# Dashboard

The Dashboard is the starting point for the active environment. Use it to confirm where you are working, open the applications available to you, and understand how production resources are organized.

![CLOUDflex Studio dashboard](../../../assets/img/user-guide-screenshots/dashboard.png)

## Interface Overview

The interface has three main areas:

- **Context controls:** The organization and environment selectors at the top of the page define which configuration and resources you are viewing. Confirm both before making a change.
- **Navigation:** The left sidebar opens the Dashboard, production applications, and the settings available to your role.
- **Environment overview:** The main Dashboard shows instance and flow totals for the active environment, followed by cards for its studios.

The account menu in the upper-right provides options associated with your signed-in user. What appears in the navigation depends on the active environment, its enabled applications, and your permissions.

## How CLOUDflex Is Organized

CLOUDflex uses a few related concepts to keep production resources separated and understandable:

- An **environment** is the active operating boundary. It contains its own cloud provider, region, credentials, enabled applications, studios, and resources. Changing environments changes the resources and status shown on the Dashboard.
- A **studio** is a logical group inside an environment. A studio can represent a show, client, control room, or another boundary that fits your team. Studio cards collect the instances and monitoring feeds assigned to that group.
- An **instance** is a virtual production machine. Instances run the production software your crew uses and are operated through Instance Manager. Assigning an instance to a studio makes its state part of that studio's Dashboard summary.
- An **application** is a CLOUDflex operating tool enabled for the environment. Applications provide the controls for a particular type of work.

In practical terms, select an environment, work within one or more studios, and use applications to operate the instances and other resources in that environment.

## Applications in the Sidebar

Depending on the environment configuration and your permissions, the navigation can include:

- **Instance Manager** for starting, stopping, connecting to, and maintaining virtual production machines.
- **Flow Manager** for configuring signal inputs and outputs through a flow engine.
- **Feed Manager** for opening and sharing browser-viewable monitoring feeds.
- **Deploy Manager** for launching approved deployment templates.
- **Usage** for reviewing environment compute time and estimated cost when you have administrative access.

Select an application in the sidebar to leave the overview and work with its resources. If an expected application is missing, confirm the active environment and ask an administrator whether the application and your access are enabled.

## Read the Dashboard Cards

The **Instances** and **Flows** cards summarize resource state across the active environment. Select a summary card to open the corresponding application.

Each card under **Studios** shows the studio name and description, its instance counts, and its assigned video feeds. Select a feed to open its viewer.

The green and red controls on a studio card start or stop every instance assigned to that studio. Review the studio name and action in the confirmation dialog before continuing.

:::caution
Stopping a studio interrupts every running instance in that group. Confirm that you have selected the correct environment and studio, and check the production impact before using a bulk action.
:::

Administrators can select **Manage Studios** to change studio configuration. If no environment is available, an administrator must create one or grant you access to an existing environment.