# Using the app

Most VitalSentinel pages use the same parts: the top bar, the sidebar, the filter bar at the bottom, side panels and notices. This page explains these shared parts once, so that the module pages do not repeat them.

## The top bar [#the-top-bar]

The top bar is at the top of every page in the app.

- **Dashboard** opens the list of all your sites. See [Dashboard](/workspace/dashboard).
- **Monitoring** opens the pages of the selected domain. If no domain is selected, it opens the domain selector.
- The domain selector in the center changes the domain that you look at.
- **Need expert help?** opens the page where you can book a call with an expert. See [Consultations](/help/consultations).
- The bell opens your notifications. See [Notifications](/account/notifications#notification-bell).
- The user menu opens with your avatar.

### The user menu [#the-user-menu]

The user menu at the top right has these items:

- The current workspace, your role in it and how many domains it uses of its limit. The gear icon opens **Workspace settings**.
- Your other workspaces. Click one to switch to it.
- **Create workspace**. See [Create a workspace](/getting-started/account/create-workspace).
- **User settings** opens your account settings. See [Profile](/account/profile).
- **Documentation** opens these docs.
- **Cookie choices** lets you change your cookie consent.
- **Privacy mode** blurs domain names and URLs on the screen, for example before you share your screen. It also hides the Theo chat button.
- **Theme** sets the colors to **Light**, **Dark** or **System**.
- **Log out**.

## Dashboard pages and domain pages [#dashboard-pages-and-domain-pages]

The app has two kinds of pages:

- **The Dashboard** shows all sites of your workspaces in one list, with a status dot for each module. Use it to find the site that needs attention.
- **Domain pages** show one site. The domain sidebar on the left lists every module of that site. Each site starts on its [Overview](/domain/overview).

The [workspace settings](/workspace/settings) and your account settings have their own sidebars. The workspace sidebar has **Settings**, **Members**, **Billing**, **Integrations**, **API credits** and **Data access log**. Only the workspace owner sees **Billing**. The account sidebar has **Profile**, **Security**, **Notifications**, **API access**, **Connected apps** and **Data & privacy**.

## The domain sidebar [#the-domain-sidebar]

At the top of the domain sidebar, the **Workspace** tile shows the current workspace. Click it to switch to another workspace. It also has **Create workspace**.

The domain sidebar puts the modules in five groups:

| Group | Entries |
|---|---|
| **Domain** | **Overview**, **Alerts**, **Reports**, **Settings** |
| **Site checks** | **Site Health Monitoring**, **Page Monitoring** |
| **Search & traffic** | **Google Search Console**, **Indexing Monitoring**, **Web Analytics** |
| **Crawling & availability** | **Server Log Monitoring**, **Sitemap Monitoring**, **Robots.txt Monitoring**, **Uptime Monitoring** |
| **Web performance** | **RUM Monitoring**, **CrUX Monitoring**, **Synthetic Monitoring** |

For the entries of the **Domain** group, see [Alerts](/domain/alerts), [Reports](/domain/reports) and [Domain settings](/domain/settings).

Some modules open into sub-pages, for example **RUM Monitoring** has **Overview**, **LCP**, **CLS**, **INP**, **FCP**, **TTFB**, **Engagement**, **Errors** and **Page Views**. Each module overview lists its sub-pages. See [Introduction](/getting-started/introduction).

### Status icons in the sidebar [#status-icons-in-the-sidebar]

An icon after a module name in the domain sidebar shows the state of the module. A module with no problem has no icon. The icon has one of these meanings:

- **Critical**: VitalSentinel found a critical problem.
- **Needs attention**: VitalSentinel found a problem, or the data source stopped.
- **Waits for verification**: the domain is not verified, so the module does not run.
- **Not connected**: the module needs a data source.
- **Waiting for first data**: the source is connected, but no data has arrived yet.
- **Not on your plan**: a plan limit stops new data.
- **Muted**: you [stopped flagging](/account/notifications#muted-status-dots) the only problem of the module.

Hold the pointer on the icon to see a tooltip. The tooltip says what the module watches, what VitalSentinel found, and what to do next. For example, an unverified domain shows "Waits for domain verification. Nothing is checked or collected before it." See [Module states](#module-states).

