The Dashboard: Where Each Day Begins

The Dashboard is the first screen after sign-in. It's deliberately quiet. The point is not to throw every notification at you — it's to surface the three or four things that actually need your hands today.

What you'll see, top to bottom

• Daily Rhythm — Seeds due today and anything overdue. Overdue items show a red pulse so they don't get lost.
• Upcoming Gatherings — the next event(s) you've RSVP'd to or are invited to. More on Gatherings.
• Active Gardens — Gardens you belong to that are in Planting or Growth phase. Not the ones you've forgotten about.
• Notification bell (top right) — mentions, RSVPs, votes, and Council activity

What you won't see

The Dashboard skips most things on purpose. You won't see every Seed in every Garden. You won't see other people's contributions. You won't see closed Proposals. For a complete operational view, that's My Patch for personal items, or each Garden page for project items.

Reading the Vitality cues

Each Garden card on the Dashboard carries a small status: Thriving, Needs water, or Dormant. "Needs water" means the Garden has overdue Seeds or hasn't had activity in a while. Don't read it as failure. Read it as a prompt: does this still matter? If yes, do one thing in it. If no, move it to Harvest or Dormant phase and clear your view.

If the Dashboard is empty

That's fine. Especially in your first week. The screen says "the sun cycle is clear, rest well." Take that at face value.

If it's still empty after a month and your community isn't using ARA, that's a different problem — usually it means people haven't been invited yet (see Inviting your first villagers) or no one's set up Rhythms yet (see The Art of the Rhythm).

One habit worth forming

Open the Dashboard once in the morning, with coffee. That's it. ARA isn't built for all-day refresh. The notifications can wait until tomorrow.