# The Dashboard
See What's Going On
{: .subtitle }
The dashboard is the central place that shows you the current active routes handled by Traefik.
The dashboard in action
The dashboard is available at the same location as the [API](./api.md) but on the path `/dashboard/` by default.
!!! warning "The trailing slash `/` in `/dashboard/` is mandatory"
There are 2 ways to configure and access the dashboard:
- [Secure mode (Recommended)](#secure-mode)
- [Insecure mode](#insecure-mode)
!!! note ""
There is also a redirect of the path `/` to the path `/dashboard/`,
but one should not rely on that property as it is bound to change,
and it might make for confusing routing rules anyway.
## Secure Mode
This is the **recommended** method.
Start by enabling the dashboard by using the following option from [Traefik's API](./api.md)
on the [static configuration](../getting-started/configuration-overview.md#the-static-configuration):
```toml tab="File (TOML)"
[api]
# Dashboard
#
# Optional
# Default: true
#
dashboard = true
```
```yaml tab="File (YAML)"
api:
# Dashboard
#
# Optional
# Default: true
#
dashboard: true
```
```bash tab="CLI"
# Dashboard
#
# Optional
# Default: true
#
--api.dashboard=true
```
Then define a routing configuration on Traefik itself,
with a router attached to the service `api@internal` in the
[dynamic configuration](../getting-started/configuration-overview.md#the-dynamic-configuration),
to allow defining:
- One or more security features through [middlewares](../middlewares/overview.md)
like authentication ([basicAuth](../middlewares/basicauth.md) , [digestAuth](../middlewares/digestauth.md),
[forwardAuth](../middlewares/forwardauth.md)) or [whitelisting](../middlewares/ipwhitelist.md).
- A [router rule](#dashboard-router-rule) for accessing the dashboard,
through Traefik itself (sometimes referred as "Traefik-ception").
??? example "Dashboard Dynamic Configuration Examples"
--8<-- "content/operations/include-api-examples.md"
### Dashboard Router Rule
As underlined in the [documentation for the `api.dashboard` option](./api.md#dashboard),
the [router rule](../routing/routers/index.md#rule) defined for Traefik must match
the path prefixes `/api` and `/dashboard`.
We recommend to use a "Host Based rule" as ```Host(`traefik.domain.com`)``` to match everything on the host domain,
or to make sure that the defined rule captures both prefixes:
```bash tab="Host Rule"
# The dashboard can be accessed on http://traefik.domain.com/dashboard/
rule = "Host(`traefik.domain.com`)"
```
```bash tab="Path Prefix Rule"
# The dashboard can be accessed on http://domain.com/dashboard/ or http://traefik.domain.com/dashboard/
rule = "PathPrefix(`/api`) || PathPrefix(`/dashboard`)"
```
```bash tab="Combination of Rules"
# The dashboard can be accessed on http://traefik.domain.com/dashboard/
rule = "Host(`traefik.domain.com`) && (PathPrefix(`/api`) || PathPrefix(`/dashboard`))"
```
## Insecure Mode
This mode is not recommended because it does not allow the use of security features.
To enable the "insecure mode", use the following options from [Traefik's API](./api.md#insecure):
```toml tab="File (TOML)"
[api]
dashboard = true
insecure = true
```
```yaml tab="File (YAML)"
api:
dashboard: true
insecure: true
```
```bash tab="CLI"
--api.dashboard=true --api.insecure=true
```
You can now access the dashboard on the port `8080` of the Traefik instance,
at the following URL: `http://:8080/dashboard/` (trailing slash is mandatory).