Your business at a glance

See what needs attention today with real-time stats, quick navigation, and context switching.

Dashboard Overview

Everything you need to know about your day, in one place.

Your dashboard provides a real-time overview of your business at a glance. Key information displayed includes:

  • Today's Appointments – Count of appointments scheduled for today with quick access to your calendar
  • Upcoming Week – Preview of appointments in the next 7 days
  • Priority Emails – Emails from clients who have upcoming appointments or active projects
  • Unread Instagram DMs – Count of unread messages requiring attention
  • Expiring Message Windows – Instagram conversations where the 24-hour messaging window is about to close
  • Pending Deposits – Appointments awaiting deposit payment
  • Pending Waivers – Consent forms that haven't been signed for upcoming appointments
  • Active Projects – Projects currently in progress
  • Overdue Tasks – Tasks past their due date that need attention
  • Today's Automations – Scheduled messages that will send today
  • Supplies Alerts – Low stock, expiring, or expired ink and needle inventory (if Ink Passport is enabled)

For studio owners and managers, additional information includes:

  • Artist Workload – Distribution of appointments across team members
  • Unassigned Items – Clients, appointments, or projects not yet assigned to an artist

The dashboard automatically adapts to show the most relevant information based on:

  • Your role (artist vs. studio owner)
  • Your current context (personal vs. studio)
  • Features you have enabled (Ink Passport, deposits, etc.)
  • Time-sensitive items that need attention

Items requiring immediate attention are highlighted prominently.

Quick Navigation

Find clients, jump to sections, and work faster with keyboard shortcuts.

Pencild includes a Command Palette for fast navigation and search:

  1. Press Ctrl+K (Windows) or Cmd+K (Mac) to open the command palette
  2. Start typing to search for:
    • Clients by name or email
    • Projects by name
    • Quick navigation to any section (Calendar, Clients, Projects, Tasks, etc.)
  3. Press Enter to jump directly to the result

The command palette learns your frequently accessed items and surfaces them first.

The sidebar provides access to all main sections:

  • Dashboard – Your home overview
  • Calendar – Appointments and scheduling
  • Clients – Client management
  • Projects – Multi-session work tracking
  • Tasks – To-do items and recurring tasks
  • Email – Inbox and email management
  • Instagram – Direct message conversations
  • Supplies – Ink and needle inventory (if enabled)
  • Compliance – Document and certification tracking
  • Templates – Message templates
  • Automations – Automated messaging rules
  • Studios – Studio management (if applicable)
  • Settings – Account and preferences

Context Switching

Switch between personal and studio views seamlessly.

If you belong to one or more studios, you can switch between different contexts:

  • Personal Context – View and manage only your personal clients, appointments, and data
  • Studio Context – View and manage studio-shared data alongside your personal data (based on permissions)

To switch contexts:

  1. Click on your profile or studio name in the sidebar
  2. Select the desired context from the dropdown
  3. All views update to show data relevant to that context

Your personal data always remains yours. Studio context simply adds visibility to shared studio resources.