### The plan line [#the-plan-line]

The workspace owner sees the plan line at the bottom of the domain sidebar, for example **Starter plan**. It shows a bar and the number of domains, for example "2 of 3 domains". At the domain limit, it shows **Domain limit reached**. The **Upgrade** button opens [Billing](/workspace/billing). On the largest plan, the plan line does not show.

Hold the pointer on the plan line to see [every limit of the plan](/workspace/plans-and-limits) and how much the workspace used. If the workspace is near a limit or at a limit, the tooltip shows **Near a limit** or **Limit reached**. Page views, events and log hits count for each month.

## The page header [#the-page-header]

Each page starts with a title, which is the sidebar label, and one sentence about what the page answers. On some pages, a **?** beside the title explains how the figures of the page are made. Some pages have tabs under the title.

Many pages start with a verdict card: the answer of the page in one sentence. The cards below the verdict give the detail.

### Deeper tables and charts [#deeper-tables-and-charts]

Under the main answer, many pages continue with deeper tables and charts. Scroll down to see them. They are always open, and they have no separate heading. The cards continue lower on the page.

## The filter bar [#the-filter-bar]

Most data pages have a filter bar: a floating bar at the bottom of the page. It has only the controls that the page uses, for example:

- The date range button, with the name of the range, for example **Last 28 days**.
- A search field.
- Switches between views, for example Phone and Desktop.
- **Filter**, which opens the filter panel. With filters in force, it shows the number, for example **Filter (2)**.
- The filters in force, as chips that you can remove one by one.
- **Clear** or **Clear all**, which removes the filters.

The date range follows you from page to page. On a narrow screen, the bar becomes one button, for example "Filters · 2 · Last 28 days". It opens a panel with the same controls. Click **Done** to close it.

## Date range and compare [#date-range-and-compare]

Click the date range button to open the date picker.

1. Select a range from the list, for example **Today**, **Last 7 days**, **Last 28 days**, **Last 90 days**, **Last 12 months**, **This year** or **Last calendar year**. You can also select the first and the last day in the calendar.
2. To compare, turn on **Compare with another period**.
3. Select **Previous period**, **Previous month**, **Same period last year** or **Custom dates**.

With a comparison, the figures show how much they changed against the other period.

Some pages need a minimum or a maximum number of days. The picker then tells you the limit. The picker can also show these notes:

- "History reaches back to" a date: the first day with data.
- "Data through" a date: the last day with data.
- "Days are counted in UTC."

## Filters [#filters]

The filter panel opens above the filter bar. A filter applies to every card on the page.

1. Click **Filter**.
2. In the first row, select what to filter by, for example a country or a page.
3. Select how to compare, for example **is**, **is not**, **is any of** or **contains**.
4. Select or type one or more values.
5. To add a row, click **Add condition**.
6. Click **Apply**.

To close the panel without a change, click **Cancel**, press Esc or click outside it. On a phone, the filters open in a dialog. Its button says, for example, **Apply 2 filters**, and **Clear all** removes all filters.

### And, Or and groups [#and-or-and-groups]

Each new row joins the row above with **And** or **Or**. **And** shows only data that matches both rows. **Or** shows data that matches one of the rows. Several values in one row match any of them.

"And" applies before "Or". So "A and B or C" means "(A and B) or C". To put conditions in brackets, click **Add group**. A **Group** box holds its own rows. When you have two or more rows, the panel shows **Read as:** and the filter in plain words.

You can use up to 50 conditions. Some pages can join conditions only with **And**. If the page cannot use a filter, the panel shows **These filters can't be applied** and the reason, for example "These filters can only be joined with And."

## Side panels [#side-panels]

When you click a row, a page, an issue or a setup button, a side panel often opens on the right. The page stays under it. A side panel can have a status chip, tabs and buttons. Arrows go to the previous or next item, with a count such as "3 of 20". To close the panel, click the close button or press Esc.

## Toasts [#toasts]

Each action that you do shows a short message, called a toast, for example **Workspace created** or **Couldn't copy the message**. A toast closes by itself after about 5 seconds. A toast with a button, for example **Undo**, stays for at least 8 seconds. To close a toast earlier, click its close button. Actions that delete data ask you to confirm first.

## The verification banner [#the-verification-banner]

If the domain is not verified, every page of the domain shows the banner **Verify this domain to start monitoring**. VitalSentinel checks or collects nothing for the domain before verification. Owners and admins can click **Verify domain** in the banner. On the **Overview** and on module pages, the verification button is on the page itself.

