Overview

Desk is the admin UI you get after logging in. It is a single-page app served at /desk that talks to the server over the same REST and RPC APIs your own code uses. Every DocType you create automatically gets a list view, a form, filters, reports, and print formats in Desk, with no extra UI code.

You reach Desk at:

https://your-site/desk

Access to Desk requires a System User with the right roles. Website-only users (Customers, Suppliers, and other Website Users) land on the portal instead.

What you get for free

When you define a DocType, Desk renders these views from its metadata:

• List view: a filterable, sortable table of records. Also available as Report, Kanban, Calendar, Gantt, and Image views where the fields support it.
• Form: the detail view for one record, built from the field layout (sections, columns, tabs).
• Reports: ad-hoc reporting through Report Builder plus saved Query and Script Reports. See Reports.
• Print and PDF: any record can be printed or downloaded as a PDF using a Print Format.

Navigating Desk

The left sidebar lists Workspaces. A Workspace is a landing page that groups shortcuts, links, charts, and number cards for a module. The default sidebar mirrors the apps installed on the bench.

The top bar has a few things worth knowing:

• Awesomebar: the search box at the top. Type a DocType name to open its list, a record name to open it, or a command like new task to create a record. It also runs global search across documents.
• Notifications, help, and settings sit on the right.

Press Ctrl/Cmd + K to focus the Awesomebar from anywhere.

How Desk talks to the server

Desk is a client. Page loads pull document metadata and data through whitelisted methods, and saving a form calls the same document APIs available to scripts and the REST API. Anything you can do in Desk you can also do over the API, and the permission checks are identical.

Customizing Desk without code

Most day-to-day customization happens inside Desk itself:

• Workspaces for navigation and dashboards.
• Reports for tabular data.
• Print Formats for documents and PDFs.
• Client and Server Scripts for logic without any deployment step.
• Attachments for files on records.
• System Console for running Python or SQL against the site.

For deeper changes you write app code. See DocTypes and the server-side and client-side guides.