---
title: "Browse and Debug Multimodal Pipelines with the Pixeltable Local Dashboard"
date: "2026-06-13"
author: "Pixeltable Team"
tags:
  - Dashboard
  - Developer Tools
  - CLI
  - Debugging
  - Lineage
  - Multimodal AI
  - Pixeltable
  - Production AI
description: "The Pixeltable dashboard is a read-only web UI at localhost:22089 for browsing tables, previewing media, inspecting lineage, filtering to failed computed columns, and exporting CSV—no custom admin UI required."
url: "https://pixeltable.com/blog/pixeltable-local-dashboard-browse-debug-pipelines"
---

# Browse and Debug Multimodal Pipelines with the Pixeltable Local Dashboard

You defined your pipeline in Python: tables, computed columns, embedding indexes, views over video frames or document chunks. Day two is debugging—which rows failed on the vision column, what changed between schema versions, where a view connects to its base table.

 
Jumping back into a REPL for every question does not scale. The Pixeltable **local dashboard** is a read-only web UI for exploring catalog data visually. It ships inside the `pixeltable` package and runs on the same daemon that backs the `pxt` CLI.

 
## Open the dashboard

 
Run one command from any terminal:

 
```bash
pip install -U pixeltable
pxt dashboard
```

 
This auto-starts the daemon if it is not already running, prints the URL, and opens your default browser. The default address is [http://localhost:22089](http://localhost:22089). The daemon survives across shell sessions, so subsequent CLI commands stay fast.

 
The dashboard binds to `127.0.0.1` only—it is not reachable from other machines on your network. For remote table access, use [HTTP Serving](https://docs.pixeltable.com/howto/deployment/serving) with `FastAPIRouter` and `pxt service update`.

 
Override the port with `PXT_PORT` before any `pxt` command:

 
```bash
PXT_PORT=3000 pxt dashboard
```

 
## Read-only by design

 
The dashboard is an **inspector**, not an editor. You browse and debug data visually; inserts, schema changes, and rollbacks happen through the [CLI](https://docs.pixeltable.com/platform/cli) or Python SDK. That separation keeps accidental mutations out of a UI meant for exploration.

 
Pair it with the terminal: use `pxt errors` and `pxt revert` from our [CLI guide](/blog/pixeltable-cli-operate-catalog-from-terminal) when you need scripted or agent-driven operations; use the dashboard when you want inline media previews and lineage graphs.

 
## Browse the catalog

 
The left sidebar shows your full directory tree—directories, tables, views, and snapshots. Each entry displays its kind and error count. Click a table to open it, or click a directory for aggregate stats and child tables.

 
Press **Cmd/Ctrl + K** to open global search and jump to directories, tables, or columns by name. Press **Cmd/Ctrl + F** to focus the in-table row filter.

 
## Inspect table data

 
Each table view has three tabs:

 

 - **Data** — paginated rows with typed columns, sortable by indexed columns, with configurable page sizes. Images, video, audio, and documents render inline.

 - **Lineage** — the table's position in the pipeline: base table, derived views, and column-level dependency graphs.

 - **History** — version list with change types (inserts, updates, deletes) and timestamps.

 

 
Above the grid, a collapsible **Schema** panel shows every column with its type, whether it is computed (with the Python expression), stored vs. unstored, and any embedding indexes.

 
## Filter rows and debug errors

 
The filter panel narrows the current page:

 

 - **Free-text search** across all columns (debounced)

 - **Faceted filters** — text contains, numeric ranges, datetime ranges, boolean/enum checklists

 - **Errors-only mode** — a server-side filter showing only rows where a computed column failed

 

 
Errors-only mode is the fastest path to answer "which documents failed embedding and why?" without scanning every row. Failed cells surface the same error metadata you get from `pxt errors --json` in the terminal.

 
## Preview media

 
Images and videos render inline in the data grid. Click any media cell to open a **lightbox** with keyboard navigation—arrow keys for previous and next. For image-heavy tables, switch to **gallery view** for a thumbnail grid with a detail overlay per row.

 
This is especially useful for video pipelines: inspect frame thumbnails from a `frame_iterator` view, verify captions landed on the right clip, or spot blank frames before re-running expensive model calls.

 
## Explore the pipeline graph

 
The **Lineage** page (sidebar) shows a full-instance pipeline graph. Every table and view appears as a node; edges show base-table, iterator, and query dependencies.

 
Click any node for a detail drawer with row count, version info, column breakdown, embedding index definitions, computed column expressions, and version history. Use **Find table** on the canvas to jump to a node and fit it into view.

 
If you have been reading about [Pixeltable's dependency graph](/blog/dependency-graph-magic), this is that graph rendered interactively—useful for onboarding teammates who do not yet read Python schema files fluently.

 
## Export data and copy SDK snippets

 
Download the current table as **CSV** (up to 100,000 rows) from the table view. Click **Copy** to generate the Python SDK code for opening the current table—handy when visual inspection turns into scripted analysis.

 
```python
import pixeltable as pxt

tbl = pxt.get_table('myapp.documents')
tbl.select(tbl.title, tbl.summary).head(10)
```

 
## Troubleshooting

 

 - **Port already in use:** set `PXT_PORT` to a free port. The daemon refuses to bind twice and the CLI surfaces the error.

 - **Daemon not responding:** run `pxt daemon status` for a health report. If stuck, `pxt daemon stop` then `pxt daemon start`.

 - **Blank dashboard after source install:** ensure the React app was built (`npm run build` in the `dashboard/` directory of the Pixeltable repo).

 

 
## Keyboard shortcuts

 
| Shortcut | Action |
| --- | --- |
| Cmd/Ctrl + K | Open global search |
| Cmd/Ctrl + F | Focus in-table row filter |
| Esc | Close search, modals, or lightbox |
| Arrow keys | Navigate media in lightbox |

 
## Learn more

 

 - [Dashboard documentation](https://docs.pixeltable.com/platform/dashboard)

 - [Operate your catalog from the terminal](/blog/pixeltable-cli-operate-catalog-from-terminal)

 - [May/June 2026 release highlights](/blog/pixeltable-may-june-2026-release-highlights)

 - [Rate limiting and graceful failure handling](/blog/rate-limiting)