architecture

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

June 18, 2026 cypress-io/cypress ↗

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. This mode initiates a secure handshake with the Dashboard:

The runner

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