If a verified domain stops passing verification, the banner warns you before monitoring pauses. Then it shows **Monitoring is paused**. See [Verify ownership](/getting-started/domain-setup/verify-ownership).

## The red crawler banner [#the-red-crawler-banner]

If your site blocks the VitalSentinel crawler, a red banner shows at the top of every page of the domain. You cannot close it. It goes away by itself after the next good visit of the crawler.

The banner says what is wrong, since when, and which modules cannot run. [Site Health Monitoring](/site-health/overview), [Page Monitoring](/page-monitoring/overview) and [Sitemap Monitoring](/sitemap-monitoring/overview) use the crawler. The banner has one of these titles, followed by "on" and the domain:

| Banner title | Cause |
|---|---|
| **Your site is turning our crawler away** | The site answers with an access error. |
| **A bot challenge is stopping our crawler** | Bot protection shows a challenge instead of the page. |
| **Your site is not answering our crawler** | The address, the certificate or the server does not respond. |
| **Your robots.txt keeps our crawler out** | [robots.txt](/robots-txt-monitoring/overview) disallows the crawler for the homepage or the sitemap. |

### Fix a blocked crawler [#fix-a-blocked-crawler]

The banner shows the fix as numbered steps, for example **Allow our user agent** and **Allow our IP addresses**. It shows the user agent text and the robots.txt name to copy. The line **What we saw:** shows the last error, for example an HTTP status. After the fix, click **Check again**. Members do not see this button.

- If the crawler can get in, the toast says "Our crawler can reach your site again".
- If not, the toast says "Still blocked – our crawler tries again on its own".

See [Monitoring IPs](/help/monitoring-ips).

## Module states [#module-states]

Each module page shows what the module needs. The same states show in the sidebar, on the **Overview** and on the **Dashboard**:

- **Waits for verification**: the page shows example data and the **Verify domain** button.
- **Not connected**: the page shows **Preview with example data** and one button to connect the source.
- **Waiting for the first data**: the source is connected. The page fills in by itself.
- **Needs attention**: a notice above the data says what stopped and what to do.
- **Not on your plan**: a plan limit stops new data. The data that VitalSentinel collected stays.

For each state in detail, see [Finish the setup](/getting-started/domain-setup/finish-setup#module-states).

## Page tours [#page-tours]

A page tour shows a card next to each part of the page and explains it. To start the tour of the page that you are on, open the Theo chat and click **Tour this page**. VitalSentinel also has a walkthrough of every page and a quick tour. See [Guided walkthrough and tours](/getting-started/domain-setup/finish-setup#guided-walkthrough-and-tours).

## Members see domain pages read-only [#members-see-domain-pages-read-only]

Workspace members can read every domain page, but they cannot change anything:

- They do not see the **Settings** entries of the domain and of the modules. If a member opens the link of a domain settings page, VitalSentinel opens the domain **Overview**.
- They do not see setup buttons. They see "Not connected – ask an owner or admin".
- Some pages give them a button that copies a ready message for an admin, for example **Ask a workspace admin**.

Owners and admins can change settings and connect sources. See [Members](/workspace/members).

## Help and the Theo chat [#help-and-the-theo-chat]

Theo is the AI assistant of VitalSentinel. The round chat button at the bottom right opens the chat. Its label is **Open chat with Theo**.

The [chat home](/theo/asking-theo#the-chat-home) shows "How can I help?" and these shortcuts:

- **What does this page show?** explains the page that you are on.
- **What needs attention here?** lists the problems on the page.
- **Tour this page** starts a guided tour of the page.
- Suggested questions about the page, under **On** and the page name, or under **Popular questions**.
- **Your conversations**, your earlier chats.
- A link to book a 60-minute video call with an expert.

Type a question in the **Ask Theo** field. Answers from these docs show as you type. Theo can also help you open a [support ticket](/theo/support-tickets). See [Theo](/theo/introduction).

## Related [#related]

- [Finish the setup](/getting-started/domain-setup/finish-setup) - module states and guided tours
- [Domain overview](/domain/overview) - the first page of each site
- [Theo](/theo/introduction) - what Theo can do and how to ask
- [Plans and limits](/workspace/plans-and-limits) - the limits behind the plan line
- [Notifications](/account/notifications) - the bell and the inbox
- [Troubleshooting](/help/troubleshooting) - common problems and fixes