-category blocks); click an active chip again for manual order; :sort in the command palette; legacy global sort removed from Config → General
• Config → pages and config → categories — drag or ↑/↓ to reorder; auto-save after ~600 ms with a localized sync toast; pages support archive (hide without deleting bookmarks); Usage column with popularity bar + bookmark count (Tags-style tier styling)
• Config → tags (desktop) — popularity-scaled word cloud (dashboard-style), structured list with usage bars, sorted by bookmark count; scrolls with the page; global rename/merge/delete; drill-down with Open; filter + clear; auto-save with undo; ↑/↓ moves focus between tag rows
• Config → finders (desktop) — filter list; drag or ↑/↓ reorder with auto-save; usage stats on tab open; stable ids + duplicate shortcut guard
• Long-press a bookmark row (~500 ms) to open inline edit — nearly opaque panel with tour-like full-page blur behind it (including the launcher preset); Save / Ctrl+Enter persists immediately on the dashboard; Esc cancels even when the inline-edit promo is open; edits and deletes from smart-collection rows sync to the category column and global bookmark store; page switches confirm before discarding unsaved edits; swipe and Ctrl+V paste are blocked while the editor is open
• Press and hold a category header (~500 ms, not on sort buttons) to rename it — double-click still works
• Double-click a page tab to rename it — also set an emoji icon and a colour dot per page
• Collapsible categories with optional always-collapsed default
• Tags on bookmarks with autocomplete; filter by tag in search and collections

Smart collections

Dynamic bookmark groups that appear automatically:

• Today — bookmarks matching your work/evening/weekend keyword sets
• Recently opened — bookmarks you've opened lately
• Most used — your highest open-count bookmarks
• Stale — bookmarks you haven't visited in a while
• Tag collections — one group per tag, shown when a tag has enough entries

Appearance

• 37+ built-in theme families, dark and light variants (including Terminal Amber, Dusk Horizon, Moss & Stone, Candy Pop, Midnight Ink)
• Custom theme editor (config#colors) — dark/light default palettes, packaged themes subtab (edit built-in families), custom theme list with export/import and undo; live preview on palette cards with contrast warnings; optional Theme tab guided tour; on mobile the editor is read-only (viewer mode)
• Auto dark mode — follows system light/dark without overwriting your saved theme palette id
• Layout presets: Default, Compact, Cards, Terminal-ish, Masonry, Detailed List, Launcher (large favicon tiles)
• Show favicons — toggle bookmark favicons in Config → General → Bookmarks or with :favicons on/off on the dashboard
• Launcher layout preset — switch via Config → General → Layout or :layout launcher in search; icon size configurable (small / normal / large)
• Button bar position: center-bottom (default) or corner dock (bottom-left / bottom-right) via Config or :buttonbar
• ★ What's New star button in the corner opposite the button bar — always visible; latest release loads first; scroll for up to 25 recent versions (each loads on demand)
• Font presets: Source Code Pro, JetBrains Mono, IBM Plex Mono, Inter, IBM Plex Sans, DM Sans, System UI
• Adjustable columns (1–6), font size, font weight, background opacity, and density
• Optional hover preview cards (off by default) — enable in Config → General → Advanced → Bookmarks; configurable hover delay
• Background image or gradient support
• Clickable date/time header showing a week-overview popover; optional calendar URL link

Monitoring & health

• Real-time online/offline status with ping timings per bookmark
• Health view (/#health) — dashboard-first health triage with summary tiles, quick filters, search, sort, retest, row score breakdown, and keyboard-first navigation (j/k, Tab, g/G, s, p, f, x, m, Enter, o). Per-row overflow actions include detect redirect, refresh title, archive, and delete. Edit opens the dashboard inline editor. Optional server-side background rechecks under Config → General → Status monitoring. Legacy /health URLs now redirect into this view. The header Health entry is always available.
• Health badge on the dashboard and config headers: compact count-only pill (e.g. 3) with theme accent colours for broken vs warnings; screen readers get a full aria-label (v2026.07.01.1); bulk open broken links asks for confirmation with a per-batch limit
• Filter, sort, and search state in the health view persists across page refreshes (sessionStorage) and syncs to URL query parameters (hv_filter, hv_sort, hv_q)
• Favicon display and refresh from the health view (per row)
• Config → stats (desktop) — insights block, finder usage, period filters with honest lifetime-open labels, week-over-week comparison on Activity when the week period is selected, Refresh / Export CSV, global table filter, row click opens bookmark editor, mobile chip-nav, formatted Last backup on overview; conflicts link to health

Bookmarks

• Metadata auto-fetch (title, description, preview image) when adding a URL
• Hover preview card (opt-in) shows full URL, open count, and last-opened date when enabled in config
• Flash animation on bookmark open — subtle ripple confirms the action was registered
• Plain-text notes per bookmark — visible on the dashboard, in hover previews, and editable via command bar (:note), inline edit, or the config detail panel
• Open-count badge tracking usage per bookmark
• Pin bookmarks to keep them at the top of their category (no pin badge on dashboard rows; use :pin / inline edit)
• Import from browser HTML export (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) — folders become categories, duplicate URLs skipped; missing icons are batch-fetched with a progress bar
• Export all bookmarks to CSV (localized headers: Name, URL, Category, Page, Shortcut, Tags, Notes)
• Full ZIP backup and restore (pages, bookmarks, categories, finders, settings, themes, data/icons/, custom favicon/font); atomic import with orphan cleanup — finders preserved when omitted from ZIP; last backup date shown in Config → Backups; after restore, missing bookmark icons are prefetched the same way
• Settings-only export/import of settings.json (migration-safe) from Config → Backups
• Bookmark icons: upload, URL fetch, link-preview fetch; re-upload overwrites same filename

Notifications

• Toast notifications with undo support
• Configurable toast duration

Localisation

Full UI translations available for English, Dutch, German, and French.

Mouse gestures

Browser Extension

The nextDash Bookmark Saver extension (extension/) lets you save the current browser tab directly to a nextDash page.

Install (Chrome / Chromium)

1. Open chrome://extensions/
2. Enable Developer mode (top right)
3. Click Load unpacked
4. Select the extension/ folder from this repository

First-time setup

1. Click the extension icon
2. Open the Settings tab
3. Enter your nextDash server URL (e.g. http://localhost:8080)
4. If the server uses NEXTDASH_WRITE_TOKEN, paste the same value under Write token (optional)
5. Choose a default page and save

Save tab

• Pre-filled title and URL; optional shortcut (auto-suggested from the name when left empty)
• Pick page/category, tags, and note — or Save to Inbox for a quick capture without choosing a page
• Duplicate URL warning; 409 when the shortcut is already taken on that page
• If a dashboard tab is open on the same server, it may toast and refresh

When you restrict CORS with NEXTDASH_CORS_ORIGINS, include your extension origin (chrome-extension://… from chrome://extensions).

See extension/README.md for full usage and development notes.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome — bugs, features, and translations alike.

Branch workflow

1. Branch from dev, make changes, and open pull requests into dev.

2. CI runs on pushes and PRs to dev.

3. When a release is ready, merge dev → main with:

   git checkout dev
   ./scripts/release-to-main.sh v2026.07.02
   

   That script merges, strips dev-only files from main (tests, Playwright, internal scripts), tags the release, pushes, and publishes a GitHub Release (sidebar “Latest”) via gh.

   One-time setup: brew install gh and gh auth login.

Do not merge dev into main manually on GitHub — the compare banner after pushing to dev is informational only until you run the release script.

Clone for development: git clone then git checkout dev.
Clone for Docker / stable use: stay on the default main branch.

License

MIT