What TechDash is and how it works

Learn how TechDash monitors important website changes from your own computer.

Last checked 24 August 2026

TechDash is a desktop website-monitoring app for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It is designed to stay open in the background, run checks from your computer, and collect important technical SEO issues and website changes in one Incidents view.

Unlike a hosted crawler, TechDash does not run checks from a TechDash cloud worker after you close your computer. The installed app, its local schedulers, and your computer's internet connection do the work. Rendered page checks use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on this computer, then Chromium in the usual install locations. Settings asks for a Chromium path only if none of those are found.

What TechDash monitors

You add a website, then choose the pages and frequencies that matter. After Add website, Sources helps you find a first set from Search Console, Bulk URL Import, or crawl links. Later adds stay on Monitored Pages. TechDash can monitor:

  • Page availability, redirects, indexability, canonicals, metadata, headings, content, schema, links, images, and mobile rendering.
  • Site resources such as robots.txt, XML sitemaps, llms.txt, favicons, and analytics coverage.
  • SSL certificates, domain registration details, nameservers, and DNS resolution.
  • Google Search Console data after you connect a verified property.
  • Rules you create under Custom Checks.

Not every check follows the page frequency. Page checks use Every 15 minutes, Hourly, Daily, or Weekly. robots.txt is fetched hourly, while DNS, site resources, domain lookups, brand assets, and Search Console work use their own schedules. A page can therefore show recent site-resource information even when its next page crawl is not due.

What stays on this computer

Checks, browser rendering, screenshots, Search Console requests, and scheduling run on the computer where TechDash is installed. TechDash stores settings, websites, results, incidents, and check history in a local database. Compressed page HTML, screenshots, and site images are also kept in the TechDash application data folder.

Local does not mean offline-only. TechDash makes outbound connections to:

  • Fetch the websites, resources, certificate, DNS, and domain data you asked it to monitor.
  • Validate the license and check which software updates it can offer.
  • Connect to Google after you authorize Search Console.
  • Send enabled Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Discord webhooks.
  • Upload a crash report when Settings > Privacy > Send crash reports is On.

TechDash does not upload your crawl database as part of crash reporting.

When monitoring runs

Closing the main window leaves TechDash running in the menu bar on macOS or the system tray on Windows and Linux. Scheduled work can continue while the window is hidden. A full Quit TechDash stops checks and new desktop notifications until you open the app again.

Settings > Monitoring > Open at login is On by default. On supported operating systems, TechDash starts hidden after sign-in so you do not have to open the main window manually. The computer still has to be powered on, signed in, and online. Offline and captive Wi-Fi states delay work. Battery power or a locked screen stretches page-check intervals to about twice their configured interval without changing the saved frequency.

How changes become incidents

Many change checks first need to learn the current state. The first successful observation becomes a baseline and does not create a before-and-after incident. A later material change can open an Advisory, Warning, or Critical incident. Some immediate conditions, such as an unavailable page or an expiring certificate, do not need the same type of historical comparison.

Built-in Warning and Critical incidents can send desktop and configured webhook notifications. Advisory incidents remain visible in Incidents but do not send those alerts. A later passing result can recover an incident, and Notifications > Notify when a check recovers controls recovery messages.

Main areas of the app

  • Incidents shows open issues, evidence, filters, and resolution actions.
  • Websites manages your portfolio, monitored pages, site resources, and custom checks.
  • Health Report compares website Health Scores and incident trends.
  • Queue Status shows waiting jobs, active jobs, workers, and monitoring pressure.
  • Notifications controls desktop alerts, recovery messages, webhooks, and ignored checks.
  • Settings controls appearance, crawl concurrency, startup, licensing, updates, and privacy.

If no new results appear

Check that TechDash is running in the tray, monitoring has not been paused, and the computer is online. Then open Queue Status and review the website's Monitored Pages. A newly added website may simply be building baselines rather than opening incidents.

If no last-check times advance after a full restart and Queue Status does not show a backlog or connectivity problem, open Help & Support. Include the TechDash version, operating system, affected hostname, page Enabled and pause states, last-check text, and a screenshot of the relevant queues.

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