How Dashbox reasons about a number over time

Dashbox began on 29 June 2026 as one sentence: every number you steer by lives in a card, linked to wherever it comes from, and the card does not care what the number means. This is that card's life, in nine short chapters. It gets its number, learns its normal, turns a colour only when it really moved, crosses a line you set, reaches a target, writes down only what changed, keeps the reason you give it, and nudges you once. Each chapter ends with the reasoning behind its step: what was considered, what was chosen and why, and when it was decided.

Everything here is what Dashbox does today; the one part that waits for the app is marked. The card that runs through the chapters, sign-ups per day, is an example, not real data.

The chapters

1. Chapter 1Five places, and no reasonsNumbers in five places, reasons nowhere - and the one sentence it began with.
2. Chapter 2A card gets its numberTwo ways in: Dashbox calls a public API, or a container next to the data pushes.
3. Chapter 3It learns its normalFour numbers, and a normal made of its own last 7 and 30 days.
4. Chapter 4It colours only when it really movedGreen or rose only when yesterday is above or below both averages.
5. Chapter 5It crosses a line you setYour own fixed lines: amber past the low one, red past the critical one.
6. Chapter 6It reaches a targetWhat you aim for, the day it was first reached, and a step when you move it.
7. Chapter 7It writes down only what changedThousands of readings, a handful of events: only changes of state are written down.
8. Chapter 8It keeps the reasonA comment on the day, a period across the weeks: the reason stays on the time line.
9. Chapter 9It nudges you onceOne push when a card changes state, never on every reading. Waits for the app.