Reach for the console when you want to explore — to see what exists, check quota headroom, or review recent activity at a glance. Reach for plain commands (
datumctl get, datumctl apply, and friends) when you want to script, pipe output to JSON or YAML, or make precise, repeatable changes.Launching the console
datumctl ctx beforehand if you want to start somewhere specific — you can also switch context from inside the console at any time. See Contexts & scoping for how that scope is chosen.
If you are not logged in, the console opens on a welcome screen and walks you through authentication in place (see Logging in from the console).
Read-only mode
--read-only flag disables mutation operations, which makes it safe for demos, screen-sharing, or automated testing where you want to browse without any risk of changing resources.
The layout
The console is organized into a set of panes. You move between them with a few keys and drill deeper as you go.Navigation sidebar
The left column lists the resource types available in your context. Move the cursor with
j/k (or the arrow keys) and press Enter to load a type.Resource list
The main table shows the resources of the selected type, with a live count in the sidebar. It refreshes automatically in the background.
Detail view
A full description of a single resource, with toggles for raw YAML, status conditions, and events.
Dashboards
Dedicated quota and activity dashboards summarize allowance usage and recent changes across the project.
The welcome panel
When a project context is active, the console opens on a welcome panel that greets you with quick-jump shortcuts, a teaser of recent project activity, and a summary of quota health. From here you can jump straight to a common resource type by pressing a single letter — for examplep for projects, w for workloads, g for gateways, b for backends, z for DNS zones and record sets, or n for namespaces. A quick-jump key only fires when a matching resource type exists in your current context.
Press Esc from a quick-jumped list to return to the welcome panel in a single step.
Navigating
Most navigation is the same everywhere: move withj/k or the arrow keys, go deeper with Enter, and step back with Esc.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k (or ↓ / ↑) | Move the cursor down / up |
Tab / Shift+Tab | Switch focus between the sidebar and the resource list |
Enter | Select — load a resource type, or open the detail view for the highlighted resource |
Esc | Step back one level (detail → list → welcome panel) |
/ | Filter the current resource list |
r | Refresh the current view |
c | Switch organization / project context |
? | Toggle the full keybind reference |
q | Quit (Ctrl+C force-quits) |
Press
? at any time for the built-in keybind reference. The overlay adapts to where you are, so it shows the actions available in the current pane.Inspecting a resource
Select a resource type in the sidebar, pressEnter to load its list, highlight a row, and press Enter (or d) to open the detail view. The detail view describes the resource and offers several ways to look at it:
| Key | View |
|---|---|
y | Toggle raw YAML |
C | Toggle the status conditions table |
E | Toggle the events table |
A | Open the per-resource activity log |
H | Open the resource’s change history |
Esc closes the detail view and returns you to the list.
Change history and diffs
From the detail view, pressH to open the change history for a resource — a list of past revisions. Highlight a revision and press Enter to open a diff. In the diff view, use [ and ] to step to the previous or next revision. Esc walks back out through the history to the detail view.
Quota dashboard
The quota dashboard turns allowance buckets into a readable summary of how much of each quota you are consuming.| Key | Action |
|---|---|
3 | Open the quota dashboard from anywhere (press again to return) |
s | Toggle grouping of buckets |
t | Toggle between the dashboard and the raw allowance-bucket table |
r | Refresh quota data |
3, the console queues the request and opens the dashboard as soon as the data is ready.
Activity dashboard
Press4 to open the activity dashboard — a rollup of recent human activity across the current project. Press 4 again (or Esc) to return to where you were, and r to refresh the rollup. For querying the same activity data from the command line — with filters, exports, and machine-readable output — see Querying activity.
The activity dashboard is project-scoped. When your context is an organization without a selected project, the dashboard tells you to select a project first.
AI assistant
Pressa from any view to open the built-in AI chat pane, where you can ask questions about your resources in natural language. Type your message and press Enter to send; Tab switches focus to the conversation history sidebar, and Ctrl+E exports the current conversation to a Markdown file. Esc returns to the view you came from.
The assistant needs a model API key configured before it can respond. Configure one with
datumctl ai config before opening the chat pane — see the AI assistant guide.Logging in from the console
If you launch the console without an active session, it opens on a welcome screen. Pressl to start authentication without leaving the terminal:
Start the device flow
Press
l. The console contacts your auth endpoint and displays a verification URL and a one-time code.Authorize in your browser
Open the URL and enter the code, or press
b to open the URL in your default browser automatically.--hostname), the in-console flow uses that endpoint too. If a login fails, press l to try again or Esc to dismiss.
Console vs. plain commands
- Use the console when
- Use plain commands when
- You want to browse what exists and how resources relate.
- You are checking quota headroom or reviewing recent activity.
- You want to inspect a resource’s description, conditions, events, or change history interactively.
- You are exploring a new project and prefer a navigable view over remembering exact resource names.
Next steps
- Contexts & scoping — set your working organization and project before launching the console.
- Logging in — learn how authentication and stored credentials work.
- Reading resources — the
getanddescribecommands behind the console’s list and detail views. - Output formats & scripting — machine-readable output and automation for everything you browse here.
- AI assistant — the assistant behind the console’s chat pane.