# Dashboard tour

This page is a map, not a manual: how the Bird dashboard is put together, so you know where everything lives before you start clicking. If you've just [created your account](/docs/knowledge-base/getting-started/create-account), start here.

The shape is simple. You're always in a **workspace**. The **sidebar** on the left is your main navigation: channels are listed under Products, shared resources under Resources, and developer tools pinned at the bottom. A slim top bar carries the breadcrumb, search, and your profile. That's the whole model; the rest of this page walks each part.

## Where you'll spend your first session

Three stops cover the setup work for a new account:

1. **Your channel's setup step.** Every channel starts by proving who you are on it — registering the identity you'll send from. Each channel's overview walks its own setup: [Email](/docs/guides/email/overview).
2. **Developers → [API keys](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/api-keys)** — create a key for whoever is connecting your product or tools to Bird. Each key belongs to the workspace it was created in.
3. **Settings → [Team](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/settings/team)** — get the right people in, each with a role that matches what they should be able to do. See [Invite your team](/docs/knowledge-base/getting-started/invite-your-team).

![The API Keys page in the Bird dashboard, listing keys with their masked prefix, scopes, and last-used time](/images/docs/dashboard-api-keys.png)

Everything else can wait until you're actually sending.

## The sidebar

The sidebar on the left is how you move around. It opens with a search bar at the top (⌘K), then two groups of navigation rows separated by a divider.

**Products** lists the channels your workspace can use. **Home** is a direct link to your workspace overview. The channel rows — **Email**, **SMS**, **Verify**, and **WhatsApp** — each drill into a level-2 panel with the pages for that channel: its activity log, metrics, configuration, and channel-specific settings. Click the channel row to open its panel; click the back arrow to return to the root. Channels that aren't live yet (Voice, Push, Lookup, Realtime) are grouped under a coming-soon row.

**Resources** contains workspace-level records that span channels: **Contacts** and **Numbers**.

At the bottom of the sidebar, three developer tools are always visible no matter which channel you're in: **API Keys**, **Webhooks**, and **Logs**.

## Channel pages

Every channel drills into a set of pages scoped to that channel — its activity log, metrics, and configuration. Learn one and the rest will feel familiar.

Each channel's overview documents its pages one by one: [Email](/docs/guides/email/overview#the-email-app-in-the-dashboard).

## Billing and settings

- **Upgrade** — shown in the top bar if you have billing access. Opens your plan and payment details: Wallet, Subscriptions, Usage, Payment Methods, Invoices, Transaction History, and Billing Address.
- **Settings** — the workspace settings pages ([Settings](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/settings)) cover the workspace name and ID, [Notifications](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/settings/notifications), and [Team](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/settings/team) (who has access and with what role, plus an **Invite members** button).

![The Team tab of the Settings page in the Bird dashboard: the members list with roles and the Invite members button](/images/docs/dashboard-settings-team.png)

## Search and help

- **Search (⌘K)** opens the command palette from the search bar in the sidebar header: type to jump to any page or channel in the workspace.
- **Need help?** opens Bird's support chat from the top bar — ask a question, contact support, share feedback, and pick up past conversations.

## Your profile

The avatar in the top-right corner is you, not the workspace. Its menu switches between your workspaces and shows any pending invites. It also opens **Account settings**: your personal profile, [**Security**](https://bird.com/dashboard/profile/security) (password and [multi-factor authentication](/docs/knowledge-base/account-security/login-mfa)), [**Sessions**](https://bird.com/dashboard/profile/sessions) (everywhere you're signed in), and [**Connected apps**](https://bird.com/dashboard/profile/connected-apps) (OAuth grants you've approved, like the [MCP server](/docs/ai/mcp-server)). These follow your user account across every workspace you belong to.

## Next steps

- Set up your channel end to end: [Email overview](/docs/guides/email/overview)
- Get the right people in: [Invite your team](/docs/knowledge-base/getting-started/invite-your-team)