# What Is the Cypress Dashboard? Architecture, Benefits, and Cloud Integration

> Discover the Cypress Dashboard, a service that aggregates test data, stores artifacts, and offers a web interface for analyzing test performance in CI and local environments.

- Repository: [Cypress.io/cypress](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress)
- Tags: architecture
- Published: 2026-06-18

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**The Cypress Dashboard is a hosted service that aggregates test run data, stores artifacts like videos and screenshots, and provides a web interface for analyzing test performance across CI pipelines and local development environments.**

The Cypress Dashboard serves as the official cloud companion to the Cypress testing framework, tightly integrated with the CLI and internal server-side code in the `cypress-io/cypress` repository. It transforms local test execution into a collaborative, data-driven workflow by centralizing test history, artifacts, and performance metrics in a secure web interface accessible at `https://dashboard.cypress.io`.

## How the Cypress Dashboard Works

The Dashboard operates through a sophisticated pipeline that captures, uploads, and visualizes test data. Understanding this architecture reveals how Cypress maintains data integrity while streaming large artifacts to the cloud.

### Recording Mode Activation

When you execute tests with the `--record` flag, the CLI activates **recording mode** via [`packages/server/lib/modes/record.ts`](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/blob/main/packages/server/lib/modes/record.ts). This mode initiates a secure handshake with the Dashboard:

- The runner