Your First Dashboard¶

Build your first Metabase dashboard after running the Quick Start.

Step 1: Open Metabase¶

The easiest way to access Metabase is through the Dango Web UI, which handles authentication automatically.

1. Open http://localhost:8800 in your browser
2. Log in with your admin password (set during dango init)
3. Click "Open Metabase" in the sidebar

The Web UI uses an SSO bridge to log you into Metabase automatically — no separate Metabase credentials needed.

Step 2: Explore Your Data¶

Once Metabase loads, you'll see the home screen. Your DuckDB database is already connected.

Browse Your Schemas¶

Click the Browse icon (grid icon) in the left sidebar or navigate to Browse → Tables to see your data organized by schema:

Start by exploring the staging schema — it contains clean, well-named tables ready for querying.

Learn more about data layers in Data Layers.

Step 3: Create a Question¶

In Metabase, a "question" is a saved query. You can create one using the visual builder or SQL.

Visual Query Builder (No SQL Required)¶

1. Click + New in the top-right corner
2. Select Question
3. Pick your database (DuckDB) and a table (e.g., staging > stg_sales_data)
4. Add filters, groupings, or summaries using the visual builder
5. Click Visualize to see results
6. Click Save to keep the question

Custom SQL Query¶

For more control, write SQL directly:

1. Click + New → SQL query
2. Make sure DuckDB is selected as the database
3. Write your query:

SELECT
    DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
    COUNT(*) AS total_orders,
    SUM(amount) AS total_revenue
FROM staging.stg_sales_data
WHERE order_date >= CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '12 months'
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1 DESC

1. Click Run (or press Ctrl+Enter) to execute
2. Switch visualization types using the Visualization button (bar chart, line chart, table, etc.)
3. Click Save to keep the question

Step 4: Build a Dashboard¶

Now combine multiple questions into a dashboard.

1. Click + New → Dashboard
2. Give it a name (e.g., "Sales Overview")
3. Click Save

Add Questions to the Dashboard¶

1. Click the pencil icon (edit mode) in the top-right
2. Click + Add → Saved question
3. Select the questions you created in Step 3
4. Drag and resize cards to arrange your layout
5. Click Save

Add a Date Filter¶

Filters let viewers change the time range without editing queries:

1. In edit mode, click Filter in the top bar
2. Select Date picker
3. Connect it to the date column in each card (Metabase will suggest matches)
4. Click Save

Now anyone viewing the dashboard can filter by date range.

Step 5: Save Your Configuration¶

Export your Metabase dashboards and questions so you can restore them later or share with teammates:

# Save all dashboards, questions, and collections
dango metabase save

# Save specific collections only
dango metabase save --collections "Sales,Marketing"

# Save all shared collections
dango metabase save

This exports to the metabase/ directory in your project. To restore on another machine or after a reset:

dango metabase load

Learn more in Save & Load.

Refreshing Data¶

After a Sync¶

When you run dango sync, your data in DuckDB is updated. Metabase picks up data changes automatically the next time you run a question or refresh a dashboard.

After Schema Changes¶

If you add new sources or dbt models, Metabase needs to discover the new tables:

dango metabase refresh

This tells Metabase to re-scan the DuckDB schema and make new tables available for querying.

Instant Pipeline Dashboard¶

Want a pre-built dashboard without creating questions manually? Use the provisioning command:

dango dashboard provision

This creates a Data Pipeline Health dashboard in Metabase with:

• Sync status and history for all sources
• Row counts and freshness metrics
• Error tracking and alerts

Learn more in Dashboard Provisioning.

Troubleshooting¶

Metabase shows a loading screen¶

Metabase takes 2–3 minutes to start on first launch. Check container status:

docker ps

Look for the Metabase container — when health shows "healthy", it's ready.

No tables visible in Metabase¶

Make sure you've synced at least one source:

dango sync
dango metabase refresh

SQL query returns an error¶

• Check that you're querying the correct schema (staging.*, marts.*, not raw_* directly)
• Verify column names by browsing the table in Metabase first
• Use SHOW TABLES in Metabase's SQL editor to list all available tables

Dashboard shows "No results"¶

• Verify the date filter range includes your data
• Check that the underlying questions return data when run individually
• Re-sync your source if the data is stale: dango sync <name>

Can't access Metabase through Web UI¶

Make sure the platform is running:

dango status

If Metabase isn't responding, restart:

dango stop
dango start

Next Steps¶