Building an Indie Hacker Dashboard for Your Projects

Introduction

Indie hackers juggle multiple experiments, ideas, and metrics across various projects. A well-designed dashboard can turn chaos into clarity by aggregating data, surfacing signals, and guiding decision-making. In this post, you’ll learn how to build a lightweight, extensible dashboard tailored for solo founders or small teams working on several side projects.

Why an Indie Hacker Dashboard

A dedicated dashboard helps you:

• Centralize experiments, milestones, and metrics in one view.
• Detect early declines or wins without digging through emails and notes.
• Prioritize work based on data, not just intuition.
• Build a repeatable workflow for launching, measuring, and learning.

Core Features to Consider

• Projects view: list of active projects with health status and progress.
• Experiment tracking: run, log, and compare experiments with key metrics.
• Metrics and KPIs: burn rate, customer signals, engagement, and conversion metrics.
• Milestones and to-dos: lightweight task management tied to projects.
• Data visualization: charts for trends, cohorts, and funnels.
• Local-first storage: work offline and sync when online (optional but valuable for resilience).
• Extensibility: simple plugin or component system to add new data sources.

Data Model and Architecture

• Projects: id, name, description, status, created_at, updated_at.
• Experiments: id, project_id, hypothesis, start_date, end_date, outcome, metrics.
• Metrics: id, project_id, name, value, date, unit.
• Milestones: id, project_id, title, due_date, completed.
• Visualization: references to metrics and time ranges.
• Storage: local storage with a possible backend sync layer if you scale beyond a single device. Keep the model small at first: start with Projects, Experiments, and a few Metrics, then evolve as you learn what matters most.

Tech Stack and Architecture

• Frontend: lightweight UI framework (React, Vue, or Svelte) with a clean, responsive design.
• Data layer: local-first approach using IndexedDB or LocalStorage as the primary store; optional sync via a minimal backend.
• Visualization: simple charts (line, bar, funnel) using a minimal charting library.
• Backend (optional): a small REST or GraphQL API for cross-device sync; use a serverless function or a tiny Express/FastAPI app if you need it.
• UX patterns: keyboard-driven navigation, focused input flows, and actionable summaries on the dashboard.
• Deployment: static hosting for the frontend, with optional serverless endpoints if you need sync.

MVP Roadmap

1. Set up a minimal dashboard shell with Projects list and a single Experiment log.
2. Add a basic metrics display for a project (e.g., daily signups, installs, or clicks).
3. Implement simple charts for a project’s metric trend over time.
4. Add Milestones and a to-do list linked to projects.
5. Introduce offline-first storage and ensure data remains available offline.
6. Polish UI/UX and add a few keyboard shortcuts for speed.
7. Optional: add cross-project comparisons and a simple thinking-through dashboard for prioritization.

UI/UX Design Tips

• Prioritize a clean, distraction-free layout: key data at a glance, with deeper dives available on click.
• Use a consistent color system to differentiate projects and metrics.
• Show status indicators (green/yellow/red) for quick health checks.
• Provide quick actions: “Add Experiment”, “Log Metric”, “Add Milestone”.
• Ensure mobile usability since many indie hackers work on the go.

Example Components and Data Flows

• ProjectCard: shows name, status, and quick metrics snapshot.
• ExperimentModal: create or edit a hypothesis, start date, and expected metrics.
• MetricsChart: renders time-series data with drill-down to specific date ranges.
• MilestoneList: list of upcoming and completed milestones with due dates.
• SyncStatusBadge: indicates offline/online status and last sync time.

Data Visualization and Signals

• Use concise charts: one metric per chart if possible to avoid clutter.
• Offer a date range picker to explore trends (7d, 30d, 90d, custom).
• Highlight notable events (new release, marketing spike, a bug fix) on timelines to correlate actions and outcomes.

Deployment and Maintenance

• Start with a single-page app (SPA) hosted on a static host.
• If you add server-side syncing, deploy a lightweight backend or use serverless functions.
• Regularly prune unused metrics and projects to keep the dashboard fast.
• Back up your data or ensure that offline data isn’t lost when you reinstall the app.

Security and Privacy Considerations

• If you store sensitive data (e.g., revenue, customer names), consider encryption at rest and access controls.
• Keep dependencies minimal and up-to-date to reduce attack surfaces.
• For open-source dashboards, provide transparency about data handling and local-first storage behavior.

Conclusion

An Indie Hacker Dashboard is a practical tool that helps you stay focused across multiple projects. By starting small with a solid data model, a clean UI, and a clear plan for growth, you can gain sharper insights, ship faster, and learn from your experiments more effectively. Build iteratively, let your metrics guide decisions, and evolve the dashboard as your portfolio of projects expands.