Getting started with OpenSearch Dashboards

OpenSearch Dashboards is the web interface for OpenSearch. Use it to explore your data, build visualizations, assemble dashboards, and run queries.

Before you begin, ensure that you’re familiar with basic OpenSearch concepts like documents and indexes. For more information, see Introduction to OpenSearch.

Prerequisites

To use OpenSearch Dashboards, you need access to one of the following:

• The OpenSearch Playground (online, read-only—no installation needed).
• A local installation of OpenSearch and OpenSearch Dashboards. See the Installation quickstart for a quick Docker setup, or Installing OpenSearch Dashboards for other methods.

How to use this section

Choose one of the following paths to get familiar with the applications:

• Using the OpenSearch Playground (no installation needed): Start with Learn about main applications and query languages.
• Using a local installation: Start with Install OpenSearch Dashboards and add data, then continue to Learn about main applications and query languages.

For terminology definitions, see Concepts.

Install OpenSearch Dashboards and add data

Learn about main applications and query languages

Run queries in OpenSearch Dashboards

The Dev Tools console lets you run OpenSearch API queries written in Query DSL directly in a simplified syntax instead of using cURL. For more information, see Running queries in the Dev Tools console.

The typical workflow

Once you’re familiar with the applications, the standard approach to building dashboards follows three steps: explore your data, build individual visualizations, then assemble those visualizations into a dashboard. To learn about each step in detail, use the following links to explore the full documentation.