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Guide · Agent skill

How to use the KPI Dashboard Design agent skill

Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data

The kpi-dashboard-design skill is a set of instructions that teaches an AI agent how to plan and troubleshoot business KPI dashboards. It is for analysts, product teams and operations staff who are building an executive SaaS metrics view, a live service health display, or a cohort retention view. After this guide you will know how to install the skill, how to ask for help in a way that triggers it, and what to check before trusting the output.

KPI Dashboard Designwshobson/agents · MIT

Quick start

  1. 1Download the ZIP. Download the skill ZIP from this page.
  2. 2Unzip the folder. Unzip the file so you have the kpi-dashboard-design folder containing SKILL.md and references/details.md.
  3. 3Place the skill. Move the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
  4. 4Or upload in the apps. In the Claude apps, go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill instead.
  5. 5Describe your dashboard. Ask in plain language, naming the metrics and the audience, such as an executive MRR and churn dashboard.
  6. 6Check the output. Validate any formulas, queries and alert thresholds against your real data before using them.

What the skill makes the agent do

When you ask the agent to plan or fix a business metrics dashboard, the skill has it follow a structured set of patterns. It helps choose a small set of meaningful KPIs, organizes them into executive, department and drilldown views, and suggests layout and alert practices.

It also gives troubleshooting guidance. For example, it recommends writing down one formula for a metric like MRR so finance and the dashboard agree, and it suggests monthly rather than daily cohorts for retention charts. Detailed worked examples are kept in a separate reference file that the agent reads when needed.

Install the skill from the ZIP file

Download the ZIP file from this page and unzip it. To use the skill for yourself, place the unzipped kpi-dashboard-design folder in ~/.claude/skills/. To share it with one project, place it in that project's .claude/skills/ folder instead.

If you use the Claude apps, you can instead upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

  • The package contains SKILL.md and references/details.md.
  • No other requirements are listed for this skill.

Trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need a special command. Describe your situation in plain language and mention the dashboard or metric work you need. The skill is meant for four situations: an executive SaaS dashboard tracking MRR, churn and LTV/CAC; an operations center with live service health and request throughput; a cohort retention view for a product team; and debugging a dashboard whose metrics contradict each other.

  • Example: "Help me design a one-page executive dashboard with MRR, churn and LTV/CAC ratio."
  • Example: "Our dashboard shows MRR that doesn't match finance. Help me find the cause."
  • Example: "Build a cohort retention view for the product team using monthly signup cohorts."
  • Example: "Our ops dashboard is all green but users are complaining. What should we add?"

Use the troubleshooting patterns

The skill includes four worked troubleshooting patterns. Use them when a dashboard looks wrong or behaves badly.

MRR mismatches usually come from inconsistent treatment of annual plans. The skill's example normalizes monthly, quarterly and yearly plans to a monthly figure and suggests documenting that formula on the dashboard card. A flat retention chart can come from grouping cohorts by day instead of month. A live dashboard that queries the production database heavily can be fixed by writing pre-aggregated metrics to a summary table on a schedule. Alert fatigue can be reduced by using thresholds based on a rolling baseline rather than fixed values.

  • Treat the SQL and Python as starting points that you must adapt to your own schema.
  • Validate every alert and query against real data before production use.
-- Wrong: too granular, cohorts are too small DATE_TRUNC('day', created_at) AS cohort_date -- Correct: monthly cohorts DATE_TRUNC('month', created_at) AS cohort_month

Follow the design rules the skill suggests

The skill recommends limiting a dashboard to 5-7 KPIs, showing context such as comparisons, trends and targets, and using consistent colors for good and bad. It also advises enabling drilldown from summary to detail, matching update frequency to how fast each metric changes, documenting calculations, avoiding 3D charts and vanity metrics, and making the layout work on mobile.

It organizes KPIs in three levels: strategic (monthly or quarterly, for executives), tactical (weekly or monthly, for managers) and operational (real-time or daily, for teams).

Know what the skill does not do

The skill gives design guidance and SQL or Python snippets. It does not build a dashboard in a specific BI tool and does not include setup for any particular tool. It also contains no data checks, so it cannot verify your numbers. Its alert and SQL examples are illustrative and need validation before you rely on them.

  • Requires: nothing listed.
  • Runs scripts: no. Uses network: no.
  • Related skill: data-storytelling, for turning dashboard findings into narratives.

What people use it for

  • Planning a one-page executive SaaS dashboard with MRR, churn and LTV/CAC ratios.
  • Designing an operations center view with live service health and request throughput.
  • Building a monthly cohort retention view for a product team.
  • Finding why MRR on a dashboard differs from finance's figure by agreeing on one normalization formula.
  • Reducing alert fatigue by replacing fixed thresholds with rolling-baseline checks.

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the kpi-dashboard-design skill?

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. Put the kpi-dashboard-design folder in ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

What are the requirements for this skill?

The listed requirements are nothing. The skill does not run scripts and does not use the network, according to its listing.

Is the kpi-dashboard-design skill free?

The skill is licensed under MIT. Check the license text in the package for the terms that apply to you.

Does this skill build a dashboard in Tableau, Power BI or another tool?

No. It provides design guidance and SQL or Python snippets rather than tool-specific setup. You will need to adapt the snippets to your own schema and tool.

Why does my MRR not match finance's number?

A common cause is different treatment of annual plans, such as prorating to a daily rate versus normalizing to monthly. The skill suggests agreeing on one formula and documenting it on the dashboard card.

Will the skill check whether my data is correct?

No. It contains no data checks, so you need to validate its alert thresholds and SQL examples against real data before production use.

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Our verdict

Use this skill if you are designing an executive SaaS metrics dashboard, an operations view, or a cohort retention view and want structured design patterns and troubleshooting ideas. Pick something else if you need a finished dashboard built in a specific BI tool or an automated check of your data.

Download the skill