NovaDash

WHERE IT STARTED:

I run a VPS (virtual private server) and a handful of services on top of it — Discord bots, a Minecraft server, and various other tools. Off-the-shelf monitoring dashboards either did too much, cost too much, or didn't show the specific things I actually cared about. So I built my own.

NovaDash started as a simple status page and grew into something more complete: a real-time dashboard that pulls live metrics from my infrastructure and displays them in a clean, readable interface.

WHAT I BUILT:

The stack is Node.js and Express on the backend, with Socket.IO handling real-time data pushes to the frontend — so the dashboard updates live without needing to refresh. Authentication is handled with JWT and bcrypt, meaning the dashboard is private and secure by default.

The frontend is deliberately lightweight — no heavy frameworks, just clean vanilla JS and CSS that loads instantly. The backend runs on the VPS itself, managed with PM2 and served through nginx.

What it monitors:

• Live CPU and RAM usage
• Disk space across mounted volumes
• Discord bot uptime and status
• Minecraft server player count and status
• Custom service health checks
• Historical uptime tracking

WHAT THIS SHOWS:

This wasn't a tutorial project or a guided build. I identified a real problem I had, designed a solution, and built it end to end — backend infrastructure, real-time data transport, auth system, and frontend UI. It's running in production on my own server right now.

It's the kind of project that doesn't come from following a course. It comes from actually using and caring about the tools you build.