Dashboard Design for Agent Systems

A monitoring dashboard should answer one question instantly: "Is the system healthy right now?" If answering that question requires reading six panels, cross-referencing two charts, and checking a log stream, the dashboard has failed its purpose. The primary dashboard is a single screen with four quadrants: system health (green/yellow/red for each agent), quality scores (current vs baseline for each dimension), throughput (tasks completed vs expected), and active alerts (sorted by severity).

Secondary dashboards provide depth: per-agent detail (health and quality metrics for a single agent over time), per-workflow detail (traces and quality scores for a specific workflow type), decision analysis (decision record patterns, confidence distributions, escalation rates), and trend analysis (quality drift, throughput trends, error rate trends). The primary dashboard is the control room. The secondary dashboards are the investigation tools. Nobody should need to visit a secondary dashboard unless the primary dashboard indicates a problem.

1. 1. Build the Primary Dashboard First One screen, four quadrants: health, quality, throughput, alerts. If the primary dashboard is green across all four, the system is healthy. If any quadrant is yellow or red, drill into the secondary dashboard.
2. 2. Link to Investigation Dashboards Every element on the primary dashboard links to a secondary dashboard with detail. Click a yellow agent → per-agent detail. Click a low quality score → quality dimension breakdown. Navigation is one click.
3. 3. Test the 5-Second Rule Show the dashboard to someone unfamiliar with the system. Ask: "Is the system healthy?" If they cannot answer in 5 seconds, the dashboard needs simplification.