> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://tyk.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Tyk Dashboard Overview

> Learn about Tyk Dashboard, the control plane for managing your Tyk Platform, and how to configure its data storage

## Introduction

![Tyk Dashboard diagram](https://mintcdn.com/tyk/SM-tkHpBDkTR2XlA/img/diagrams/tyk-selfmanaged-architecture-dashboard.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=SM-tkHpBDkTR2XlA\&q=85\&s=2ecc21f35004f92d7a33e80c35944cfe)

The Tyk Dashboard is a web-based interface that serves as the **central management hub for your API ecosystem**. It provides a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) for configuring, monitoring, and analyzing your APIs managed by Tyk.

The Dashboard also exposes a **REST API**, allowing for programmatic control and integration with other tools and workflows.

## Exploring the Dashboard UI

To get a tour of the Dashboard UI, refer to this [document](https://tyk.io/docs/getting-started/using-tyk-dashboard.md).

## Exploring the Dashboard API

The Dashboard is a large, granular REST API with a thin-client web front-end, and if being deployed as part of a Tyk install, serves as the main integration point instead of the Gateway API.

![API Overview](https://mintcdn.com/tyk/yBBmL-g3HhucNG20/img/diagrams/dashboardapi2.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=yBBmL-g3HhucNG20\&q=85\&s=e503454d0c36b6bdff6dc19579473710)

**The Dashboard API is a superset of the Gateway API**, providing the same functionality, with additional features (anything that can be done in the Dashboard has an API endpoint), and offers some additional advantages:

* The Dashboard API has a granular structure, you can create separate clients easily.
* The API features read/write permissions on a per-endpoint level to have extra control over integrations.
* The API enforces a schema that can be modified and hardened depending on your usage requirements.

### Types of Dashboard API

The Dashboard exposes two APIs:

* **Dashboard API**: Is used for operational management of Tyk resources (APIs, policies, keys, etc.). This API offers granular permissions based on user roles.

  To know more about the Dashboard API, refer to the [Tyk Dashboard API documentation](https://tyk.io/docs/tyk-dashboard-api.md).

* **Dashboard Admin API**: Is used for system-level administration and initial setup tasks like managing organizations, initial user creation, backups/migrations and SSO setup.

  To know more about the Dashboard Admin API, refer to the [Tyk Dashboard Admin API documentation](https://tyk.io/docs/dashboard-admin-api.md).

### Authenticating with Dashboard APIs

**Dashboard API**

The [Tyk Dashboard API](https://tyk.io/docs/tyk-dashboard-api.md) is secured using an `Authorization` header that must be added to each request that is made. The **Tyk Dashboard API Access Credentials** `Authorization` key can be found within the Dashboard UI at the bottom of the **Edit User** section for a user.

**Dashboard Admin API**

The Tyk Dashboard Admin API is secured using a shared secret that is set in the `tyk_analytics.conf` file. Calls to the Admin API require the `admin-auth` header to be provided, to differentiate the call from a regular Dashboard API call.

## Data Storage Solutions

Tyk Dashboard requires a persistent datastore for its operations, shared with Tyk MDCB and Tyk Pump. See [Core Platform Persistent Database](https://tyk.io/docs/api-management/persistent-database.md) for the categories of data it stores, supported engines, connection configuration, and connection pool tuning.