# Quick Start Guide

Set up your first status dashboard in five steps.

Source: https://statusdashboard.com/docs/quick-start

Five steps to a fully functional status dashboard. Follow them in order during your trial or first production setup.

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## Step 1: Create components
Components represent the individual services or systems you track on your status dashboards (for example API, Web App, Payment Processing, CDN).

1. Go to [Components](/app/components)
2. Click **Add Component**
3. Fill in:
   * **Name** — something short and recognizable (e.g. "API" or "Website")
   * **Description** — optional context shown alongside the component (up to 150 characters)
4. Click **Add component**

The component is immediately live with an **Operational** status. Your plan limits how many components you can create.

## Step 2: Create a dashboard
A status dashboard is a public page at a subdomain such as `acme.statusdashboard.io`, or at your custom domain if that is on your plan.

1. Go to [Dashboards](/app/dashboards)
2. Click **Add Dashboard**
3. Enter:
   * **Name** — internal label shown in your admin list
   * **Subdomain** — the unique URL slug (lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens; e.g. `acme`)
4. Click **Create dashboard**

The dashboard is live right away at `https://<subdomain>.statusdashboard.io`. You are taken to its settings page to add components and configure it further.

## Step 3: Attach components to the dashboard
1. Open the dashboard you just created and switch to the **Components** tab
2. Check the components you want to display on this status dashboard
3. Drag to set their display order (or assign them to groups if enabled)
4. Save your changes

The same component can be added to multiple dashboards with independent ordering.

## Step 4: Add subscribers
The trial checklist counts any human subscriber (email, SMS, or WhatsApp). On a trial, email is included. SMS and WhatsApp depend on your plan.

1. Go to [Email subscribers](/app/subscribers/email/subscribers)
2. Click **Add Subscriber**
3. Enter an email address, choose the status dashboard, and select the components they should hear about
4. Save

Admin-added subscribers are created already verified. You can also let visitors subscribe from the public status dashboard when subscriptions are enabled on that dashboard for at least one channel.

One subscriber is enough to complete this step.

## Step 5: Publish an event
Any published event completes the checklist: incident, maintenance, or informational.

1. Go to [Events](/app/events)
2. Click **Create Event**
3. On the **General** tab:
   * Select a type (Incident is a good first test)
   * Enter a clear **Title** (e.g. "Partial API Outage")
   * Choose the initial **Status** (e.g. "Investigating" — this comes from your workflow)
4. Switch to the **Components** tab, select the affected component(s), and assign a **severity** for each (e.g. "Degraded Performance"). Severity is auto-derived from the highest one.
5. On the **Description** tab, provide a rich-text explanation for viewers.
6. On the initial **Status** / timeline section, enter the **Initial message** that will appear as the first public timeline entry.
7. On the **Publish** tab, enable **Publish** so the event appears on your status dashboards.
8. Click **Create Event**.

The event is created, component status on the dashboard updates automatically, and (because it is published) the details are visible to subscribers and visitors.

## What's next?
Once the five setup steps are done, you can:

| Goal                                                      | Where to go                                                                                          |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Post a follow-up and resolve an incident                  | Open the event → **Timeline** (a **Resolved** entry closes it and returns components to Operational) |
| Add more components or dashboards                         | [Components](/app/components) or [Dashboards](/app/dashboards)                                       |
| Customize branding, header/footer, or add a custom domain | Your dashboard settings in [Dashboards](/app/dashboards) (Branding / Domains / Code tabs)            |
| Control which sections show on the public page            | Your dashboard → Content tab in [Dashboards](/app/dashboards)                                        |
| Post maintenance windows or informational notices         | [Events](/app/events) → Create Event (choose type)                                                   |
| Invite teammates                                          | [Users](/app/users)                                                                                  |
| Manage plan, payment method, or invoices                  | [Billing](/app/billing)                                                                              |

> **Need help?**
>    
>   [Reach out to support](/contact)
>   . We are happy to help you set up your first status dashboard.