How to Build Your Own On-Chain Monitoring Dashboard: Tools and Methods
On-chain data is public, but turning raw transaction hashes into usable monitoring tools is a barrier for most people. Ready-made dashboards are either too inflexible or too expensive. In 2026, the options for building a personal monitoring dashboard are more abundant than ever: Dune's custom dashboards, Nansen's labeling system, streaming databases like RisingWave, and new ways to combine AI with on-chain data. This article breaks down several construction paths based on different needs, from zero-code to fully self-built, covering users with varying technical backgrounds.
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Tool Matrix: Different Solutions for Different Needs
Building an on-chain monitoring dashboard has no single "best tool" — only the solution that fits you best. Based on technical level and monitoring needs, it can be divided into several tiers:
Zero-Code/Low-Code Tier: Suitable for the vast majority of users, allowing basic monitoring without writing code.
Dune provides a full dashboard building interface, where you can add chart components, adjust layouts, and set scheduled refreshes through a visual interface. You only need to write SQL queries, and the rest is done via drag-and-drop.
Nansen's Watchlist feature allows you to organize wallets, tokens, and projects into a single board with real-time data updates. With Custom Labels, you can categorize addresses by dimensions like "team wallet," "market maker," or "smart money," and these labels sync across all Nansen dashboards.
AI-Assisted Tier: Suitable for users who want to integrate AI into their monitoring workflow.
Nansen MCP, based on the Model Context Protocol, lets AI assistants directly access on-chain data. You can ask in natural language, "What tokens did smart money buy in the last 24 hours?" and the AI returns answers via Nansen's labeling system. Glassnode also offers a similar MCP server that can connect to AI clients like Claude or Cursor to retrieve on-chain metric data.
Nansen's AI Smart Alerts are more practical: you input what you want to monitor (e.g., "track transfers from a whale address"), and the AI automatically generates corresponding monitoring rules, notifying you via Telegram or Discord when triggered.
Advanced Development Tier: Suitable for technically skilled users who need fully customized monitoring.
Stream processing databases like RisingWave can handle real-time Solana raw on-chain data. By creating Materialized Views, you can continuously compute metrics like transaction volume and frequency from the latest blocks using standard SQL, achieving sub-second updates.
Panoptichain is a monitoring tool specifically designed for the Polygon chain, using a publish/subscribe model. It comes with built-in RPC Provider and Sensor Provider components, continuously fetching on-chain data and generating Prometheus-format metrics for display with Grafana.
lndmon is a dedicated solution for monitoring Lightning Network nodes. It also uses a Prometheus + Grafana architecture and is ready to use out of the box, ideal for users running their own lnd nodes who need to monitor routing and channel status.
Hands-On: Building a Minimum Viable Dashboard with Dune
Dune is currently the lowest-barrier dashboard building platform and is a good starting point.
Step 1: Create a Dashboard. Log in to Dune, click the Create menu, select New Dashboard, name it, and save. Enter edit mode and click Add Widget to add components.
Step 2: Add Query Results. After running a SQL query in the query editor, select the appropriate visualization chart type (bar chart, line chart, scatter plot, pie chart, etc.), click Add to Dashboard, and choose the target dashboard.
Step 3: Schedule Automatic Refresh. Dune dashboards do not update automatically. Click the clock icon in the top right corner of the dashboard to set a refresh frequency (e.g., every 6 hours), so you don't have to manually click Run each time.
Hands-On: Monitoring Specific Wallet Groups with Nansen
If your needs lean more toward monitoring specific addresses rather than building a dashboard display, Nansen's workflow is more straightforward.
Create a Watchlist. Go to the Watchlist page, add the wallet addresses, tokens, or projects you want to monitor. Data updates in real time, and all items are centralized in one view.
Add Labels. Select any address, click Manage Labels, and assign a custom name, such as "Project X Team Wallet." The label syncs across all Nansen dashboards, giving you consistent annotations for every address you track.
Set Up Smart Alerts. Nansen supports two alert methods: Simple Alerts let you monitor by entering an address and a minimum amount; Advanced Alerts are more configurable, allowing you to track token flows, exchange flows, contract interactions, and more. Alerts can be sent to Telegram (via Nansen Bot's Chat ID), Discord (via Webhook URL), or Slack (via the app's Webhook URL).
Advanced: Stream Processing + Custom Dashboard
If Dune and Nansen don't meet your needs, building your own solution is the next step.
RisingWave + Grafana is a currently mature combination. The data flow is: Solana RPC nodes capture block and transaction data via WebSocket → custom scripts parse and send data to Kafka → RisingWave uses SQL to create Materialized Views that compute metrics in real time → Grafana displays the results. The core advantage of this entire flow is incremental computation — the system does not reprocess already handled data but only updates new additions, enabling low-latency monitoring.
Panoptichain is suitable for Polygon ecosystem monitoring, with built-in RPC Provider and Sensor Network Provider data sources. The Observer module continuously fetches new blocks and bridge events, ultimately outputting to Grafana via Prometheus.
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From Tools to Methods: Core Monitoring Logic
Building a dashboard essentially involves three things:
Define Monitoring Goals. Are you tracking the behavior of specific addresses? Or monitoring global metrics (e.g., active addresses, transaction volume, gas fees)? Different goals lead to completely different tool choices and query designs.
Preset Anomaly Thresholds. Normal metrics don't need alerts. What truly needs notification are signals that "deviate from the norm" — a sudden large transfer from an address, an abnormal spike in transaction volume on a chain within a short time. Nansen recommends starting with low thresholds (e.g., $1k–$5k) and gradually adjusting to filter out noise.
Regularly Review and Adjust. On-chain behavior patterns change, and dashboards need iteration. Weekly, check which metrics trigger frequently but are worthless, and remove them; identify signals that were missed and add them.
